US energy infrastructure is outdated and increasingly vulnerable to threats, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told reporters at a Monitor-hosted breakfast in Washington.
WASHINGTON — US energy infrastructure is vast, aging, and in need of an overhaul, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says, and the biggest challenges are the most unpredictable: climate change and cyberattacks.
Staggering in size, the US energy system includes 2.6 million miles of pipeline and 6.3 million miles of electrical distribution lines. There are 414 natural gas storage facilities and 330 ports handling crude and petroleum products, plus 140,000 miles of railway carrying crude and more from well to refinery – and that’s only a small sample of the transmission, distribution, and storage systems that power the US.
But all of that infrastructure is vulnerable to growing threats, Sec. Moniz said Monday at a Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters in Washington.
“I’m not going to single out one [threat] because we’ve got to address them all,” Moniz said. But looking ahead, he added, “I think the two that almost certainly will increase in risk level are cyber and extreme weather” made worse by climate change.
Last week, Moniz rolled out his department’s Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), identifying weaknesses in US energy infrastructure – from inadequate natural gas distribution pipelines to an outdated electric systems.
The electric grid, the report found, is especially vulnerable.
“Threats to the grid – ranging from geomagnetic storms that can knock out crucial transformers; to terrorist attacks on transmission lines and substations; to more flooding, faster sea-level rise, and increasingly powerful storms from global climate change – have been growing even as society’s dependence on the grid has increased,” according to the report.
View the original content and more from this author here: http://ift.tt/1JLKJYH
from critical infrastructure alliance http://ift.tt/1Oz3FQY
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment