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On June 17, the Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing titled, Addressing Emerging Cybersecurity Threats to State and Local Government. The witnesses were state and local officials, including a mayor and a school superintendent whose city and school district had been the victims of cyberattacks. It was an opportunity for lawmakers to learn about the unique challenges faced by state and local governments and to discuss how a potential federal grant program might help them address those challenges.

APGA submitted a statement for the record this week drawing attention to the fact that many local or municipal governments own and operate their own natural gas distribution systems and face the same budgetary and resource constraints outlined by witnesses at the hearing. APGA urged them to consider this unique operating position both when the committee considers new cybersecurity legislation that might create additional mandates for the energy sector and when setting up a grant program.

The statement paid special attention to the fact that many public natural gas systems are small with few remotely controlled pipeline operations, and therefore more likely to be focused on protecting customer data in their information technology systems than on operational technology assets. The statement also stressed that budgets are set in consultation with local lawmakers and major new cybersecurity investments would require careful consideration and advance planning.

A copy of APGA’s submission for the hearing record is available here.

For questions on this article, please contact Emily Wong of APGA staff by phone at 202-470-4262 or by email at ewong@apga.org.