A Call to Regulators: Do More to Protect Electricity Infrastructure

A confidential Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report disclosed in the Wall Street Journal last week revealed that a coordinated attack on as few as nine specific substations could cause coast-to-coast blackouts. Yet FERC hadn’t updated its rules concerning physical security until last month, when the news media reported on an April 2013 shooting attack on 17 California substations.

“[T]he commission’s efforts to improve security is a welcome development,” the Los Angeles Times editorial board writes. “but as part of that work, FERC should also address the frightening challenges posed by the grid’s reliance on custom-fitted equipment that can take months, if not years, to replace.”