User:Lindseywb18/Electric grid security in the United States

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The initiation of government oversight of the American Bulk Electric System (BES) occurred after two incidents led the government to investigate further the causes of the 1965 North East Blackout alongside another small blackout in 1967 at the Pennsylvania New Jersey Maryland (PJM) interconnection (Nevius, 2020). These two incidents prompted US Congress to initiate legislation focused on increased oversight of the electric power system, ultimately leading to the Electric Power Reliability Act of 1967. In 1968,1968, the National Electric Reliability Council (NERC) was formed after 12 regional organizations signed an agreement spanning the United States and parts of Canada (Nevius, 2020). NERC is still around today, yet its name has changed a little, and it is now called the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Shortly after this, in 1971, each region had its own Regional Reliability Council, which was in place to ensure collaboration and reliability of the BES, each having a member who served on the NERC board (Nevius, 2020). The landscape changed in 1971 when 4 of the regionals combined to make one large region known as the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council (SERC), dropping the number of areas from 12 to 9.

In 1997, the first set of Operating and Planning Standards was approved by the NERC board, which started the implementation of certifications and standards to ensure the reliability of the American BES (Nevius, 2020). While security and reliability efforts ramped up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it wasn’t until 2003 that a massive blackout occurred in the Eastern Interconnection, leaving 500,000 people without power. During the investigation, NERC determined that their reliability standards were not being upheld and revamped them by creating reliability standards that were now enforceable (Nevius, 2020). The Reliability Standard was approved in December 2004 and became effective in April 2005.

The Energy Policy Act 2005 was finalized and signed into law in August 2005. Section 215 authorized the Federal Energy Reliability Commission to certify and provide oversight of one Electric Reliability Organization responsible for the mandatory enforcement of the NERC Reliability standards (Nevius, 2020). NERC then applied to FERC for certification in April 2006 and was certified in July 2006. In 2007, NERC provided regional delegation for enforcement to eight regional entities: Florida Reliability Coordinating Council; Midwest Reliability Organization; Northeast Power Coordinating Council: Cross Border Regional Entity, Inc.; Reliability First Corporation; SERC Reliability Corporation; Southwest Power Pool, Inc.; Texas Reliability Entity, a division of ERCOT; and Western Electricity Coordinating Council (Nevius, 2020). This led to what is now known as the NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection Standards being approved by FERC in June of 2007. As of 2024, there are six regional entities, including the Midwest Reliability Organization, Reliability First, Northeast Power Coordinating Council, Texas Reliability Entity, Western Electricity Coordinating Council, and the SERC Reliability Corporation (2023). Since their creation, these regional entities have ensured the reliability and security of the American BES by enforcing the mandatory NERC CIP standards (2023). Throughout the years, the standards have evolved to meet the changing threat landscape of cyber and the risks facing the operational side of the BES yet continue towards the same mission of maintaining the security and reliability of the BES.