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APGA Staff Participates In ONG Security Meeting

By Joshua St.Pierre posted 2 days ago

  
Last week, APGA staff attended a joint meeting of both the Oil and Natural Gas Subsector Coordinating Council (ONG SCC) and the Energy Sector Government Coordinating Council (EGCC). The ONG SCC and the EGCC are comprised of relevant industry stakeholders and government partners like representatives from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The group meets quarterly to collaborate on issues important to the natural gas subsector. Industry groups use this as an opportunity to specifically advocate for their priorities before government partners as they pertain to cybersecurity and physical security topics. 
 
At the most recent meeting, the group discussed progress that has been made on priorities that were outlined at the beginning of the year:
  • Working to enhance the cyber and physical security of ONG critical infrastructure 
  • Expanding education on ONG infrastructure and industry
  • Understanding new and evolving threats
 
Industry stakeholders emphasized the need for our government partners to identify a solution to information-sharing challenges that public gas utilities often face when attempting to access important security briefings and data shared by federal agencies. Public gas utilities are often subject to open records laws which can complicate the process of receiving sensitive security information (SSI). This should not prevent community-owned utilities from receiving this information.
 
Public gas systems need federal agencies to understand the importance of harmonization amongst the various regulations and/or voluntary guidelines so they aren’t duplicative and burdensome. APGA staff regularly reminds regulators, including at last week’s meeting, that one-size-fits-all mandates are not effective and can create unnecessary burdens for small to medium-sized utilities.
 
APGA’s Security Subcommittee is regularly engaged on the content of these meetings. Consider attending the quarterly Subcommittee meetings to get updates on these efforts. 
 
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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