The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a slate of five bipartisan bills Thursday that seek to protect energy infrastructure and the grid from cybersecurity risks and other threats. The panel advanced each of the bills with unanimous support.
The markup was especially timely amid the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, which has upended global energy markets and raised fears about potential retaliation from Iran or its proxies. The Trump administration has already urged domestic energy companies to bolster security at their drilling sites, pipelines and fuel processing plants to mitigate that risk.
“As more and more of our lives become digital, the physical and cybersecurity threats to our grid grow in frequency and impact, particularly from adverse nation states,” said Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.).
“These bipartisan cybersecurity bills will help combat those threats by strengthening [the Department of Energy’s] leadership when it comes to securing the energy sector, providing targeted funding and technical assistance to rural and municipal utilities and authorizing public-private partnerships from grid security to enhanced information sharing,” Guthrie said.
