Jack Alvey Selected As Indiana Municipal Power Agency’s New President And CEO
March 3, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 3, 2022
The Indiana Municipal Power Agency (IMPA) Board of Commissioners recently announced the selection of Jack Alvey as IMPA’s new President and CEO. Alvey will assume the role next month following the retirement of Raj Rao.
Alvey joined IMPA in 1992 as a combustion turbine operator/technician. Currently, Alvey is IMPA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer overseeing IMPA’s generation operations, transmission joint ownership, electrical facilities, construction, safety, and environmental and reliability compliance.
During his tenure, he has played a key role in IMPA’s involvement in numerous generation projects, including the Prairie State Energy Campus, Trimble County Unit 2, IMPA’s Combustion Turbines in Anderson, Richmond, and Indianapolis, as well as spearheaded the development of over 40 solar parks in member communities across the state through IMPA’s growing solar program.
Alvey is a native of Richmond, Indiana, one of IMPA’s founding member communities.
Alvey’s first day as CEO will be April 6, 2022.
Rao announced his retirement in October 2021 after 38 years with the agency, 35 of those years serving as President. He first joined IMPA in 1983 as its Director of Engineering. He was named CEO of IMPA in 1986 and has helmed the agency since that time.
Under Rao’s leadership, IMPA grew from an agency serving the wholesale power supply needs of 26 member utilities to a $2 billion organization serving 61 communities today.
APPA Honors Manchin For Leadership On Energy Policy
March 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 2, 2022
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on March 2 received the American Public Power Association’s Public Service Award at APPA’s Legislative Rally in Washington, D.C.
Manchin was honored by APPA for exceptional leadership on numerous issues of importance to public power.
“I am honored to receive the American Public Power Association’s Public Service Award,” Manchin said. “I am also proud of the work we did together to get the Energy Act of 2020 across the finish line and then get much of it funded through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. These historic pieces of legislation are two shining examples of the good we can achieve when we come together to do what is best for our country. I look forward to continuing to work closely with public utilities across the country to advance all-of-the-above energy solutions.”
Manchin has served on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee since coming to the Senate in 2010 and became chairman of the committee in January 2021. Together with the then-Republican leader of the Senate Energy Committee, Manchin steered the Energy Act of 2020 into law.
The legislation included significant funding for research, development, and deployment programs at the U.S. Department of Energy for wind energy, solar energy, critical minerals, carbon capture and removal, and grid modernization.
He built on the work of the Energy Act of 2020 in his leadership role in developing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) that was signed into law in November 2021.
The IIJA funded investments in the transmission and distribution systems that make up the electric grid, cybersecurity, and research and development of energy technology. (Click here for resources and opportunities for public power tied to the infrastructure law curated by APPA).
“Throughout his time on the committee, and even more so as chairman, Senator Manchin has shown exceptional leadership on numerous issues of importance to public power,” said APPA President and CEO Joy Ditto in a statement. “Though there are only two public power utilities in West Virginia, Senator Manchin has long supported the important role public power plays in the electric sector nationwide and its commitment to serving its communities. He — like public power — has a bedrock commitment to ensuring reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible energy to power the economy.”
Mississippi Public Power Utility Seeks Power Supply Proposals
March 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 2, 2022
Mississippi public power utility Clarksdale Public Utilities is seeking power supply proposals through the issuance of a recently released request for proposals (RFP).
Mississippi Delta Energy Agency (MDEA) issued the RFP for power supply resources on behalf of Clarksdale Public Utilities to meet the utility’s capacity and energy requirements beginning June 1, 2023.
Clarksdale Public Utilities’ transmission system is interconnected to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator transmission system.
MDEA will accept proposals from any electric utility, independent power producer, qualifying facility, exempt wholesale generator, non-utility generator or electric power marketer that is appropriately certified by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that has resources available and operates within the MISO transmission system.
MDEA is soliciting proposals for the following types of power supply resources:
- Energy only, load following arrangements, excluding the utility’s allocation of Southeastern Power Administration hydro and existing baseload energy block with energy management services;
- Energy only, fixed load shape block power arrangements, representing the utility’s unhedged projected energy requirements during the requested term;
- 34 MW of MISO capacity credits (i.e. Zonal Resource Credits) delivered to Zone 10 Local Resource Zone; and
- Energy Management Services
The deadline for responses to the RFP are due by April 20, 2022 by 2:00 p.m. (Central).
The RFP is available here.
Public Power Officials Review Proposed Changes To APPA Safety Manual
March 1, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 1, 2022
Members of the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Safety Manual Working Group recently met to review proposed changes to the latest edition of the manual. The meeting was hosted by CDE Lightband in Clarksville, Tenn.
The group reviewed proposed changes to help develop the 17th edition of the APPA Safety Manual.
Since 1955, APPA’s Safety Manual has been a key tool for public power utility workplace safety programs.
In order to ensure relevance and accuracy, the Safety Manual is updated every four to five years to reflect important changes in the industry, as well as National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.
The working group “reviewed change proposals that were sent in via the change proposal process. These proposals included adding content to sections of the safety manual for clarity, alignment with National Electric Safety Code and OSHA standards and industry best practices,” said Ashley Bryan, Director for Transmission and Distribution at Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority.
Bryan is a member of the working group.
“Experts that make-up the panel weighed in on each proposal, cross referenced governing safety documents and added content to the Safety Manual,” she noted in a Feb. 23 email.
“Subcommittees also reviewed topics such as ‘Grounding’ and ‘Switching’ where it was deemed by the panel that additional reviews and content needed to be added to strengthen the guidelines contained within the manual,” she said.
Additional subcommittees were also formed to cover topics such as “Confined Space”, “RF” and “Heat Stress,” Bryan said, noting that changes proposed by each subcommittee will be reviewed at a meeting in April.
“The team covered a lot of content and had great discussions on the proposed changes to the manual this past week. Being part of the task force and working with the members of the team has been a great experience overall and I look forward to the upcoming meetings,” she said.
Another working group member, Gregory Labbe’, Electric Operations Manager at Louisiana public power utility Lafayette Utilities System, said that during the meeting, the group discussed key areas, such as grounding, switching procedures, communication workers and other key areas of the Safety Manuel.
The group had “good discussions and we made a lot of progress towards completing the updates. We also got to tour CDE Lightband’s very nice and modern facilities and they were a very gracious host,” he said.
Brent McKinney, who recently retired from City Utilities of Springfield, Mo., as the Electric Director, has represented APPA on NESC subcommittee 8 for the past 20 years. That subcommittee takes care of the worker safety rules for the NESC.
After his retirement, APPA asked him to do some consulting work for it.
“My first project was to create a cross index between the NESC Part 4 and the safety manual. The cross index was completed and showed several areas where increased rules were needed in the safety manual to fully comply with NESC 2017,” he noted.
After this task, APPA asked him to expand the cross index to include the new rules from the NESC 2023. That task has also been completed.
“My role is now to assist the committee to include new rules in the safety manual which will bring it into compliance for NESC 2023.”
The NESC is revised every 5 years. The current NESC was a six-year period due to the pandemic.
“The safety manual should be revised after each NESC update. This makes sure the safety manual is in compliance with the latest safety standards,” he said.
In a recent episode of APPA’s Public Power Now podcast, public power officials detailed the value of the Safety Manual.
Growing Number Of States Taking Steps To Clear A Path For Nuclear Power
March 1, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 1, 2022
A growing number of states are taking action to clear a path for the possible development of nuclear power.
In February, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed into law a bill that lifts the state’s ban on the construction of nuclear power plants, following similar action by other states in recent years. In 2016, Wisconsin repealed a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear facilities within the state and Kentucky took similar action a year later.
Meanwhile, since the start of this year, a number of state legislatures have considered or taken action related to legislation related to nuclear power including small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).
“Right now, between state legislation being introduced and new nuclear projects underway in states like Tennessee, Washington, Wyoming and Idaho, nuclear energy is being discussed in half of the country with the majority considering policies that will directly impact the industry,” said Christine Csizmadia, director of state governmental affairs and advocacy at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). “The appetite to learn more about nuclear energy technology is clearly there and continuously increasing,” she said.
Csizmadia said that there are various motivations behind these policies. “Many states are recognizing nuclear’s role in decarbonization while others are looking at new nuclear for the potential economic impacts and reliability. We are seeing bills that range from prioritizing the state’s existing nuclear plants, like in New Jersey and Illinois to bills aimed at maintaining grid reliability, like in West Virginia, which recognize nuclear as a potential asset.”
Nebraska
A Nebraska Senate Committee in February considered a bill that would use pandemic relief funds to conduct a feasibility study on siting options for nuclear reactors.
The bill, LB1100, would appropriate $1 million of the American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated to Nebraska to the state Department of Economic Development for use by a political subdivision that owns or operates a nuclear plant in the state to conduct a feasibility study.
The study would assess siting options for new, advanced nuclear reactors throughout Nebraska and existing electric generation facilities based on key compatibility assets for such reactors, according to the Nebraska Legislature’s Unicameral Update.
Daniel Buman, director of nuclear oversight and strategic asset management at Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), testified in support of the proposal on behalf of NPPD and the Nebraska Power Association, which represents all of Nebraska’s public power utilities.
Indiana
Meanwhile, in another Midwest state, lawmakers in Indiana in February passed a bill, Senate Bill 271, that amends the statute governing certificates of public convenience and necessity that are issued by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) for the construction, lease, or purchase of electric generation facilities.
The bill would require the IURC, in consultation with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, to adopt rules concerning the granting of certificates for the construction, purchase, or lease of SMRs:
- In Indiana for the generation of electricity to be used to furnish public utility service to Indiana customers; or
- At the site of a nuclear energy production or generating facility that supplies electricity to Indiana retail customers on July 1, 2011.
The bill is now on the desk of Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb for further action.
Oklahoma
In other recent action, Republican Oklahoma State Sen. Nathan Dahm recently introduced legislation (Senate Bill 1794) that would direct the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to conduct a study focusing on the feasibility and establishment of nuclear facilities in cooperation with the Office of the Secretary of Energy and Environment on or before January 1, 2024.
Upon completion of the study, the bill requires that a report be submitted to the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate, Speaker of the Oklahoma House, Governor, the Chair of the Senate Energy Committee, and the Chair of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee no later than February 1, 2024.
Alaska
In early February, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, introduced Senate Bill 177, which will allow communities across Alaska to explore new opportunities related to microreactors.
The bill defines a microreactor according to the federal definition contained in the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act. This means a reactor that produces no more than 50 MWe and meets the standards of an “advanced nuclear reactor” as defined in federal code.
It also creates an exemption for microreactors from the requirement that the Legislature approve of each microreactor siting.
SB 177 was referred to the Alaska Senate Resources and Senate Community and Regional Affairs committees.
Colorado
In Colorado, the Colorado Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs on Feb. 17 voted to indefinitely postpone action on a bill, SB22-073, that called for a study regarding the feasibility of using SMRs as a carbon-free energy source for the state.
“As other states begin lifting their moratoriums, such as West Virginia, or actually initiating small modular reactor projects, such as Wyoming, Colorado is left behind,” said Colorado State Sen. Bob Rankin, a Republican, in a statement issued after the committee’s action.
Rankin sponsored the bill.
Other States Have Also Taken Action In Recent Years
The recent wave of state legislative activity follows on the heels of action taken by a number of other states in recent years.
For example, in early 2021, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law H.B. 273, which eliminated restrictions on nuclear power development in the state. The bill was sponsored by Montana Rep. Derek Skees, a Republican.
Also last year in Montana, a joint resolution sponsored by Montana Sen. Terry Gauthier, a Republican, was filed with the State Secretary of State that requires a study that will look at the feasibility of advanced nuclear reactors as a replacement for coal-fired boilers, specifically the state’s Colstrip coal-fired power plant.
The joint resolution noted that SMRs “employ passive safety and innovative designs that can provide electrical input in the range of 250 megawatts to 500 megawatts by exchanging heat between coolant and a steam generator.”
The joint resolution requires that all aspects of the study, including presentation and review requirements, be concluded prior to Sept. 15, 2022.
In neighboring Wyoming, Gov. Mark Gordon in 2020 signed a bill into law that required the state’s Environmental Quality Council and Department of Environmental Quality to promulgate rules regarding the permitting of SMRs.
The law provides a $5.00 per megawatt hour tax on the production of electricity from nuclear reactors in Wyoming. It exempts from taxation government owned nuclear reactors, electricity produced for the producer’s consumption and test or demonstration reactors. There is an offsetting credit for any property tax paid that is associated with a nuclear reactor.
The reactors can be used to replace coal or natural gas electric generation on the sites of those facilities, and the facilities cannot have a greater rated capacity (whether through one reactor or multiple reactors) than the existing capacity of the coal or natural gas electric generation facility.
In November 2021, TerraPower announced Kemmerer, Wyoming, as the preferred site for a Natrium reactor demonstration project.
Bill Gates is TerraPower’s Chairman of the Board.
The demonstration plant is intended to validate the design, construction and operational features of the Natrium technology. The project features a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system.
The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500 MW of power when needed. The energy storage capability allows the plant to integrate seamlessly with renewable resources, according to TerraPower.
Public Power Pursues Advanced Nuclear Power Projects
For its part, a number of public power utilities are pursuing advanced nuclear power technology.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board of Directors on Feb. 10 approved a programmatic approach to exploring advanced nuclear technology.
TVA said that as part of the development of innovative, cost-effective technologies that will achieve TVA’s aspiration of a net-zero carbon energy future, advanced nuclear is one of several technologies TVA is investigating.
Carbon Free Power Project, LLC (CFPP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, continues to advance the development and deployment of its first-of-a-kind small modular reactor nuclear plant at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho.
CFPP successfully and safely completed field investigation activities at the site in January 2022, a major milestone for the project.
In 2021, NuScale Power and Washington State’s Grant County Public Utility District announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to evaluate the deployment of NuScale’s SMR technology in Central Washington State.
Public Power Women in History: Carolyn McNeil
February 28, 2022
by APPA News
February 28, 2022
Congress initially designated March 1987 as Women’s History Month to honor the women who made historical contributions to the nation’s growth and strength. The resolution also acknowledged that women had been “consistently overlooked and undervalued in the body of American history.”
Looking back through public power’s history, there are many examples of women who have helped shape community ownership of electric utilities in their cities, states, and regions. Last year, the American Public Power Association recognized Women’s History Month in part by highlighting some of today’s women in leadership positions. This year we looked backwards. An examination of our archive indicates that Carolyn S. McNeil (July 19, 1938 – March 15, 2001) from Sandy, Utah, was one of the first women to lead a public power organization.
McNeil was named general manager of the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, or UAMPS, on June 15, 1983. The joint action agency was founded in 1980 and today represents 50 community-owned power systems operating in seven Western states. She previously served as controller for both UAMPS and the Intermountain Consumer Power Association, which she would also lead as general manager.
In a 1984 interview for Public Power magazine, McNeil said that her non-utility background prepared her for these roles. She began her higher education with a major in music, but left college to raise two children. She later returned to major in accounting. She said she made the switch after reading in the Wall Street Journal that accounting majors were getting the best job offers after graduation. She had also volunteered for various community projects, which helped finely tune her organizational and interpersonal skills — skills that were beneficial later in navigating political issues and at the negotiating table. “I had to acquire an understanding of the water and power laws peculiar to our state and to our corner of the world. But I spend most of my time trying to get people together to work out problems,” she said.
McNeil also shared in that interview that, upon becoming general manager, she had been asked, “Are you going to be the general manager until they can find a real one?” In an industry that was dominated by men, she said, in a wholly disarming manner, “Perhaps because they are so unaccustomed to women in this type of position, they actually give me more credit than I probably deserve.”
UAMPS credited McNeil with being the driving force through an era of fierce competition and extraordinary growth. While with UAMPS, she was elected president of the Colorado River Energy Distributors Association, participated on the board of the Consumer Federation of America, served on Utah Governor Norman Bangerter’s Task Force on Utility Regulation, and was a member of APPA’s Board of Directors, its Executive Committee, and chaired its Advisory Committee.
In the mid-1980s, McNeil also chaired APPA’s national campaign to preserve preference and cost-based federal hydropower rates. It was public power’s swift response to a Reagan administration proposal that would upend 80 years of national policy granting consumer-owned electric utilities first purchase rights to federal hydropower. The Reagan administration instead proposed to auction off the power. The $1 million effort – funded wholly by voluntary contributions – sought to explain to the public and congress why the country should maintain federal policies giving consumer-owned utilities first right to purchase federal hydropower at cost-based prices.
Carolyn McNeil, APPA, and other public power leaders at the time also recognized that public power had a big problem: local and national public opinion polls showed that a significant portion of the population – including those served by public power – did not know what public power was. McNeil oversaw the campaign to fix that. The multi-year campaign evolved into both protecting the federal hydropower preference construct and generating greater consumer awareness about public power and its benefits for local elected officials and the public. The campaign sought to tap public power’s latent strength: its identity as a fundamental local institution.
Concurrently, McNeil successfully navigated Utah court cases ensuring that UAMPS members could engage in power exchange transactions with other utilities. UAMPS had sought to increase access to transmission lines and to build its own to maximize the cost efficiency of its members’ power supply for the benefit of public power customers. She also worked to maintain harmony between municipal and cooperative utilities in Utah despite divisive issues at the national level. Her work boosted Utah’s public power utilities into a high national profile and established her reputation as a prominent public power industry leader.
During her tenure with UAMPS she received the APPA Kramer-Preston Personal Service Award. Upon her retirement, she was also awarded APPA’s highest honor – the 1995 Alex Radin Distinguished Service Award – for her exceptional leadership and dedication to public power.
“Carolyn McNeil was a truly remarkable leader and trailblazer,” said Doug Hunter, UAMPS CEO and General Manager. “She understood the great value of public power and had a vision for its potential. She elevated the status of public power not just in her home state of Utah, but across the nation through her APPA leadership positions. For me, personally, she was a great mentor and example. She built a strong foundation at UAMPS on which we have been able to ascend to greater heights. She is truly deserving of recognition as one of the first and most effective women leaders in public power.”
Carolyn McNeil passed away in 2001. We here at APPA honor her and the women in public power — past, present, and future — for their contributions to advancing public power’s mission. McNeil and the other women who were among the first to hold leadership and other key roles at public power entities have helped demonstrate the variety of career paths for women in the workforce for the past four decades. Today, six of the 25 largest public power utilities are led by women, and three of the 57 joint action agencies are.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council Plan Calls For Renewables, Efficiency
February 28, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
February 28, 2022
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has adopted an electric power resource plan that calls for the development of at least 3,500 megawatts (MW) of renewable resources and as much as 1,000 MW of energy efficiency measures over the next six years.
The 2021 Northwest Power Plan looks out 20 years, to 2041, and includes a near term focus with a six-year action plan for 2022-2027.
While the power generation mix will likely see modest changes in the near term, over the 20-year term of the plan, the region can expect “a more substantial transformation,” the plan says. Recent years have already seen dramatic drops in the cost of wind and solar energy and about 60 percent of the region’s coal-fired plants are due to retire by 2028, the plan’s authors said, noting that the 2021 plan includes “significantly more renewable generation than all our previous power plans.”
The Council was authorized by Congress in 1980 to develop and maintain a regional power plan and fish and wildlife program for Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. As one of its responsibilities, the council drafts a 20-year, least-cost power plan for the Pacific Northwest and updates at least every five years.
The 2021 plan calls for the addition of at least 3,500 MW of new renewable resources in the Northwest to provide energy and offset the emissions from the region’s existing fossil fuel-based generation.
The 2021 plan also recommends that the Bonneville Power Administration and regional utilities plan to acquire between 750 and 1,000 average MW of cost-effective energy efficiency by the end of 2027 and a minimum of 2,400 average MW by 2041.
The plan includes less efficiency than past plans because much of the inexpensive efficiency has been achieved, and “what remains is close to the price of power from the least expensive generating resources,” the authors said.
The 2021 plan also recommends that Northwest utilities examine two types of demand response residential time-of-use (TOU) rates and demand voltage regulation (DVR). “Our assessment shows that about 200 megawatts of TOU and 520 megawatts of DVR are available by 2027,” the plan said.
The 2021 plan also calls for the Bonneville Power Administration and regional utilities, along with their associations and planning organizations, to work together and with others in the Western electric grid to explore the potential costs and benefits of new market tools, such as capacity and reserves products.
Paper Outlines Approaches To Valuing Resilience
February 28, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
February 28, 2022
A new paper by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), and Converge Strategies that details approaches to estimating the value of resilience.
The paper, Valuing Resilience for Microgrids: Challenges, Innovative Approaches, and State Needs, summarizes new approaches to valuing resilience that can be used by utilities and regulators and applied to proposed investments in microgrids and other resources.
While reliability has been measured for decades using widely accepted metrics, resilience, utilities, policymakers, and regulators have not agreed upon a universal definition of resilience.
In 2013, NARUC proposed a definition of resilience for state utility regulators and the White House released a definition focusing on critical infrastructure protection.
In 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission put forward a definition. And in 2019 the National Renewable Energy Laboratory provided a definition that highlighted the importance of multi-stakeholder planning. To fill in the gaps, state regulators have also stepped in to provide their own definitions of resilience.
Although the definitions overlap, they differ in scope and specificity even though resilience has emerged as an important concept as utilities invest billions of dollars to strengthen generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure in the face of high-impact, low-frequency events, including extreme cold, droughts, heat waves, and cyber and physical attacks, the paper’s authors said.
“Developing tools and methods to accurately assess the costs and benefits of resilience investments is a critical step toward the goal of mitigating the impacts of outages on customers and society,” the paper said.
Traditionally, utility expenditures have been guided by “imprecise approaches that fail to account for the impacts of outages or anticipate” high impact low frequency events, the paper said. However, new approaches to analyzing the costs and benefits of resilience investments, such as microgrids, can enable more efficient use of ratepayer and taxpayer resources to deliver better outcomes, according to the paper.
In an effort to share practices and find common ground, state energy policymakers and regulators joined the NASEO-NARUC Microgrids State Working Group to explore benefits and costs of microgrids, identify challenges and barriers to microgrid development, and to share successful approaches.
And while the NARUC-NASEO paper was written with Microgrids State Working Group members in mind, the authors said it may be useful to utilities, emergency management agencies, community development organizations, municipal governments, and other stakeholders.
Specifically, the NARUC-NASEO paper summarized five new and pending resilience valuation approaches developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the Edison Electric Institute and Commonwealth Edison; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Buffalo; and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
NARUC and NASEO said they would continue “to promote sharing of knowledge across states and innovative approaches to common challenges in forums such as the NASEO-NARUC Microgrids State Working Group.”
“Future research may provide updates on resilient microgrid approaches in progress and on lessons learned from initial deployments,” the authors said.
Russian Cyber Threats: What You Need To Know
February 25, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 25, 2022
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) is offering resources and guidance related to cyber threats from Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The Russian government “engages in malicious cyber activities to enable broad-scope cyber espionage, to suppress certain social and political activity, to steal intellectual property, and to harm regional and international adversaries,” CISA notes on its website.
Recent advisories published by CISA and other unclassified sources reveal that Russian state-sponsored threat actors are targeting a number of industries and organizations in the United States and other Western nations including energy, nuclear and water.
CISA notes that the same reporting associated Russian actors with a range of high-profile malicious cyber activity, including the 2020 compromise of the SolarWinds software supply chain, the 2020 targeting of U.S. companies developing COVID-19 vaccines, the 2018 targeting of U.S industrial control system infrastructure, and the 2017 NotPetya ransomware attack on organizations worldwide.
On Feb. 23, 2022, CISA, the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), National Security Agency (NSA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory identifying that the actor known as Sandworm or Voodoo Bear is using a new malware, referred to as Cyclops Blink.
The NCSC, CISA, and FBI have previously attributed the Sandworm actor to the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate’s Russian Main Centre for Special Technologies.
CISA’s website includes a Russian malicious cyber activity section that lists all CISA advisories, alerts, and malware analysis reports on Russian malicious cyber activities.
“SHIELDS UP” Guidance
CISA is also offering what it refers to as “SHIELDS UP” guidance related to cybersecurity.
“CISA recommends all organizations — regardless of size — adopt a heightened posture when it comes to cybersecurity and protecting their most critical assets,” it said.
Recommended actions include:
- Reducing the likelihood of a damaging cyber intrusion
- Taking steps to quickly detect a potential intrusion
- Ensuring that the organization is prepared to respond if an intrusion occurs
- Maximizing the organization’s resilience to a destructive cyber incident
“Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which has been accompanied by cyber-attacks on Ukrainian government and critical infrastructure organizations, may have consequences for our own nation’s critical infrastructure, a potential we’ve been warning about for months,” CISA said.
“While there are no specific or credible cyber threats to the U.S. homeland at this time, we are mindful of the potential for Russia’s destabilizing actions to impact organizations both within and beyond the region, particularly in the wake of sanctions imposed by the United States and our Allies. Every organization — large and small — must be prepared to respond to disruptive cyber activity,” it noted.
CISA, along with its partners in the U.S. Intelligence Community, law enforcement, the military, and sector risk management agencies, is monitoring the threat environment 24/7 to discern whether those threats manifest themselves in risks to the U.S. homeland.
In the wake of continued denial of service and destructive malware attacks affecting Ukraine and other countries in the region, CISA is working closely with its Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) and international computer emergency readiness team (CERT) partners to understand and rapidly share information on these ongoing malicious cyber activities.
The current environment “requires us all to be laser-focused on resilience. This must include a focus on ensuring preparedness and a rapid, coordinated response to mitigate the impact of such disruptions on our national security, economic prosperity, or public health and safety.”
CISA said it has been working closely with its critical infrastructure partners over the past several months to ensure awareness of potential threats, “part of a paradigm shift from being reactive to being proactive.”
As part of this effort, “we recognize that many critical infrastructure or state, local, tribal, and territorial governments find it challenging to identify resources for urgent security improvements.”
In response, CISA has established a catalog of free services from government partners, the open-source community, and JCDC companies to assist with this critical need.
President Biden Addresses Cybersecurity Threat In Remarks
On Feb. 24, President Biden said that if Russia “pursues cyberattacks against our companies, our critical infrastructure, we are prepared to respond.” He made his remarks in a speech at the White House.
“For months, we have been working closely…with the private sector to harden their cyber defenses, sharpen our ability to respond to Russian cyberattacks as well,” he said.
Last summer, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported that federal government agencies and the electricity industry had made significant strides in support of White House goals aimed at boosting the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure in the U.S.
In April 2021, the Biden Administration launched an Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Cybersecurity Initiative to meet its goal of strengthening the cybersecurity of the critical infrastructure across the country.
The initiative was kicked off with a 100-day action plan for the U.S. electricity subsector led by DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) in close coordination with CISA, and the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council.
On July 28, 2021, President Biden further emphasized the importance of this initiative and broader cybersecurity efforts through his National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems.
APPA Offers Cybersecurity Resources
The American Public Power Association (APPA) offers a wide range of resources on cybersecurity for its members, including a Cybersecurity Defense Community.
Those resources include, among other things, the Public Power Cyber Incident Response Playbook, which walks through the steps and best practices a utility can follow in the event it experiences a cyber incident or attack. APPA is also working with the Department of Energy to help deploy Operational Technology, or OT, cybersecurity sensors at member utilities.
Click here for additional information on APPA’s resources, or reach out to cybersecurity@publicpower.org to get involved.
Ditto Details Utility Sector’s Proactive Approach to Guard Against Cyberattacks
Among the many steps that the electricity sector takes to proactively guard against cyberattacks are tabletop exercises under which utility operators respond to a scenario and work through responses, said Joy Ditto, President and CEO of APPA, last October.
If such a scenario becomes a reality, “they have those lessons learned to apply,” Ditto said during a cyber summit held by the Aspen Institute.
Collaboration among the electric sector, government agencies and other industries plays a key role in the success of these exercises, Ditto pointed out.
FERC Moves To Close Gap In Reliability Standards For Electric Grid Cyber Systems
In January 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) proposing to strengthen mandatory critical infrastructure protection (CIP) reliability standards by requiring internal network security monitoring for high- and medium-impact bulk electric system cyber systems.
The NOPR proposed to direct the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop and submit new or modified reliability standards on internal network security monitoring to address what FERC regards as a gap in the current standards.
Incoming Chair Of APPA’s Policy Makers Council Details Key Advocacy Role That Council Plays
February 25, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 25, 2022
Jim Brooks, a City Council member for Evansville, Wis., and incoming Chair of the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Policy Makers Council (PMC), recently detailed the key role that the PMC plays as a voice for public power in Washington, D.C.
“The PMC brings together about 40 elected officials from across the country whose main task is to call on Congress and policy writers in Washington to present the concerns of public power communities with a single voice,” Brooks said in a Q&A with Public Power Current.
“Lawmakers see swarms of paid lobbyists on a regular basis, but they know that when we show up, we are bringing along the thoughts and needs of thousands of voters in their district. Many in Congress started in local government and have maintained those ties to our communities, to our advantage,” he said.
Brooks noted that the Chair of the PMC works with APPA staff “to make sure that monthly calls bring the highest benefit to all the members and to make sure that future leadership of the Council keeps to the highest standards. I am looking forward to carrying on the work of so many before me.”
Brooks, who will formally take over as Chair of the PMC later this year, is attending APPA’s Legislative Rally in Washington, D.C., which starts on Feb. 28.
Wisconsin’s Evansville Light & Water, a small utility serving 4,700 customers, is advised by a Utilities Committee comprised of City Council members.
Brooks has served on the City Council since 2010 and has been president since 2013 and he also serves as the Utilities Committee chair.
Brooks also addressed the question of how important it is that the voice of smaller public power utilities, such as Evansville Water & Light’s, is heard through bodies such as the PMC.
“The PMC works as a leveler to make sure that the thousands of public power communities all have their voice heard by lawmakers,” he noted.
“Whether leading a utility with 300 people in the call-center or one with one person to answer the phones, send out bills, and do daily dispatch, we are all equal when we walk through the doors of the House office buildings to share our requests and ideas,” Brooks said.
“The needs of huge utilities may not be of the same magnitude as the smaller, but APPA — through the PMC — makes certain that we all have the opportunity to be heard.”
Meanwhile, Brooks was recently elected as chair of WPPI Energy’s Policy & Communications Leadership Council (PCLC).
WPPI Energy, based in Sun Prairie, Wisc., serves 51 locally owned electric utilities in Wisconsin, Iowa and Upper Michigan.
He noted that the PCLC coordinates efforts of the 51 member-owners of WPPI “to share a consistent message to our members and to our ratepayers. We meet quarterly to refine the messages we share across the membership.”
Over the past few years, “we have worked to streamline the quantity of daily and weekly communications to the membership while making them more impactful and tailored to the user. A daily digest of local news stories similar to APPA’s Public Power Current keeps leadership up to date while personalized power use and cost reports allow ratepayers to better understand their bills. And, a weekly digest delivers key WPPI business updates,” Brooks said.
Similarly, the PCLC works to shape the advocacy efforts in Madison, Wis., Lansing, Mich., and Des Moines, Iowa, as well as in Washington, Brooks said.
“We work with our government relations staff and with our state association to stay abreast of the goings on in the Capitol buildings and at the PSC and to share a consistent message as needed.”