The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) believes the federal government should be prepared to commit military troops and equipment to protect the nation’s critical natural gas pipeline facilities. In a letter responding to a request for security suggestions from Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, INGAA President Jerald Halvorsen urged greater restrictions on sensitive pipeline location information, better cooperation between government and industry on pipeline monitoring issues, and that oversight during this time of heightened security be placed under one federal umbrella agency, the new Office of Homeland Security set up by President Bush.

INGAA recommends the establishment of an interagency task force for dealing with terrorist threats, under the auspices of the new Office of Homeland Security, Halvorsen told Bingaman, who is in the process of determining whether legislation is needed to enhance the nation’s energy security. “INGAA believes that one federal agency should be given the primary responsibility for dealing with each industry sector, as occurred during the Y2K remediation effort. This would avoid the problem of pipelines being required to respond to duplicative data requests from multiple governmental agencies.

“An additional mission of the Office of Homeland Security should be to provide leadership in assessing the physical and cyber-related risks to the energy infrastructure, and prioritizing a national response. Some facilities obviously represent a greater potential risk, and therefore need a greater security presence, than others. While we have increased our internal security measures over the last three weeks, the pipeline industry is not equipped to protect its facilities from large-scale threats.”

Halvorsen said that while help from local law enforcement has been invaluable, the federal government should consider making military forces and equipment available to “help protect and/or monitor sensitive pipeline facilities” in cases “where an overall threat assessment has been determined.”

In addition, the government should avoid making sensitive information about pipeline locations publicly available. He noted that at INGAA’s request after the Sept. 11 attacks the Department of Transportation removed highly detailed geospatial pipeline location information from its web site. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also collects comprehensive information about pipeline system flows and interconnections. “While the collection of this information may indeed serve important governmental functions, consideration should be given to the implications of making this information available to anyone in the world who has a computer. We recommend an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act, in order to clarify that existing security-sensitive data about pipelines be protected from public disclosure. INGAA also asks that future governmental requests for information be weighted against the possible security implications.”

INGAA also requested better coordination and communication between government and industry. The pipeline industry was unable to monitor through traditional means the security of its systems after the Sept. 11 attacks because the Federal Aviation Administration grounded light aircraft patrols. “These small aircraft are used to monitor unauthorized activity on pipeline rights-of-way, and are the only practical method for patrolling hundreds of miles of pipeline on a daily basis, Halvorsen noted. “However, the FAA grounded these aircraft for days after the attacks. When the restrictions were finally lifted, it took days to reinstate the flights due to confusion about the policy at the regional FAA centers.”

He also told Bingaman that better planning and communication also might resolve issues such as the prohibition on liquefied natural gas tankers entering the Distrigas off-loading facility near Boston.

Finally, INGAA urged the committee to investigate the research and development of new monitoring and detection equipment for pipelines to boost security.

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