The most recent meeting of the Oil & Natural Gas Subsector Coordinating Council (ONG-SCC) occurred on February 29 at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) offices in Washington, D.C. Meetings like this offer APGA staff the opportunity to voice concerns and share the perspective of public gas systems directly with federal partners.
Specifically at the meeting, the ONG-SCC chair and vice chair shared priorities for 2024, which were developed in coordination with APGA staff. As well, they discussed their plans to address them over the next several months, in appropriate collaboration with federal government partners. The priorities include:
• Working to enhance the cyber and physical security of ONG critical infrastructure
• Expanding education on ONG infrastructure and industry
• Understanding new and evolving threats
The ONG-SCC meeting also allowed APGA staff to hear from several speakers on security topics of particular importance to public gas systems.
Public gas systems need federal agencies to understand the importance of harmonization amongst the various regulations and/or voluntary guidelines so they aren’t duplicative and burdensome. APGA staff regularly reminds regulators that one-size-fits-all mandates are not effective and can create unnecessary burdens for small to medium-sized utilities.
As a reminder, the ONG-SCC represents the private sector interests of oil and natural gas industries in a public-private partnership with various agencies in the federal government.
The below diagram shows where the ONG-SCC fits in the government organization structure.
APGA’s Security Subcommittee is regularly engaged on the content of these meetings.
For questions on this article, please contact Joshua St.Pierre of APGA’s staff by phone at 202-407-0015 or by email at jstpierre@apga.org.