Earlier this month, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
("FERC") Chairman Neil Chaterjee testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources on issues related to cybersecurity in
the energy industry.
In his testimony, Chaterjee seemed to soften at least his
messaging, if not his position, calling for increased mandatory
oversight of cybersecurity for gas pipelines. In a joint letter written last June, Chatterjee,
along with fellow FERC Commissioner Richard Glick, advocated for
transfer of this oversight responsibility for gas pipelines from
the Transportation Security Administration ("TSA") to the
Department of Energy ("DOE").
The impetus for the letter was a cybersecurity event earlier
last year in which multiple U.S. pipeline companies reported that
certain of their communications systems had been shut down as a
result of hacking. And while the event did not lead to a disruption
in gas service, it underscored the increasing vulnerability of
