PGDTF,
You might be interested in President Obama’s executive order related to GMD.
Regards,
Michael Juricek, P.E.
Chairman Planning Geomagnetic Disturbance Task Force
Asset Planning Distribution and Transmission
Oncor Electric Delivery Co LLC
Office: 214.743.6671
Mobile: 214.490.0748
Thursday, October 13, 2016 4:40 PM ET
White House asks agencies to prepare for solar storm impacts on grid
The White House is directing federal agencies to work together to better predict and prepare for space weather events that could have adverse impacts on the power grid and other
critical infrastructure.
President Barack Obama in an Oct. 13
executive order warned that solar flares, solar energetic particles and geomagnetic disturbances, or GMDs, could significantly degrade critical infrastructure, including potentially disabling
portions of the power grid. They also could disrupt other critical services, such as the provision of healthcare and clean water, as well as global positioning systems, satellite operations, communications and aviation.
The president therefore is directing government agencies to coordinate efforts to prepare for, predict and, if necessary, recover from space weather events. Should the president
designate a space weather emergency, the Department of Energy secretary will oversee the protection and restoration of the grid. The order gives DOE, with FERC's assistance, 120 days to develop a plan to test and evaluate available devices that mitigate the
effects of GMDs on the grid, after which it will collaborate with the power industry to implement that plan.
Agencies that oversee critical infrastructure that could be impacted by a GMD, such as a nuclear reactor, must also within 120 days assess their authority to direct, suspend or
control such infrastructure before, during and after a space weather event.
FERC has worked on plans to help mitigate the potential impact of GMDs caused by solar storms for several years, most recently in September when it
approved a second mandatory reliability standard to protect the grid in the event of adverse space weather. At the time, Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur hailed the final rule and said it recognized
that the science around GMD events is still evolving.
The new executive order should help do just that, as officials from the Department of Defense, NASA and other agencies have been tasked with exploring ways to improve space weather
observations, modeling and predictions, and to collaborate with any necessary industries or academic partners in doing so. The agencies will also make available to the public historical data from GPS constellation and other U.S. government satellites.
Leading the overall coordination efforts will be the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren, along with Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan. The executive order also directed the White House's National Science and Technology Council to establish a subcommittee to work on space weather events and
implement a National Space Weather Strategy issued in 2015.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office in April said the federal government needed to
do more to prepare for solar storms and electromagnetic pulse attacks, which can have similar consequences. To date solar storms have caused very few widespread disturbances to the power
grid, although a 1989 solar blast knocked out the main electric utility in Quebec. NASA scientists have cautioned that solar storms could occur more frequently, and even lesser storms like the one that affected Quebec could wreak havoc on the power grid.