Center for Security Policy Testifies Before Texas Legislature on protecting Grid from Electromagnetic Threats

(Austin) Efforts to protect the Texas electrical grid took a step forward recently following the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee’s passage out of committee of SB75. The bill, authored by Senator Bob Hall and heavily supported by almost every Texas state senator, would establish a Texas Grid Security Commission and enable other steps to help protect the ERCOT grid, the only electrical grid in the United States which is wholly state regulated.

The Center provided both written and oral testimony in support of the bill, with an emphasis on the impact the bill would have on helping to secure against electromagnetic spectrum (EM) threats –such as solar weather, intentional electromagnetic inference, and nuclear EMP– a security risk that state and federal governments have ignored for decades. As CSP President Lt. Col. Waller (USMC Ret.) explained in his testimony, addressing EM threats is crucial because of the 100% certainty of future serious impacts from powerful solar storms. As the Center has previous testified, federally-approved protection standards for solar weather are wholly inadequate and transparently defective.

Austin Resident Don Brown, a member of the Center for Security Policy-led Secure the Grid Coalition also provided expert testimony, both oral and written, before the committee on the growing affordability and reliability of available and tested solutions to protect the grid, particularly high voltage transformers. Brown noted that protecting every high voltage transformer in the ERCOT grid would cost ERCOT ratepayers an estimated $.80 per month. The protection of high voltage transformers is a vital piece of Grid security, as production lead times for transformers has increased from 18 months in 2014 to 4-7 years.

While versions of the grid security bill have died in prior sessions, the advancement of SB 75 comes on the back of recent action by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to address EM threats, signing Executive Order GA-49, which tasked the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) to:

“…assemble relevant state agencies to develop and evaluate emergency planning and response procedures related to electromagnetic spectrum threats,” and “recommend policies and best practices to protect critical infrastructures from such threats.”

This is the first time a state governor has specifically directed his government to address electromagnetic threats.

The Center for Security Policy has been an active participant in efforts to secure the Texas Grid for many years, as Waller explained in a recent video on X.com, and the committee’s successful referral represents an important milestone in efforts to secure Texas’ grid from all hazards.

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Lt. Col. Tommy Waller’s verbal testimony before the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee:

Lt. Col. Tommy Waller’s written testimony before the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee:

Don Brown’s verbal testimony before the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee:

Don Brown’s written testimony before the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee: