In response to the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack, the House Energy and Commerce Committee reintroduced a bill that would create a new office to address pipeline security at the Department of Energy. In a new analysis, AAF’s Director of Energy Policy Ewelina Czapla outlines the bill’s key provisions and argues that the bill does not address the root cause of pipeline insecurity.

Her central points:

• The Pipeline and LNG Facility Cybersecurity Preparedness Act was reintroduced in the House of Representatives in response to the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline’s facilities;
• The bill would create a new program within the Department of Energy to oversee the development of coordination procedures, technology and tools, and demonstration projects that industry may voluntarily adopt; and
• The bill fails to directly address the issue at hand—a lack of cybersecurity standards—while creating new government tools that duplicate private-sector technology.

Read the analysis.