APGA Participates in Congressional Briefing on Security Regulations

By Joshua St.Pierre posted 12-05-2024 12:32 PM

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Last month, Erin Kurilla, APGA’s Executive Vice President, and Vice President of Advocacy and Operations, joined several industry leaders and congressional staff members at a briefing on recent regulatory activity in the physical and cybersecurity space. Erin offered the public gas industry’s perspective on the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) past issuance of Security Directives (SD) impacting designated members of U.S. critical infrastructure and the recent proposed rulemaking titled, “Enhancing Surface Cyber Risk Management.” Members of Congress and regulators should recognize the need for flexibility, scalability, and harmonization of requirements in regulations that impact community-owned gas utilities.

The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, which is tasked with conducting oversight of the TSA, hosted a hearing on November 19th titled, “Impacts of Emergency Authority Cybersecurity Regulations on the Transportation Sector.” This hearing laid the framework for discussion at the closed Congressional Briefing that APGA staff participated in. The purpose of this hearing was to examine the TSA’s use of SDs and public rulemakings to regulate physical and cybersecurity in critical infrastructure. Industry witnesses highlighted a number of concerns with current and proposed security regulations. These included concerns related to data security and ownership, scope and scalability of requirements, and the regulatory process that TSA has utilized. APGA staff engaged with House Committee staff members on several similar concerns before the hearing while also recognizing the collaborative nature of industry’s relationship with TSA leadership currently. Consider reading the witness testimony submitted by representatives of the natural gas industry, here.

While current regulations from TSA only impact a small number of APGA member utilities. The most recent proposed rulemaking from TSA could see that number grow. Many public gas utilities already abide by TSA and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) guidance/ best practices so it is important to remain engaged as the process progresses. APGA plans to comment on this rulemaking and share the perspective of the public gas industry’s diverse membership citing our Commitment to Security and Reliability. To stay up to date on these issues and others consider joining APGA’s Security Subcommittee.

For questions on this article, please contact Joshua St.Pierre of APGA staff by phone at 202-407-0015 or by email at jstpierre@apga.org.

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