UPDATE - US senators move to secure domestic energy sites
Date: 11-Oct-01
Country: USA
Author: Chris Baltimore and Tom Doggett
The deadly Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center have focused new attention on the vulnerability of American energy facilities.
The Democrat-controlled Senate energy committee is looking at options ranging from restricting information on the Web about nuclear power plants to arming Bureau of Land Management employees. The energy panel will vote on specific measures on Thursday.
Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu said she would offer legislation to provide federal funds to all 50 states to protect oil and natural gas pipelines, refineries and other industry infrastructure from attacks or sabotage.
Landrieu, a Democrat from a major oil-producing state, said the federal government needs to do more.
Money for the program would come from royalties that energy firms have paid for federal leases for oil and natural gas from the Gulf of Mexico. Landrieu did not specify how much money would be needed for the program.
"I think the whole issue is of critical importance to our nation," she said at a Senate Energy Committee hearing.
U.S. lawmakers, who have frequently railed against U.S. dependence on oil imports from the politically sensitive Middle East, emphasized that they are now concerned about the security of domestic energy.
WESTERN DAMS, CYBER-ATTACKS
New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman agreed to sponsor an amendment proposed by the Interior Department to beef up federal oversight at federal hydroelectric dams. The huge dams provide a large amount of electricity to consumers and businesses, especially in the West.
John Keys, commissioner of Interior's Bureau of Land Management, testified that his agents need authority to carry weapons, make arrests and enforce vandalism and trespassing laws on the nation's 8 million acres of public land. "We have over 400 sites that need some security," Keys said.
One amendment being considered by the energy committee would let the federal government hire extra security guards and perform criminal background checks at federally owned dams such as the Bonneville Power Administration in the Pacific Northwest.
Utah Sen. Robert Bennett, a Republican, raised the specter of a cyber-attack on computer networks that control energy installations and urged legislation to protect them.
Calling privately owned sites like oil refineries and power generation plants "a major national blindspot," Bennett has proposed to restrict government documents about the sites through requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act.
Lawmakers laid out several scenarios that could disrupt U.S. domestic energy supplies. For example, a computer hacker might be able to disrupt a railroad line's computer that controls trains carrying coal to utility power plants.
"Someone can break in one place and then have an impact somewhere else," Bennett said.
Bennett also wants private companies and federal agencies to share information on Internet security breaches.
NUKE PLANT INFORMATION
The federal government already oversees private security measures at nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams. Some lawmakers want the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to remove from its Web site information about the location and safety features of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants.
"I can't imagine the public needs to know the exact latitude and longitude of nuclear power plants," said Alaska Sen. Frank Murkowski, a Republican.
The lawmakers' push for more security at energy facilities reflects heightened concern about another possible attack in the United States, now that American troops have bombed radical Islamic forces in Afghanistan.
Last week, an Alaska man was arrested for shooting a hole in the huge Trans Alaska Pipeline System that ships crude oil from Alaska's North Slope. The puncture forced the pipeline and oil production to temporarily shut down, delaying some 2.7 million barrels of crude oil set for delivery to the market.
The bullet hole also caused the secon