FERC has issued its final rule paving the way for incentive-based rate treatment for electric utilities that make certain voluntary cybersecurity investments. As we first noted in 2020 when describing the proposed rule, the...more
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a request for information (RFI) on the new cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure owners as required by the Cyber Incident...more
Virginia became the second state in the United States, after California, to pass a comprehensive data privacy law when the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA) passed both houses of the state legislature in February...more
6/15/2021
/ CDPA ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Controller ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Electricity ,
New Legislation ,
Opt-Outs ,
Personal Data ,
Virginia
FERC approved revisions to three Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Reliability Standards to expand the scope of the assets subject to supply chain cybersecurity...more
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on February 24 to address possible vulnerabilities in the supply chains of critical national economic sectors, including the energy sector. ...more
After severe winter weather forced Texas into experiencing power outages and rolling blackouts, there will likely be resulting federal and state investigations into the outages, federal investigations into commodity and...more
2/18/2021
/ CFTC ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Futures ,
Government Investigations ,
Natural Gas ,
NERC ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Power Grid ,
Reliability Standards ,
Severe Weather ,
Storm Damage
The US Senate has confirmed the nominations of Mark Christie (R) and Allison Clements (D) to fill the remaining Republican and Democratic vacant seats on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. These confirmations restore...more
At its June 18 open meeting, FERC issued a notice of inquiry seeking public input on cybersecurity-related enhancements to the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) reliability standards. In light of the constantly...more
The proposed regulations, released on May 28 and on which taxpayers may currently rely pending finalization, build on prior guidance for carbon capture and sequestration tax credits under Section 45Q of the Internal Revenue...more
6/2/2020
/ Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Real Estate Development ,
Renewable Energy ,
Revenue Procedures ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Planning ,
Urban Planning & Development
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on May 1 declaring that the use of bulk-power system equipment supplied by companies controlled by certain foreign nations poses an extraordinary threat to the US power grid....more
In an order issued on April 17, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agreed to defer implementation of certain cybersecurity and operational reliability standards administered by the North American Electric...more
The US Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued Version 3.0 of its guidance on April 17 on identifying essential critical infrastructure workers amid the coronavirus...more
A week after first issuing guidance identifying the workers considered essential for critical industries in the United States during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the US Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity...more
Over the past days and weeks, various US state and local governments have issued orders that restrict travel and certain gatherings in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Although those orders have...more
Following the increased spread of COVID-19 within the United States, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued a Level 2 Alert on March 10 to all users, owners, and operators of the bulk-power system,...more
3/13/2020
/ Business Continuity Plans ,
Business Travel ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Electricity ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Emergency Response ,
Infectious Diseases ,
NERC ,
Operation & Maintenance ,
Public Health ,
Reliability Standards ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Stress Tests ,
Supply Chain ,
Telecommuting ,
Workplace Safety
At its open meeting on November 21, FERC announced organizational changes to enhance the agency’s focus on cybersecurity threats and challenges to electric infrastructure. Commission staff unveiled five “focus areas” related...more
FERC Staff issued an October 4 report on Commission-led critical infrastructure protection (CIP) reliability audits completed during fiscal year 2019. The report provides lessons learned and identifies voluntary practices...more
The supply chain risks facing electric utilities have long been a concern for industry stakeholders and regulators alike. Reflecting those concerns, NERC submitted a report on May 28 to FERC recommending the expansion of...more
The final rule reflects regulator concerns that the cyber threats facing electric utilities are largely underreported....more
A seven-figure penalty reported by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation demonstrates the potentially severe consequences for electric utilities related to improper data handling practices and underscores the...more
The proposal follows a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission finding that existing cyber threats to electric utilities are underreported....more
Implementing new statutory authority, FERC proposes revised regulations to secure and share Critical Electric Infrastructure Information and penalize its unauthorized disclosure....more
The Commission rejects NERC’s proposal to reform the existing “zero tolerance” to CIP compliance, describing the proposal as too ambiguous and unworkable.
On November 22, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC...more