Energy Assurance Exercise "Dark Sun" June 29-30,
2004
The US Department of Energy (DOE) held a one-and-one-half day energy
assurance exercise at the Army training facility Camp Dawson, West Virginia.
About 150 people attended the meeting, including three state legislators:
Senator John Unger of West Virginia, Delegate Carol Petzold of Maryland, and
Representative Carl Holmes of Kansas. Several state-based organizations were
represented- the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the National
Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), the National Governors
Association (NGA), and the National Association of Regulatory Utility
Commissioners (NARUC). Other attendees represented state energy offices,
regulatory commissions, other state agencies, national laboratories, federal
agencies, and private sector energy companies.
Day One
The exercise began with an introduction by DOE staff to the
types of interconnections that link the energy infrastructure with other
critical infrastructure like telecommunications and transportation. These
include physical, cyber, geographic, and logical interties. Attendees were
encouraged to think of how interdependencies can change over the course of a
long outage and/or frequent outages. Attendees then broke into groups to take
part in the first of two energy emergency scenario exercises. After each
exercise, groups reported findings back to the large group.
Scenario 1- Disruption to petroleum infrastructure on the
Gulf Coast
Attendees viewed a video
demonstrating a hypothetical terrorist bombing of an oil refinery, a foiled
truck bombing at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and two explosions at pumping
stations in Oklahoma. After receiving more details about the scenario from DOE,
attendees split into groups that focused on the perspective of either public
affairs, policy, operations, or system interdependencies. In their discussions,
groups compared state emergency plans and agreed upon major short-term and
long-term themes for handling and preventing this scenario.
Scenario 2- Disruption to electricity and natural gas infrastructures on
the west Coast
The second scenario presented a hypothetical loss of
transmission lines in California and attack on a natural gas compressor station
serving California. In their groups, attendees addressed a broader range of the
four perspectives outlined in the previous paragraph, but otherwise the group
activity was similar to that of the first scenario.
Day Two
Don Milsten of the National Association of State Energy
Officials and Jeff Pillon of the Michigan Public Service Commission presented a
draft of a NASEO report which provides state policymakers with a primer on
writing state energy assurance plans. The presentation highlighted the major
sections of the report, including the need to clarify relationships and
responsibilities among the agencies and officials who would be involved in an
energy emergency; designing strategies and response measures for managing energy
shortages, and managing public information needs.
Attendees learned that the federal government through DOE and DHS is
working on guidance information and advice for states in planning energy
emergency prevention and management. DHS holds videoconferences with governors,
and DOE is coordinating EEAC, an Internet-based database of key energy emergency
contacts in the states and in the federal government. States are also working
together through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact and informal
regional compacts in the Northeast and Midwest.
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