"Security: FERC Chairman Reconsiders Cyber Rules For Pipelines" [1]
"Neil Chatterjee, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, yesterday rebuffed calls for mandatory cybersecurity standards for natural gas pipelines, citing improvement in the industry's effort to strengthen its defenses.
Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee pressed Chatterjee on why the interstate power grid is under enforceable cybersecurity rules while the nation's gas pipelines are protected under voluntary standards and oversight by a small office in the Transportation Security Administration.
It was an issue Chatterjee had raised himself last June, when he and FERC Commissioner Richard Glick questioned TSA's oversight role. They added, 'Regardless of where Congress vests this responsibility, the regulator must have the statutory authority, resources and commitment to implement mandatory cybersecurity standards for gas pipelines.'"