President Obama has signed an executive order to strengthen the cybersecurity of critical U.S. infrastructure by increasing information sharing and by jointly developing and implementing with industry partners a framework of cybersecurity practices. “Proactive and coordinated efforts are necessary for us to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning and resilient critical infrastructure — including the assets, networks and systems that are vital to public confidence and the nation’s safety, prosperity and well-being,” according to a White House statement. “This endeavor is a shared responsibility among the federal, state, local, tribal and territorial entities, and public and private owners and operators of critical infrastructure.” The executive order expands to other sectors the voluntary Enhanced Cybersecurity Services program, an information sharing program already in use by the Department of Defense, enabling near real-time sharing of cyber threat information. The order also requires federal agencies to produce and share unclassified reports of threats to U.S. companies and directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to lead the development of a framework of cybersecurity practices to reduce cyber risks to critical infrastructure. It calls for a review of existing cybersecurity regulation and includes private and civil liberties protections, the White House said.
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Articles from Obama
Senate Energy Committee Begins ‘Fresh Look’ at Policy
With the domestic shale gale in full force, Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the ranking Republican on the committee, vowed Tuesday to work together in a bipartisan effort to rethink energy regulation — but their differences on the issued appear unresolved.
DOE Evasive on Pending LNG Filings
Christopher A. Smith, the Obama administration’s point man on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, shed little light last Monday at a national regulatory commissioners’ meeting on when the Department of Energy (DOE) will begin acting on pending applications for authorization to export natural gas to countries with which the United States does not have free trade agreements (FTA).
Lawmakers, Stakeholders Debating LNG Exports
Producers lined up on one side and large consumers on the other in the political countdown to an Obama administration decision on whether to allow unrestricted exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the world market.
Murkowski: Interior Locking Up NPR-A Natural Gas Reserves
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Gas Resources Committee, last week blasted the Obama administration’s final environmental impact statement (EIS) on the land management plan that will guide oil and natural gas development in the years ahead in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), saying it would restrict access to more than 80% of the gas reserves.
Murkowski: Interior EIS Locks Up NPR-A Gas Reserves
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Gas Resources Committee, blasted the Obama administration’s final environmental impact statement (EIS) on the land management plan that will guide oil and natural gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) in the years ahead, saying it would restrict access to more than 80% of the gas reserves.
Industry Brief
A bill signed by President Obama Tuesday allows for the construction and operation of natural gas pipeline facilities in the New York portion of the Gateway National Recreation Center, a 26,600-acre National Recreation Area in the Port of New York and New Jersey. HR 2606, which was introduced last year by three congressman representing Brooklyn and Queens — Republicans Michael Grimm and Robert Turner, and Democrat Gregory Meeks — was approved by the House and Senate earlier this year. The legislation will allow a new pipeline to be built off of an existing Williams pipeline to replace a 40-60 year old pipe and bring natural gas from New Jersey to Long Island. The pipeline will pass under Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways portion of Queens and under Jamaica Bay to a new meter and regulator station on Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. The project would generate an estimated $265 million on construction activity and 300 construction jobs, according to Grimm.
IPAA Creates Task Force to Challenge Endangered Species Listings
Following President Obama’s re-election to a second term, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) has formed a task force to challenge in court federal regulations issued by the government over the next four years that may affect oil and natural gas.
Dow Exec Sees 90 Manufacturing Projects Planned Using 7 Bcf/d
A Dow Chemical Co. executive said he believes the chemical industry will need several additional billion cubic feet per day of natural gas in as little as two-years’ time, when a long list of petrochemical plant projects begin to come online. It’s a demand that should be easy to meet, he said, as long as the United States hasn’t given away its competitive advantage in the marketplace — a gift from shale gas — through the undisciplined export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Producers, States Press BLM to Withdraw Fracking Rule
States and producers Monday called on the Obama administration to either withdraw or suspend a proposed rule that would require companies to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations on federal and Indian lands. Environmental and conservation groups lobbied for the federal government to tighten the rule.
