Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hurricane Infrastructure Recovery Government Officials Panel 20171107

Season was unprecedented. More named storms in close succession slammed the gulf and the u. S. Virgin islands. These hurricanes caused catastrophic damage in Energy Supply disruptions across the country. Both texas and florida are further down the road to recovery in the humanitarian crisis is unfolding in puerto rico. A number of colleagues from this committee have been down there and the u. S. Virgin islands where the majority of folks still remain without power for more than a month after Hurricane Maria made landfall. Todays hearing will review the response in Energy Recovery efforts in the wake of the storms that will help us begin to understand what went right and what went wrong. What lessons can be learned and how we as a risk and identify gaps so when the next hurricane hits we will be better prepared. As a result of Hurricane Harvey more than 275,000 customers lost power in texas and severe flooding affected supplies and fuel. Compounding the response to challenges in Energy Impacts across the gulf. Hurricane irma left more than 1 million customers without power across puerto rico and the Virgin Islands at more than 6 million customers in florida and another million in georgia and South Carolina also lost power. Two weeks after irma Hurricane Maria delivered the knockout punch wiping out the entire grid of puerto rico and the Virgin Islands and pete more than 3. 5 million folks were without power. As with most disasters energy frustration is performed by vital resources infrastructure support and logistical coordination and by industry which provides the expertise and manpower to restore Energy Supply and services. As we witnessed nightly in the news recovery on the islands is a pain way difficult and slow. The questions are mounting regarding the role of Puerto Rico Power Authority and its initial reluctance to requests mutual aid from mainland Electricity Companies who are standing by ready to assist immediately after the story. Rather than requests mutual assistance as texas and florida did the preceding storms took the unusual step to award the contract to a virtually unknown company which had been canceled. That is now the subject of an investigation by this committee, as it should he. Today we are going to hear from two with his panels will provide perspective from the federal level the state level and industry responder level. As we have seen in recent weeks across the areas affected by the storm each disaster creates its own set of problems. Todays witnesses can help us understand the factors that contribute to these problems and what we can do to ensure a more Effective Response Going Forward forward. It will help us understand the challenges we face in the aftermath of devastating storms and while we have seen devastation we have also seen some aspects of the response go right. At this point the department of Energy Support function is gone well. Deal is cordish in a predatory for waivers during the disaster has gone well. Assistance has been consistent and helpful to government and the industry alike. We will hear this morning that the Strategic Petroleum reserve which after harvey provided petroleum swaps to make up for the loss of supply and keeping prices at the pump somewhat stable. We will also receive an important update on the restoration efforts to bring power back to the folks in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands. Will be particularly helpful to understand what had been barriers to a more rapid recovery and learning to coordination of Emergency Response and restoration on these territories and what is needed from us in congress. How can we apply a Going Forward in this hearing should help answer those critical questions may yield not to the Ranking Member the subcommittee my friend the gentleman from illinois mr. Rush. I want to thank you mr. Chairman for holding this important hearing examining the 2017 2000 team rather Emergency Response and Recovery Efforts surrounding these emergencies. Mr. Chairman there are many Critical Issues that must be addressed. While i appreciate having witnesses and the gao report that we requested as we speak there are many millions of american citizens living without electricity and many are facing dire conditions for over a month now as Hurricane Harvey and irma have shattered their lives and devastated their livelihoods. Mr. Chairman it is my hope that this hearing will shed light on additional steps need to be taken quickly to restore power while also assuring those residents in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands specifically that their government has not forgotten about them and that we will provide the same, the exact same attention to helping them as we will for any other american citizen. Mr. Chairman as you know more than six weeks after Hurricane Maria made landfall nearly 70 of puerto rico and 80 of the u. S. Virgin islands the power needed for basic everyday services. Drinking water preserving food and medicine or making emergency calls or other critical functions that are necessary for normal daily activities. Providing essential resources for the safety of individuals. Over the longterm we must help to rebuild the Energy Infrastructure in a way that makes us stronger and more resilient against extreme weather conditions. Mr. Chairman hurricanes irma and maria and the puerto rican u. S. Virgin islands. While some communities expect to remain without power for months on end. Last week it resulted in 1. 250 yen dollars for supply disruption to a hospital in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands. Mr. Chairman we can find no event in u. S. Recorded history where as many people were without power as long as has occurred over the past month import of rico in the u. S. Virgin islands. Mr. Chairman i look forward to engaging with todays distinguished panel on the progress that has been made. And the additional steps that must be taken to get the power on and for more resilient and sustainable infrastructure. Thank you mr. Chairman i i yield back. He met the chernow calls upon the chairman of the full committee mr. Walden for five minutes. I thank the gentleman had acknowledged his uniform. 2017 Hurricane Season has been among the worst in recent memory. While fuel supplies and electricity were restored on the mainland the humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands and i think you will hear that from both sides of the aisle. This is a real serious situation that we all care deeply about. Its not uncommon to see stories in the news about heroics and personal sacrifice. We trusted our policymakers to put aside their differences to do whats in the best interest of the country. We have already passed supplemental Disaster Relief funding in this congress but we understand much more is needed and we will continue to work with the administration and our colleagues so that our fellow citizens can get the Additional Resources they need to recover and to rebuild. This committee we rolled up our sleeves and search for solutions to the various challenges that present themselves after a major disaster. Want to make sure the agency under our jurisdiction are wellprepared and are responding a properly both now and what we learned from those censuses and are better prepared for the next storm or disaster. If you are lacking certain authorities let us know. If you want to we want to know about these things so we can help fix them. They want to be practical. How can we help ensure the federal response is well coordinated with state and local industry responders . How do we ensure decisions are made to guarantee taxpayer Funding Provides a maximum benefit for those in need and that the taxpayers are rep. . If we need to rebuild what we do to make our verb structure more resilient . Emergency telecommunications supply and delivery of energy. We will be gathering facts perspectives and Lessons Learned that we have heard witnesses on the subcommittee about Public Health preparedness for and response to the hurricane. Wilson examined Disaster Response related to environmental hazards and telecommunications as well but today we are focusing on Emergency Response and Energy Infrastructure recovery both for fuel supplied and electric grid. This year we have been confronted with several challenges and situations historic flooding in houston possibly the greatest evacuation in floridas History Energy crisis in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands that could leave millions without power for an estimated time to come. We may take for granted how lucky we are that we can flip a switch and the lights come on peter citizens in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands almost every aspect of their lives are deeply disrupted. Hospitals without external generators cannot serve their patients. Getting that power restored his critical. Water Treatment Plants without power and those who live in remote areas that do not have access to fuel are cut off from the most basic of necessities. With the Witness Panel will provide porton information. I expect this will be an excellent hearing for us to identify vulnerability is and assess what is needed to better prepare and respond to future storms and disasters and with that i want to thank you for being here today. I appreciate the testimony that you have submitted. Thanks for the good work you and your teams are doing out there. We want to learn with you and be better prepared when the next disaster hits. Without mr. Chairman unless anybody else on our side seeks remaining minutes. I would ask question of the vice chair of the committee. Are you intending to wear the jersey on the house floor and the full house this afternoon . I tried to wear this three weeks ago and i was banned. We will always be able to find you forever. Mr. Chairman i yield back the balance of my time. The gentleman yields back and i recognize the Ranking Member. See b thank you mr. Chairman for convening todays hearing on the 2017 Hurricane Season and im grateful for mr. From the Virgin Islands but im disappointed that the committee did not receive a response to the outreach to the prop up. And how prep has managed to ackerley mismanage the grid in puerto rico over the years. Today we are focusing on Energy Infrastructure Recovery Efforts and i must say the areas affected by the storms painted dire situation that completely contradicts the stories that come from the white house for the truth is taken to gather puerto rico and the Virgin Islands are currently experiencing the largest blackouts in American History and its a nightmare for fellow citizens that is far from over. The central question should the why is it taking so long to restore power in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands . Who is in charge of the efforts to restore power to puerto rico . No one seems to be in charge and its chaotic and ineffective effort to restore power on the island. I want answers and so do many my colleagues on both sides avail. The maze of contracts with overlapping missions a patchwork of failings to turn the lights back on in puerto rico and that needs to change now. Im deeply concerned by the terms of the contract with white fish and cocrack position which went so far as to bar completion of grid repair work. We need to learn more about how these contracts are being awarded and whether the bidding process is competitive and thats why chairman walden upton and Ranking Members rush request documents in a briefing from white fish so we can learn more about how that troubling agreement materialize. Additionally fema issued a statement that had no involvement in the development of his contract and my question is why not . The federal government should being gauged in the contracting process of largescale building contracts for which the taxpayers will foot the bill. The government needs to expedite power its efforts. Simply put the Trump Administration needs to be doing more to do but cant get the power turned back on soon more people are going to die. This is a humanitarian crisis in our government owes it to the territories to do their thing he can to fix fix it fix it. While its a most searching concern is also crucial that grid in puerto rico and the u. S. Version of the rebuilt with more modern Energy Technology based on increased Resiliency Energy efficiency and renewable energy. It will cost taxpayers more money and did nothing to make doctors in puerto rico more reliable or affordable. As Congress Prepares the most next emergency spending bill was change the law to enable their building to occur in a way that wasted groundwork for constructing a modern electric grid in the territories. We must consider innovative ways for turning around puerto rico situation including alternatives to overseeing the operation of the grid and all ideas from privatization which im not really a fan of to the creation of a Marketing Administration have to be up for conversation. Lets have ion from the puerto rican people. I dont know if anybody wants the minute that i still have. If not mr. Chairman i will yield back. The gentleman yields back. At this point we are ready for testimony. Thank you in advance. Thank you for sending your testimony in advance. Will be made part of the record. I would like each of you to take no more than five minutes to summarize your testimony at that point when that is concluded we will be asking questions. We are joined first by Patricia Hoffman the undersecretary for science and Energy Principle Deputy Assistant secretary for electricity delivery Energy Reliability. Welcome and thank you. Chairman that then Ranking Member rush distinguished members of the subcommittee i appreciate the opportunity to discuss Energy Security and Emergency Response issues related to the 2017 Hurricane Season. The mission of the office of electricity delivery and Energy Reliability to develop innovative cuttingedge solutions to ensure our nations Energy Infrastructure remains reliable affordable and resilient. In order to fulfill this mission the department of energy represents the technical capabilities of the National Laboratories in partnership with the key private sector stakeholders to focus on Early Stage Research and transformative projects. Our organization is also the lead for providing industry related expertise to the federal Energy Management agency also known as fema our interagency partners in the administration as part of the department of energys Emergency Response activities. Oa serves as the lead organization for Emergency Support function 12 under the National Response framework and a suspect theres agency for energy. As the lead for esf 12 e. Dio is response off for providing information and houses about disruption and to assist in facilitating the restoration of damaged Energy Infrastructure. During Hurricane Harvey irma maria we have worked with industry and the federals territorial and local partners to facilitate response and recovery. Overall d. O. E. Has received 18 Mission Assignments and has deployed more than 110 personnel for response efforts. Each of these storms are presented unique challenges to the energy sector. With respect to Hurricane Harvey we saw p. Electricity outages to three and a thousand customers in texas families gamma. While offshore crude oil or natural Gas Production were disrupted by the storm the greatest impacts were to the midstream and downstream oil and refinery sectors. At its peak more than 4 Million Barrels a day of Refining Capacity representing more than 20 of u. S. Refining capacity was offline. It took several weeks for floodwaters to recede but the refining systems and leave him in texas have resumed normal operations. In addition to letting closed to key induction points along the Colonial Pipeline forcing the system to operate intermittently at reduced rates for several weeks before normal service was resumed. Hurricane irma the second category four hurricane to make landfall in the United States this year cost approximately 8 million at electric customer outages from the caribbean to the south of their estates. There were approximately 7. 8 million customer outages in florida. Three days later september 14 power was restored to fight many customers. 64 of those customers five days later restoration was that 98 . D. O. E. Is playing a significant role in supporting the restoration and Recovery Efforts in the u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico from Hurricane Maria. Puerto rico the u. S. Army corps does have a primary role in Emergency Restoration and rebuilding the infrastructure that d. O. E. Has deployed personnel and equipment to the western a administration to provide a Mission Assignment from feaman is working to facilitate it additional mutual assistance. Days after bruce walker was hit was on the ground assisting personnel in coordination with fema and the army corps of engineers. Recently the government, governor and proper have requested additional line workers and equipment necessary for the restoration of power grid secretary perry in their d. O. E. Team look forward to a thoughtful conversation focused on our response and Recovery Efforts for this Hurricane Season to focus on reliability, affordability and resilience of the electricity system from hurricanes as well as other extreme weather events. I would like to take a moment and thank the utility workers for their time and their efforts in responding to the Hurricane Season but like any of them there are always hard Lessons Learned and we look forward to improving our efforts. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you very much. Ray alexander the director for Contingency Operations. Welcome. Chairman that then ranking the russian members of the subcommittee my name is Ray Alexander in charge of Contingency Operations for the u. S. Army corps of engineers. The stafford act under the stafford act we support fema under the National Response framework as is the lead federal agencies for Emergency Support function or public works and engineering. As the three provides emergency power and housing debris management infrastructure assessment critical public facility restoration. Under public law 8499 we prepare for disasters planning coordination and training the federal partners. We assess the state and local entities to implement advanced measures that prevent storm event damages. Would repair damage to authorize federal projects and work with states and municipalities to rehabilitate and restore eligible nonfederal if a structure to prestorm conditions. When disasters occur core teams and resources mobilized from across the command to assist local officers with their response. As part of this mission the core is more than 50 specially trained teams afforded by emergency contract to perform a wide range of support missions just describing these contracts are preawarded and quickly activated to execute. This year the corps has supported federal response and recovery operations in multiple events including Hurricane Harvey irma and maria. Fema directed 37 as i missed the corps for hurricane currently the corps has 195 employees deployed. The corps assisted in supporting state of texas for the development and implementation of the temporary Housing Project management plan. Three teams led by experts continued to provide states and municipalities with Technical Assistance to monitor debris removal disposal operations in 15 counties. Fema directed anyone Mission Assignments to the corps for hurricanes irma and maria are currently the corps has over 1500 personnel deployed. As of this morning the corps has completed over 1000 assessments in over 500 temporary generator installations in the caribbean. This includes 250 assessments and 150 installations in the u. S. Virgin islands and over 750 assessments and 400 installations and puerto rico. Under Fema Authority we are assisting toward rico with the operation and maintenance of the critical nonfederal generators across the island as well. Its on track to complete the mission by november. We have complete over 7000 temporary roofing installations in the caribbean including over 2500 in the u. S. Virgin islands and 4700 puerto rico. Working requirements have been extensive requiring additional but terry lane construction supports which initially slow progress. We have added additional capacity and are seeing daily improvements. According to subject experts in response to Hurricane Irma we continue to provide oversight within the Florida Department of emergency management. The corps is working to remove an estimated 1 million of debris in the u. S. Virgin islands and over 6 million cubic yards and puerto rico. The corps works closely with the u. S. Coast guard and the National Oceanic and administrative Atmospheric Administration and local authorities to open harbors to navigation channels across all affected areas. Critical to restoring commerce in the low 20s and equipment to reach affected communities through the corps works with officials in tech support to manage Flood Control reservoirs during an present in rainfall than puerto rico 11 teams inspected 17 party dams to work closely with the Puerto Rico Authority prepa to restore power to the damper the court cleared existing outflow conduits and placed emergency pumps in the dam that restored flow to the critical Treatment Plant that supports the needs of over 30,000 people. The corps received a fema assignment under stafford act authority to assist prepa. We are partnering with the present established a Senior Executive web task force to oversee work and provide Technical Assistance. The department of energy has embedded experts and her team and continues to assist our efforts. Within two weeks of this Mission Assignment we were worded contracts for largescale stabilizing the grid in san juan for additional flight repair as a civil assist ongoing efforts by prepa per the court remains fully committed and capable of executing civil works at to these across the nation despite her heavy involvement in these these we also remain ready and poised to assist in future event should they occur. This concludes my testimony and i look forward to answering the questions you may have. Thank you very much. Next is the chair of the Public Utility Commission for texas. That will be happy woman is well with the astros. My name is dn mocking the chairman of the Public Utilities commission of texas. Ive happily fill that seat september 20 yes im new to this. I believe i have a unique perspective on restoration from hurricanes. The state Operations Center in texas what they call a tiger team of utilities come personnel that is rotated within the state Operations Center to help with restoration to coordinate with federal and state officials throughout an event that has now served three events in the state Operations Center great hurricanes routed and hurricane i was representing a utility enduring Hurricane Harvey i was working for Governor Abbott and was down in the state Operations Center working with the utility to restore service. We believe the electric industry and the infrastructure in texas fared very well during Hurricane Harvey compared to past hurricanes. We had under 350,000 at any one time and we have more than that for continually restoring service during that time. The longest time we have any customers out was for two weeks and that was in the area which was the direct hit of the eye of Hurricane Harvey and really took the brunt of it. During the storm the puc worked with state federal and local agencies to restore power. I want to focus the rest of my time on what we are taking this action items to better prepare for new hurricanes. Due to the amount of flooding that we had some cities and towns and areas we sought inches of rain throughout Hurricane Harvey. Many substations in our area flooded for the First Time Ever so we are looking at, and we have moved our mobile substations to help serve those customers. We are looking at whether or not its prudent for the state to uphold all of utilities to get together and purchase these mobile substations to have on hand in such an event. We are also working with the utilities to elevate the substations when they rebelled them so we are taking care of hardening the system in the process. I have also asked the state to look at whether or not we can better utilize utilities within texas to send equipment and personnel. We were drawing people from all over the United States under mutual assistance crews which we greatly appreciate but i would like us to look and see if we can rely on the texans that we have in the panhandle and el paso. They never were called on to help an obviously they were closer than a lot of. Utilities report addressed to us and doe only county in a zip code bases, but ther basis, butt consistency between the utilities until that was being done. For instance, some of the flooded substations once they had a plan to bring in the mobile substation, they took the outages and planned outages so they were no longer showing up as being impacted by the hurricane. I dont think thats an accurate representation to look at that. One of the things we started looking at to correct and hope to lead to better i am running out of time and i want to again thank you for your time today. Next Deputy Assistant secretary for the office of the reserved u. S. Department of energy. Chairman upton, Ranking Member rush and distinguished members of the subcommittee is an honor to appear before you today to discuss the petroleum reserve. The Strategic Petroleum reserve was established under the authority of the policy conservation act of 1975 and at that time the u. S. Oil production was in decline and the price allocation controls are treated the market from the rest of the world and in the global commodity market for legal as we know it now did not exist. The market has changed the environment in which the spr operates. While it has increased dramatically in recent years, the Global Market is the largest commodity market in the world making u. S. Consumers subject to the price. Regardless of the input levels, the supply disruption today would impact domestic petroleum prices. In the event of a serious disruption of setting the supplies of crude oil in concert with other countries that hold Strategic Oil stocks can help reduce and increase in International Crisis that could otherwise occur. The spr maintains and updates major storage sites, two in texas and two in louisiana. The underground salt caverns with the ability to draw down the storage sites to designated distribution caused with 4. 5 per day. It can begin to draw down crudee oil in as little as two days of notification and taking into account the time required to meet the sales requirements to draw down. The operating costs are less than 25 cents per barrel of the capacity per year. The Lowest Reported cost on a Stock Holding nations. As a member of the International Energy agency, the u. S. Has to Stock Holding obligations. As of june 20 u. S. Helped 14090s with Nick Petroleum imports and must be able to contribute a proportionate share to the collective action. As of june 30, 2017 the u. S. Must contribute all their goalss released during any collective action. As the trade increases, the potential role to help mitigate the Global Supply disruptions regardless of the level of the imports we have the ability to replace the supplies on the Global Market. Global oil prices could increase significantly in the u. S. And Global Economy could be harmed. Of the infrastructure is performed to ensure that its been able to respond to every emergency relief situation presented throughout its history. The facilities are a significant amount of infrastructure components at or beyond. Congress recognizes the need to modernize the infrastructure and the provisions in the bipartisan budget act of 2015 to address the concerns by authorizing the ball down co up to 2 billion worth of the crude oil to carry out the modernization program. Its the spr infrastructure for the systems upgrades an and dece that replacement to ensure that it can have the next requirements for the next several decades. Hurricane harvey impacted the crude Oil Infrastructure closing refineries and supply pipelines. After assessing the proficiency and consulting with other federal agencies regarding the status of the infrastructure, it received approval from the secretary osecretary of energy d six exchange agreement. It continued until the delivery was 5 Million Barrels completed on september 28. This concludes my statement thank you for the opportunity to speak about the spr and i look forward to answering any of your questions. Ranking member and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the past and ongoing work on the energy recently and didnt particularly the effectiveness of the Strategic Petroleum reserve. At that time the Global Oil Supply disruption has occurred in the oil embargo and had the effect of the fiscal shortages and in the United States and elsewhere. Today the Global Oil Markets are robust and prices change to the supply and demand so the physical shortages and long lines or less of an issue. Those caused by weather events. The spr has been partially successful responding to the domestic supply in instances when the gulf coast refineries and pipelines are operational and the crude oil supplies to the refineries have been disrupted. For example this year following Hurricane Harvey, they were able to supply several of crude oil by pipeline. Or they shut down power to other petroleum infrastructure. In these latter cases including following Hurricane Harvey and as much as 34 of the gulf coast capacity was shot in. And no Petroleum Reserves and as a result it cannot provide the needed Petroleum Products for florida, the eastern seaboard sd and otheinto the regions supplie gulf coast refineries. They recognized the desirability of having regional reserves of Petroleum Products for example in 2014 we identified five regions that are vulnerable to the supply disruptions. These include the west coast that is vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis in from texas and massachusett to massas vulnerable to hurricanes. With the exception of the small gasoline reserves held in the northeast there are no other product resource held in these vulnerable regions. They recognized the vulnerabilities that come to some studies of alternatives to the current composition and configuration of the Strategic Reserves and have not completed these studies. They choose to hold about 55 of its Strategic Petroleum products. They spread of th the reserves s the seven geographic zones and enable it to a Distribution Networks all over the country. The United States has benefited from european strategic stocks or Petroleum Products during past hurricane damage to the gulf coast refining infrastructure. They began arriving on the east coast within days. This mitigated the economic effect of the hurricane cost refinery and Oil Production shutdown. As they take the existing systems come of this committee and others have requested they undertake an evaluation of the spr. This concludes my remarks and i will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. The subcommittee tried to contact by email and phone but are not answering. So perhaps i misstated we have a task force for the Senior Executives that have been overseeing our mission to restore as assigned by. We are working in coordination and collaboration so that we can have well defined focus areas of operation so we are not working in each others area and we ensure that there are no gaps. They were able to award three major contracts, one for the temporary Power Generation and the power plants. We have an additional load on the area as was several days ago. The other two contracts on the line repair transmission distribution line repair. A larger contract 240 Million Contract have been on the ground today and are conducting assessments and starting to have the crew arriving and i believe as i said in my testimony, we are ramping up quickly 620 by 6y the end of this weekend. That number will double by midnovember and then we also have a Company Power secure. They are fully engaged and will have the assessment teams on the ground. It should arrive on the third of november. Were we aware of that contract before they . We have been working that since the sixth of september and the news that had been independently in the contract to another company we were not consulted or aware. You indicated in your written testimony that the temporary housing plan includes establishing this is as it relates to texas, 20,000 travel trailers and 4,000 mobile Housing Units had presumed most of them are th are the folks the actually displaced homeowners you know what that number is for puerto rico the 20,000 for tex texas. We are all aware of the critical need to get those facilities back online. It doesnt go to a shortage and how you incorporate the medical manufacturing in the approach in puerto rico. Its the utilities and conversation with the utilities for the interagency partners we discussed what are some of those Priority Restoration efforts. Its helping with the communications so that we understand where some of those needs are and where some of the activities should be with respect to the restoration processes so those coordinations occur with the local utilities in dusty territory itself. My time is expired. I recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee. [inaudible] the governor of puerto rico said he was not aware. Im sorry, i am not privy to that. I do not know. Are you aware that. The contractors are completing the task so they are still working on the island. Do you have information about who is in that contract . I do not. We are working in collaboration with them on not restoring the power of a the most in history and do you concur with their findings . [inaudible] the information that the governor as well as looking at what was the partnership with the army corps of engineers. There was some initial indication that i would say 50 on the army corps has estimated 50 would be restored by the end of december. Can you give us some insight on your opinion about the estimated timeline, and there might be some others speak to as for puerto rico, the estimated 30 on the grid would be restored by 30th of october. Our estimate is 50 [inaudible] to ensure it would take into account some of the Lessons Learned from the tax dollars. We are focused on executing the mission we have been assigned which is the restoration of the grid to the storm conditions and we are coordinated as we combat. Actually though we are working with the department of energy on what the more resilient grid would look like a. Of the chaia. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Houston Texas i thank the chair and welcomed the witnesses. My daughter kate is a junior and she loves it. What about harvey and irma, first of all, harvey. I live in texas and when it floods, it floods. Weve got four major floods in the past three years and the district works hard 24 7. After the first major flood in 2015, the army corps told the district they needed a section permit to maintain the ditches. It is supposed to be exempt the permitting process under section 404. But it referred to the district epa. They agreed its Maintenance Work and the county should be good to go, but here we are, two years and for floods later still unable to fix this critical problem and now harvey has made a bad problem much worse. These repairs cannot wait. They need to rebuild after Hurricane Harvey. Things would be made worse with erosion and piles of salt. We do not need red tape at the core of the project that should be exempt under the clean water act. My question is will you guarantee me that your office will work with my staff to get this fixed. Working with our partners and office to resolve this issue [inaudible] sir, do you ever talk to someone on the ground, have you your self talk to someone on the ground about the situation in puerto rico . The second round of questions is for you. I appreciate the work and guidance and you have been our chair for 41 rather intense days i do believe. It is with heavy rain as opposed to the storm surge. They did have the flooding damaged during the hurricane. The Biggest Surprise was the amount of rain it had never taken on water in the 50 years it had been there. The equipment are used to get to things because of the flooding. Houston also downtown experienced heavy flooding. I believe i heard that 83 of the downtown buildings lost power and have to come and i think some still are without power. Luckily the Medical Center did not. We have reinforced the Medical Center time and time again since hurricane allison come it wasnt a hurricane, but since allison, so im not sure of anything you all can pass here that would help us. We continue to learn from each storm. It was a much different storm. Thank you so much because what harvey at my house we never, ever lost power. The chair recognizes the Ranking Member of the full committee. Obviously addressing the panel i have to say expressing my concern at the federal response so far is nowhere near where it needs to be ended indicates nearly 70 of america on the island were without electricity. The New York Times recently described the situation in puerto rico. Is it the army corps or another agency . To restore the grid in coordination and collaboration. Thats fine i just wanted to get, you answered my question, is there a Strategic Plan for these efforts . If you look beyond the restoration thats being looked at by energy and other departments the doe is more responsible for the longterm plan, is that what youre saying . For the great restoration and enhancement. More involved trying to get things up and going. We are involved in trying to restore the grid in different sectors as expeditiously as possible and the then do this wn larger menace of how th these on the island and finally, repairing a transition for permanent service. How Many Companies has the core contracted with for the grade in puerto rico . We contracted with three companies into the army corps provided copies of those contracts so that we can get an understanding of the scope. I have to speak to the Contracting Authority and see what is permissible. If you can we would appreciate it. Weve heard varying reports as to how long it will take to resort power and by some accounts would be more months and many more months until power is fully restored. When did the army corps receive its mission to repair the grid from fema . On the 30th of september. Hurricane maria made landfall september 20. If you know why it took ten days to get the army corps is mission . We are not involved in the deliberations. We were executing the power at that time. Does the army Corps Mission provide well i guess you did answer that. You basically said if i understood the short term repairs in these other areas of the churchs diction but the longterm and fully reconstruction grade that would be more, correct . Yes, sir. Let me turn to mr. Hoffman on the doe, ms. Hoffman, im sorry. If the army corps isnt responsible for making longterm improvements, is the doe taking the lead on this effort . The department of energy is looking at strategies for longterm improvements with respect to strengthening the grid, so ideas such as Energy Storage, micro micro grades or y grades for the rousing power better Situational Awareness, all those activities that we are looking at but once again, the actual financing and implementation is the responsibility of the utilities were the government structure that will be decided for puerto rico. You stated in the testimony that its leveraging the national lab to develop longterm solutions to improve resiliency. What is the status of that effort . The National Laboratories we have been active in discussion on and looking at areas such as planning activities, Situational Awareness, looking at analysis type activities as well as harboring activities. What is going to have to be done is with the existing rebuilding process and looking at how some of the Innovative Solutions can be married in and built upon the existing rebuilding. Thats going to take time and its going to have to run in close coordination. We have seven technical experts and puerto rico working with the army corps to understand the timing and the extent of where the activities are going and opportunities for the future. Thank you so much. Thank you mr. Chairman. The chair recognizes the general man from illinois, mr. Shimkus. I want to show those three Different Directions real quick. Im a former military officer. Someone has to be in charge. I think it is very troubling that we have you all they are trying to restore the grid and you are not in consultation. The basic question is if youre going to call and yell at someone to get the job done, does anyone know who we are going to call . Youve been very good at trying to answer this but who do we call . Fema. Do we get our answer . We are obligated under i will say this from the chief of engineers to the commanding general to a number on the ground in puerto rico, they collaborate and meet on a daily basis. So i think we probably should have fema here. As part of this committee hearing, so maybe we will do that. Obviously we all know that the history behind the bankruptcy and their questionable practices and ability does anyone know why it took im not sure of other states having mutual Assistance Agreement and you will see the flow. Does anybody know if they had mutual Assistance Agreements with any stateside utility . It is my understanding that they havent asked for a mutual Assistance Agreement early on. They did just ask for i was told it took five weeks to ask anybody for help. The letter was submitted two days ago for mutual assistance, but generally the industry is very forward leaning and discussing with utilities and activating. We say it all the time, trucks are on the road whether its an ice storm or my neck of the woods a tornado, whether it is a hurricane, and im sure i have members in my congregation who are utility workers and that is a disappointing statement. The other, i want to put on the record i think we wanted to submit a letter for this hearing because the hurricanes did come through some of our locations where we have Nuclear Power plants in the think that would help building a record of the resiliency the slave power and the importance of that. And ive asked that if we finally get a letter that we are allowed to sit at that for the record. And the last point i want to go to mr. Roscoe and maybe mr. Corbin. The crude oil gold has changed significantly since the establishment. And ive been here a long time, 20 years. And i think one thing is for sure. We have always bought high and sold low. Is that a safe statement . In the history of the purchase of crude oil . You want to answer that . I think just by the nature of when it was established after a crisis and usually when they had authority to expand after a crisis, so it has been at higher prices. We have a history of buying high and selling low. And your testimony talked about the need for immediate refined product not based crude oil. Ain the old days when we were worried about the sea lanes being closed and importation of crude oil, this all makes sense. Am i right based upon your testimony today that youre saying maybe regional systems which the doe was supposed to analyze and that there would be more focus on the refined product . I think it is fair to say that most other countries that have Strategic Reserves have chosen to do that for reasons that you state. I hope my colleagues will follow up on those questions. The gentleman from california. I think the chairman and the witnesses this morning. Mr. Alexander, you mentioned prevention as a part of the mission. Within the stafford act framework and the structure of puerto rico to improve resiliency and use Sustainable Technology . The stafford act allows us to restore to the pre storm conditions. Meeting u. S. Electrical code in order to satisfy life, health, safety requirements. Some have interpreted that to mean we are making a more resilient system but that is not the case. Has there been any credible estimate of the cost difference between rebuilding the system that is resilient or just rebuilding the old system to look like it did before . There hasnt been a complete cost estimate taken into consideration the amount of work that has been done and that is being planned to be accomplished from the army corps of engineers, said there has been discussion around different advanced solutions but that needs to be based on the work and building plans that needs to be evaluated still. So it could be building a system that is resilient and sustainable wouldnt cost much more than just rebuilding the old system of the code. I think the analysis has to be completed. The office of electricity has worked on state Energy Risk Assessment initiatives and help states understand the risks to their infrastructure. Did the Virgin Islands and puerto rico have a risk pool before the hurricanes . I would have to go back and look into that. I am not sure whether they did a risk profile in the state assessment. Thank you. Is it true that the National Science Foundation Facility and the Radio Telescope has an infrastructure that supported the operations of subsequent hurricanes . You said stafford. [laughter] sorry, mr. Alexander. Excuse me. Is it true the National Science Foundation Facility Radio Telescope infrastructure survived well enough to serve as the fema operations under . Im not aware of that. Okay i was going to ask what differentiated the facility from those that did not survive. Does anyone have a clue to that question . I do not. Ms. Walker, you highlighted inconsistencies in tracking outages in the system. Whawhether theyre tracking outs be beneficial or how would it be beneficial . It helps us determine where to Deploy Services such as we call them pot but water, food, whether or not outages can be restored quicker and we know how many in the area have outages. We are able to then deploy the need for that Community Better with that knowledge and also working with the corps of engineers on deploying temporary generators. It just helps us to understand where to deploy the best needs. Do you have the authority to require the use of these outages . Yes, we do. Is a it a state or federal authority . It is a state. Thank you. Ms. Hoffman, how did they go about helping the utilities prioritize which lines were substations have so much fun first . Thank you for the question. The utopias have a restoration plan as they look at the outage Management System. They look at prioritization for the transmission lines to get the most customers on as soon as possible and work down in the distribution system, but they first must do Damage Assessment and assess the extent of the damage on the system and accelerating the Damage Assessment really helps a utility and planning the restoration process. But the federal government does is look at where the Critical Infrastructure is and is there any special need with respect to the large loads were storing Critical Infrastructure, whether it be telecommunication facilities, hospitals, so that is an ongoing discussion but it gets with the utilities reservation plant and utilities commitment with respect to how they are doing the restoration. The chair recognizes the gentle man from ohio. Thank you mr. Chairman and for calling the hearing today and for the witnesses being here. If i could ask you my first question you know one of the reasons for the recovery in florida was nearly 3 billion in current resiliency improvements since 2006. Could you elaborate as to what those improvements were and will doe be working with florida Going Forward and identify additional hardening practices . , thank you for the question. The investments by florida really have stimulated from activities that look to for this Situational Awareness, so the advanced infrastructure to provide Situational Awareness that we have been talking about because once you have the that awareness you can do and outage Management System and look at how you can advance and pre positioned to crew for the restoration process and also allowed for advanced switching to be able to minimize the amount of customers without power versus taking down a whole theatethewhole theater system yn really isolate damage on a system anthesystem and look at n opportunities. Other things utilities have done is hardening the infrastructure by looking at concrete poles, steel poles rather than traditional wooden poles. But all these capabilities are pulled together with an advanced Communications Control system but a Situational Awareness systems they can help in the restoration process. You are talking to the different kinds of polls, so is there anything they were doing to the hardening do you think . With respect to substations, this would probably go more for sandia also looking at hardening the substations and being able to and how to think of about abt hardening the substations . Hardening the substations you look at increased capabilities with respect to duration and being able to support prevention of damage from wind and also from flooding so it goes back to being supporting the infrastructure so you dont see the damage that can occur. If i could turn to you and elaborate on the agencies after Hurricane Harvey and could you see any improvements that need to be made between federal, state, local industry all working together or what is your view as to what happened and is there anything that can be improved on . I think there are improvements we can make and in my view, the time to make those are before the next storm. I found myself in the state Operations Center addressing issues that i think are better to try to handle after the storm and get ready for the next one. Some have to do with the interconnection for the fema temporary housing summer. Could you elaborate on the temporary housing i know it isa different press report on that, but could you elaborate on the temporary housing . Once they bring in temporary housing, its not usually right at the meter that the house is on, so the utilities to set up a new poll. There are processes in texas for each utility and my guess is each throughout the country on how those processes are to interconnect the new customer and facility and we would like to streamline that for the utilities in texas. We have five major utilities impacted and then multiple coops and municipalities and so we are hoping to have one process for fema to have to go through instead of multiple different processes so that is an example. Any other that you can think of on how to improve things out their . They are related to the inspection processes to get the homes reconnected so i think that is something we can address Going Forward, how those inspections are done and who does tend to make sure we have enough people on the ground. It was during the recovery, it isnt for me the time to be addressing things like that and i think that is something we can look at Going Forward. Thank you very much mr. Chairman coming at my time is about to expire so i wont yield back. Dot chair calls upon the gentleman from pennsylvania for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. Welcome back to the committee. Always nice to have another penn state here at the kennedy. Let me ask you in your testimony you explain the role when the restoration and Recovery Efforts in those areas impacted by recent hurricanes and a piece from 2015 published in power and Energy Magazine explained the frequency and intensity of these events have been tracked tiger in recent years with seven out of ten costly storms in history occurring in the last ten years these event in the defense present one of the most significant threats posed by Climate Change. That was in 2015 and since that time we finished the most extreme month of hurricanes that has ever been recorded earlier this year, so i went asking how is that the department of energy is responding to this increasing threat of Climate Change and extreme weather events . Of the department of energy is looking at all hazards including extreme weather as we look at Investment Opportunities or Research Opportunities advancing the grid. A lot of the Research Focused on advanced technologies for Energy Storage capabilities, advanced grid capabilities that they can build and invest in for improving the infrastructure. The article goes on to detail the resilience and also modernizing through the advanced technology, so in your testimony you explain the recommendation for the rebuild is being formed in consultation with the National Labs and a presentation earlier explained importance of distributed generation calling it a large factor in developing resiliency with Clean Energy Technologies and solutions so my question is is it the department and makindepartmentand making ro those that are helping rebuild the grade in puerto rico which will essentially be a brandnew system so are you urging the deployment of the systems and renewables . They combine as the most efficient form of distributed generation is an option that should be considered as one of the things we have to think about is how are we going to repair and as duplicate puerto rico that had over 8,000 solar panels, what is the process in which the department of energy and the restoration activities in the next event, how are we going to orchestrate the repair of the system. As you look at the efficient restoration process, there is an advantage to restoring the Core Electric grid comes with a micro grid might be a good balance between the two looking at typing the generation closer but i think it has to be in individual evaluation with respect to the state of the system and the opportunities from that point of view. Let me ask anybody on the panel does anyone have a comment regarding the resistance all surprising reconstruction aid . My understanding is this next local governments and utilities ineligible for longterm grants and im also concerned that because puerto rico is available only eligible for Emergency Services that the contracts dont end up following federal procurement rules and we end up with situations like whitefish energy. Have any of your agencies weighed in on this topic, is there an expected timeline reaction on this . Anyone . They authorized it in ten days in houston and texas, and i believe in a couple of weeks in the Virgin Islands yet for some reason this hasnt been fully authorized. They claim they are working on it. Can anyone explain the hold of and why it is taking so long . I think you are right fema should be sitting on the panel because it seems that a lot of the questions we asked m have ne answered by them. Do any panelists have suggestions for any highly beneficial action we could take to help expedite the rebuilding efforts in this sustainable manner . Can you give any suggestion to the committee on what we should be doing that we are not doing right now ask if i may add some comment as we look forward to the resilience i know its something that the administrator for fema is looking at as well as the department. Its how do we build resilience and think about that upfront investment ahead of a disaster and looking at what funds are available to really think about investing for resilience. The idea that our citizens are going to go another three months without electricity is unconscionable i think and i will yield back. The chernow calls upon the gentleman from ohio for five minutes. I appreciate the opportunity to ask of the panel, very important hearing that we are having today because we saw the effects of hurricanes and how the destruction that occurred during and afterwards how that affected not only the areas that were hit but other regions of the country as well, so since so much of our Energy Resources reside there on the gulf coast. So, how much does the northeast gasoline Supply Reserve cost on an annual basis, lets get that question out of the way first. Thank you for the question mr. Johnson. For the northeast gasoline Supply Reserve, the average storage contracts which are for the least commercial storage for product are approximately 19. 60 per barrel per year and when you include overhead costs and Quality Assurance and administration of the it Sales Platform in the event you have to release the gasoline it comes to a little over 20 per barrel per year, sir. Okay, so is the higher per barrel cost restoring gasoline versus crude oil a good use of taxpayer dollars . Thats not for me to decide whether that is a good use of taxpayer dollars. I will say, mr. Johnson, that in terms of the cost of storage for the Refined Products, the United States has over 1 out of 14 cous that participated in benchmarking studies that are stockholding countries, the u. S. Has by far the highest cost for gasoline storage out of the 14 countries. Okay. All right. Also, continuing on, the spr is almost entirely located in the Gulf Coast Region of the United States, limiting its ability to respond to disruptions in other parts of the country, particularly if we were to have a repeat of what the salt recently. For example, the west coast has relatively few pipelines that are connected to the spr meaning some Petroleum Products must be shipped by truck, barge or other domestic methods or by tankers. These modes of transport obviously are slower and more costly and limited the usefulness of the Strategic Petroleum reserves, so how would expanding in your opinion, how would expanding the number of locations across the country enhanced the effectiveness of the spr . First, i went by to make a correction to the statement. There are no pipelines that directly connect the spr to the west coast in the United States. The spr, as i mentioned in my testimony, crude oil is stored in underground salt caverns in the two sites in texas and two in louisiana. Salt Cavern Storage is very inexpensive. We have the lowest operating cost of any stockholding country in the world for the crude oil. There are no salt domes along the west coast of the United States. There are some outside of the immediate gulf coast area, but they are not significant. The northeast gasoline Supply Reserve and the northeast Home Heating Oil reserve are both very small, 1 Million Barrels apiece. They are intended to meet regional supply disruptions. There are challenges associated with product reserve regardless of the model that is used. Most of the product reserves that are currently in existence, they are essentially governmentowned Refined Products and commercial storage facilities. In any product reserve without model there is an initial refined product acquisition costs associated with it. Studies that we did on the west coast in the southeast u. S. , my staff found that there was little to no spare commercial Storage Capacity and as i mentioned previously the commercial storage costs are high. Okay. Mr. Chairman i yield back. The chair now calls upon the gentlelady from florida ms. Ms. Castor for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman i want to thank the professional staff for bringing this hearing to be and thanks to all of our witnesses. Theres a very serious tension that the congress has to address address. On the one hand we need to restore power import arrigo and the u. S. Virgin islands as quickly as possible but on the other Hand Congress has an over arching responsibility to protect the taxpayer from future losses by building a more resilient modern distributed grid. With better technology. Technology by the way that has largely been funded by the taxpayers that would be in our National Laboratories that is used by utilities and businesses all across the country. Senator ramon negus who is going to testify on the next panel is a former chairman of the Senate Committee on energy and he says the current gratis obsolete. The grid before the storm, before the hurricane. He said in his testimony appropriating taxpayer money just to repair his old 20th century grid would be a waste of resources and in fact the director of Emergency Response and recovery with the u. S. Department of energy stated that we really should tank in terms of rebuilding at this point, not just repairing the old grid. The problem that we have all got to grapple with is they do not have the wherewithal now to take the lead on this. They have governance problems. They have daish what else do we have to know after this whitefish controversy . I think we have a significant responsibility to protect the taxpayers here. A few weeks ago there was a congressional briefing provided by the department of Homeland Security fema u. S. Army corps of engineers was there and they also relate that they only have the authority now to go in and make repairs and not do the kind of rebuilding of the modern grid that needs to happen. In fact mr. Alexander in your testimony you say that your mission right now is to repair the power system to its prestorm condition. Is that correct . Yes maam. So what kind of, ms. Hoffman what kind of direction do you need from the congress to begin to go beyond the planning stage and do something that your very own directory of Emergency Response and recovery has said needs to be done and do you agree that you need that authority to go beyond preparing . I think there has to be an ability for the department of energy to work with prepa in planning and actively engaging and discussing what some of those advanced Technology Solutions are so the forum has to be codified so that there can be active engagement in the discussion of what are the opportunities. I know that prepa has their own plans in their own activities but how do we really take the advancement and apply that . It would be helpful for congress to provide additional clarity so that you can move forward to do watch on a bipartisan basis weather expert have defined needs to be done in the Virgin Islands. We have got to do this with a sense of urgency though. How do we do this as you keep going on to repair what kind of clarity do you need from the congress and maybe the next emergency that would allow you to go beyond just repairing the old obsolete grid and moving forward on something that would protect the taxpayer . While we recognize that the prestorm grid was not in Good Condition the current authorities under the stafford act and the mission assigned for fema limits us to storm conditions. I think this is ultimately a policy decision. Do we need to relook at the stafford act . Thank you very much. In previous emergency aid packages for Superstorm Sandy and for katrina its been the congress that has been able to go beyond the stafford act and going and repairing what was then building instead new resiliency whether its in housing or defense installations and things like that. We had never had a blackout or disruption of an electric grid at this scale ever before in the country and thats why this is something new. This committee needs to work on together with our colleagues in the senate and hopefully with the d. O. E. As they have expressed they are doing some of the planning but to put this into action is going to be our responsibility to pass that authorization in the next emergency aid project in i yield back my time. The chair now calls upon the gentleman from the commonwealth of virginia, mr. Griffin for five minutes. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. Ms. Hoffman during a hearing before this Committee Secretary perry mentioned that microgrids could be a solution to quickly restore electricity after future National Disasters and also am interested in how Microgrid Technology could be used to provide power to rural areas of the country. You believe puerto rico could benefit from microgrids and if so, how . Very much for the question. My Program Provides an opportunity to bring generations closer and manage supply and demand on a more local basis. Puerto rico you have the generation one side of the island and the dash on the other side of the island so ultimately youd like to be able to create a minigrid or a microgrid that would be able to balance that in a different form but that does require a generation in the does require load management ended dance communication controls to be able to manage that on a more localized basis so you look at things such as Energy Storage and other generations that can be in the local. Would you see it as ancillary ancillary . Ideally i would love to think about how do you build off of the existing system and capitalize on the existing investment and where it is electrically feasible and once again it requires close court nation with the existing infrastructure. Whenever you look at isolation or separation of the grid and look at microgrids looking at utilizing the existing assets and being able to build upon those assets with new technology and new capabilities. If you are suddenly cut off from as we have seen import a rico from your supply either electricity or the fuel to produce the electricity doesnt that require the microbe rid of some sort of a fuel source that can tap into in cases of an emergency . Absolutely. Need a fuel source you need redundancy and you need to be able to restore reliability of the microgrid whether its utility alone or private sector on. You have to have that capability for your customers. C appreciate that. What are the current limitations associated with a Microgrid Technology . Some of the current limitations are only looking at microgrid comptrollers to be able to have a facility to be able to control the microgrid. Looking at cybersecurity. Regardless of who owns the electric grid and how this has to be secure you also have to have the capability to dynamically manage supply and demand to looking at some of the advanced control solutions and along those lines as well as generation technology. Let me ask you this. Can you envision a microgrid might be smaller than the power source that would handle a hospital and its needs or a factory and its needs for short periods of time . As a part of the system as a whole but also to be able to take care of those needs in puerto rico and other places . Absolutely. Microgrids and University Campuses in hospital so i can be a small as one would define a microgrid that also can be larger. If you want to support multiple services in a locality. I would assume based on what we have party discussed if you had for some reason a Natural Disaster your fuel source was damaged but the rest of equipment was still good at a would be easier to drop in the fuel that i would the for the federal government to come in and drop in the home his system. Isnt that correct . I think that has to be a value weighted on a system basis to be fair. You are bringing in a lot of fuel and it comes down to what really is required for costEffective Restoration. What we are talking about is getting the power back on for as many customers as possible as efficiently and as effectively as possible so in some cases that may mean reestablishing a grid system and a grid that works. In other cases in the localized community that is very far and isolated it may be putting onsite generation there and creating a minigrid in the near term until lines of power can be restored. I appreciate that in my neck of the woods where we have a lot of cool we think that might be an answer for us and maybe for others to have that fuel source available with the microgrid ready to go. With that i appreciate it very much and yield back. The chair calls upon the gentleman from iowa for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman thanks to the panel for your excellent testimony and we have a lot of great questions. Want to join in with everyone else in expressing the fact that i was heartbroken by the devastation of these most recent storms. Its unfortunate how ways will see a lot more of this as we will be faced with these issues across the country. Many of us represent this and have been affected over the years by this kind of devastation. I represent cedar rapids iowa for six years and back in 2008 we had the flood of the century of or whatever number of centuries river crested at 31 feet, 9 feet over the previous record. 25 million damage done immediately and cedar rapids. The Economic Loss is probably the same. Theyve been through a lot like a lot of communities around the country and just recently what we have seen in puerto rico, texas and florida. I do want to i guess address my concerns more to mr. Alexander then anybody with respect to the court. You know the core ranks the projects and we are going to have a lot of projects coming up in what we have seen recently. Projects on the benefit cost ratio. Cedar rapids is 1. 2. Florida authorized projects in 2014 but we havent Seen Movement in terms of funding. The this will happen in these other instances too. Well have a lot of challenges and where to prioritize and put the money. I have a lot of concerns with the benefit cost ratio. It seems up to the bureaucratic to the folks who are living in these communities when they want to prevent floods in the future. Can you address that issue and give us any hope at all that not just cedar rapids iowa but these communities will be faced with mitigation down the road might get some relief and see some progress . Sir, i am familiar with the cost ratios and stacking of projects in the budget is limited. My focus is on Contingency Operations so the adequately address your question i would have to refer to our civil works personnel so i can have my staff work with them. Them. I suspect that might be the case but i will submit a question nonetheless and get an answer from the relevant person. Again i want to put up this issue more than anything else. Going forward this is as we know going to cost billions of dollars for reconstruction in these communities. A lot of them will face the same questions and cedar rapids since 2008. Its something we are going to have to pay close attention to them we will have to resolve that issue because folks are going to be depending on those reconstruct the Going Forward in their community. I yield back. The general manuals back. The chair now called upon mr. Mckinley for five minutes. Very patient, very patient. Thank you mr. Chairman. Chairman given the aftermath and all discussion of all the disasters we had i really want to applaud the department of energy who said efforts to refocus the narrative in the discussion about reliability and risley and see. It underscored how serious the problem is if we dont address it. So thank you for what you are doing and secretary perry for focusing on that because i think that could have some impact. My question and along the same lines has to do with the touch of chemical in the houston and louisiana and the gulf coast where we were so hardhit with that category for hitting their data shutdown 17, i think there 23 and 17 were shut down. One of them is still out. 60 of our production of polyethylene and propylene were lost for a period of time. It shows held formal portal we are in that area. I know folks that have reached our office because of that slow down because of lack of facilities to provide gasoline and propylene companies all across america are slowing down. One company in particular in my district was working seven days a week and is now down to five because they cant get the plastics. This thing is serious. What we have done and what i think d. O. E. Has an interest in and id like to hear more from you is rather than taking a page from the Strategic Petroleum reserve and keeping it all in location what if it were too located in storage in appalachian area where the marcellus and uticas shell formations are located so we can have a secondary supply, secondary source to be able to provide that for around the country. Do you have a thought about that from deal is position and where they maybe im having a secondary not replacing it by any stretch but having something in another location so its not vulnerable to the weather. Congressman you bring up an important issue location, location, location. As we look at any sort of whether its chemical product thinking about having flexibility and where that product is developed looks at our security resilience for the nation so i understand in the appalachian area theres a lot of Natural Gas Resources and so i know that the secretary has a roundtable discussion and is looking at the opportunity. It brings up the important point about diversity and i wanted to say generation diversity that Product Diversity in the United States. Following up on that during last years appropriation process our office had introduced an amendment to the appropriation bill that the study was undertaken to confirm whether or not there was an interest or possibilities or potential for having it in the marcellus and utica formations. Do you know what the status has been since i think it was made . Can you give me a status on how far along it has undertaken to make that determination and the feasibility of locating a secondary storage . I understand the department is undertaking a study in this area and its my understanding that the study will be completed in 2018. Do you have an idea of when and 2018 . In december or september or october . I dont have that. I will get back to you. I appreciate it and i will yield back. The methods among yields back mature calls upon the gentleman from the old mine state for five minutes. Thanks to the panel. I wanted to ask you mr. Alexander to step back in terms of the relationship to these disasters that have been occurring with more frequency and give me a sense of how much the coors mission effort and the deployment of its various projects has changed over the last few years in either response to the disasters that we are seeing and its Natural Disasters or in anticipation and the frequency of them is going to increase. Is that an analysis that is happening . Can you cite some trends in terms of the coors projects around their request that comes than related to the resiliency and adaptation and so forth in addition to efforts to respond to things that happened . If you could give that dirty thousand foot perspective that would help. Thank you sir. First every year following a storm season we do an afteraction review and we identify Lessons Learned and we worked to develop and establish best practices so that we can improve ourselves and how can we work with state and local governments to help prevent and work toward mitigation of disaster. We are always looking at how we can improve our Critical Infrastructure or aging infrastructure as you know. That is a separate issue. We acknowledge infrastructure needs to be resilient in order to withstand storms such as this flooding in mississippi tornadoes in the midwest. We are looking as we move forward and develop study projects and future projects. We are looking at ways to ensure that a high degree of resilience is incorporated. Are you seeing an increase . Is there a marked increase or something measurable in the kinds of proposals that are coming into the core that relate to these extreme weather events, either responding to something that has happened for projects that are anticipating increased exposure from these events and has the coors scoring system for projects then adjusted in any way relative to whats been happening with these kinds of disasters and weather events . Im not in a position to adequately address your question question. I cant say we do every year we have her request for additional flood damage mitigation projects projects. How can we increase the resilience of the levee systems and support and mitigate flooding in lowlying areas and for planes . I would appreciate it if it were possible to back to go back to an analysis following this Hurricane Season as its completed to see if you can give us some information about trends over the last few years in terms of the number of projects that fall into that kind of a basket and as i said whether the core is putting that analysis and thinking into a Strategic Plan for the core Going Forward that may lead to creating different sets of priorities for projects based on some of these issues. So that something certainly getting that analysis assume id can get some report on the analysis thats done on an annual basis. That would be helpful but then any additional perspective you can bring on those kinds of trends would be helpful. I yield back. C the gentleman yields back in the chair now calls upon the gentleman from missouri mr. Lawrence for five minutes. Thank you and ms. Hoffman 10 or so years ago my hometown of Springfield Missouri we received a devastating ice storm where there were folks out of power for 10, 12 days, two weeks whatever and companies came in from all over tapas in that situation be the recent situation in florida from the washington d. C. Area here in maryland and virginia and Springfield Missouri brought chris to florida to help in that situation so whenever neighbors helping neighbors of the state. Mutual assistance provided by Public Utilities and electric cooperatives across the country played an Important Role in restoring power so quickly in florida. Could you discuss the logistics in bringing in as many as 60,000 workers from across the country to quickly assess and restore locations in how this effort is coordinated by industry . Thank you very much for the question and i think its the aggressive posture that the Utility Industry has had as well as the Lessons Learned from katrina. The utilities have taken it upon themselves to have a leadership position developing a network or this is a network where utilities request mutual assistance and its organized to provide mutual assistance to utilities that request it and this is across the United States. There is different coordination and different entities responsible for mutual assistance request in different areas of the country. The utilities that provide mutual assistance talk about the Management Structure and they talk about equipment and equipment necessary and theres a huge coordination with respect to supplies and availability of resources. What role the state or local officials have been monitoring the use of mutual assistance to ensure its applied to the most critical areas . This is really interesting and i thank you for bringing up the point. What we deal with first and foremost the utilities are in a leadership position as they should we were providing response and recovery. The federal agency in the federal government and the department of energy, what we do is help understand what is it outside the ability of the utility to be able to manage their response and Recovery Efforts and what are the resources required the gaps are needed in providing support to whether this transportation issues, access issues. From a waiver point of view. Looking at access to any damaged area, to making sure that the utilities where i would go this answer, utilities nowadays are very much seen as emergency responders, typically that has been the health and safety side of things. As you look at Critical Infrastructure and the needs moving forward, telecommunications and electricity are primary for effective with life and safety. So access and being able to be forward leaning inc. It resources their are critical as we move forward. Lb more critical as we look at onsite generation. Thank you. Will the department of energy be working with the states and territories impacted by recent hurricanes to assess grid resiliency. I wish we had a time today for an emp discussion with all of you. Perhaps another day. Teams like her time is taken up today. I look forward to future conversation. I call mr. For five minutes. We hear about restoration working with some of our states, many of the federal remain in the most serious blackout in United States history. Restoring services is critical but we need to look at the risk of this happening again in support a more resilient grid moving forward. Extreme weather of fire events across the government well over the 350 billion according to the office of management and budget. The report estimated these costs will rise due to the effects of Climate Change. This is a pain now by supporting research, hardening researchers and mitigate Climate Change or pain now the fiscally sensible approaches to acknowledge the risk posed by extreme weather i make necessary investments to mitigate it. We just passed the five Year Anniversary of super storm sandy. Weve seen efforts to new york to build more resilient grid but it shows that building takes time. Lessons learned from one disaster can make recovery more effective. Were learning from all of the senate will continue. Until we address the preventative measures. Your testimony mentioned that Florida Power light has made Major Investments since 2006 similar work has been done in new york state in regard to sandy. How can smarter modernize grid be more resilient . A smarter grid allows for rerouting power so lets first talk Situational Awareness. The ability to have smart meters and to have visibility into your system and to isolate damage and reroute power. Having that ability allows you to have very Effective Restoration process, wellplanned and distributed with respect to priorities and how it can be done. With respect to rerouting power you can look at isolating customers that you can restore the most of the large number of customers quickly and additional customers unnecessarily. And can you explain how in texas, advance and others aided in a more rapid recovery . The advanced meter systems we have through most of the region were very helpful, and notifies the customer and the utilities of weather out so they know where theyre located. It also helps in rerouting and knowing where they need to send their crews and be able to reroute electricity to serve people in a more timely fashion. We found it was timely to have the advanced meter system and the new technology. Thank you. The review heavily focused on Critical Infrastructure. Im concerned about Puerto Ricans without access to safe drinking water. Water, telecommunication, these are dependent on electricity. As a more resilient grid system one that has micro grids and storage important for Rapid Response and recovery in regards interaction with other vertical infrastructure needs. Using the micro grid and the Smart Fashion is important. As you look at telecommunications and water and wastewater Treatment Plants. How do we get those areas to sustain or recover quickly . Having generation closer to these loads is absolutely important. I know areas in new york are looking at how to harden their infrastructure. I appreciate the efforts of going down to puerto rico and supporting the efforts. Has there been interaction with doe in regard to the interdependency. Any efforts with drinking water, the doe in the infrastructure of the utility . Through the electric coronary counsel through our responsibility we have had coordination discussions with telecommunication sectors and some of the other sectors to think about have we really move forward from this process and from a coronation process moving forward and strengthening our economy. Thank you. Ill back and congratulations. We now call upon for five minutes. Thank you for liming to sit on the committee that also i congratulate you on the astros victory. They are model, they really accomplish quite a bit this year and i like the way they rebuilt their team. I have a next or two minutes because of that . If you talk like they have ten minutes. I wanted to talk about ms. Walker, if i can ask you a couple questions, i understand theres of prioritization when utilities are being restored and in the midst of her response resources are spread thin. There are two hospitals in a given area, how do you utilities determine which facilities responded to first . In texas hospitals are required to have backup generation. Not sure how they decide which one they respond to first. I know during hurricane ike that was the first areas the company went to was to the hospital so that all of the personnel were trying to restore service to those. Im not for sure. I would need to look in to how they decide between two. What road to Utility Companies play in crafting the state Disaster Response plan in determining what sites are prioritized. They have complete power to come up with their plan to restore power. The commission does have levels we asked them to look at which is critical structures such as hospitals by statute they also have to respond to nursing homes. We clearly have them respond to refineries and things in the shift channel. The utilities are responsible for setting their priority. Thank you. How much flexibility does utility have in determining which sites are restored first. That have a lot in texas. Texas recoveries at the local level. They work with their counties and cities to make those determinations. The utilities in texas have a significant amount of determination on how they restore power. What challenges still exist for florida, what are your post storm recommendations . What did what are doe Resources Available for communities impacted by irma. Would like to begin first. Florida had a very Effective Restoration process. They had the arrangement from a neutral assistance point of view, they looked at investments in the infrastructure helped with hardening the systems. The advanced controls the metering advance or capability. Florida really looked at their codes and standards from the perspective of a category three hurricane i think comes down to what are some of the additional new capabilities to mitigate a category for that theyll have to consider. From a fuel distribution point of view that was one area of looking at it. Gasoline was a challenge in florida. But also the necessary evacuation that occurred had a run on gasoline stations. They did advance, from an electrical point of view the advanced capabilities there. I probably looked at the distribution area with respect to gasoline. We were very fortunate tampa bay to dodge the category three or four, god forbid we have one. Anyone else want to comment . I know asked for additional couple but i was just kidding. Any suggestions, thats great input, i appreciate that. Thank you, i back. The chair calls upon the man working hard for a bipartisan agreement and allowed me to wear this jersey in the house for. I think my colligan neighbor freely to me. For my colleague from florida i knew theres problems of gasoline supplies there and does florida, do you import all your gasoline and diesel . I didnt know if you had refineries in florida. Thats okay, we want to keep selling you the stuff we produce in texas and louisiana. Being a native historians going through storms and hurricanes, harvey was probably the toughest even compared to hurricane carla who hit us in 1960. Every eight years we have a Tropical Storm or hurricane. We had hurricane ike that damaged infrastructure because it was a windstorm. By the time harvey got to Harris County was mostly rain. Her biggest problem is so much run had overflowed her sanitary sewer systems the west side of houston. Somewhere along the way when we have these thousand your storms happening so often, the adjective rich rainfall in houston is 49 inches a year, i dont know how we can deal with it. We have to dig more reservoirs and spend money to contain that water. Water is a pressers commodity. This is the first storm ive had were have had fatalities in our district. We lost eight people in our district. To her breadwinners in the family because they thought they could go through the high water and underpass. But we also lost a family of six in northeast houston. Weve been working on the buyer for decades to build retention ponds upstream. The family turned off into the buyer because i thought it was the road. It was widely publicized their missing, we didnt find them until the water went down. As far as the utilities, we didnt have that big of a problem. But as were sitting here, we will get another hurricane or Tropical Storm. President concerned about. Support we learn from these lessons and storms. Were in the middle of rebuilding and we know we have to do better in the flooded superstructure and we tax ourselves to keep from flooding in Harris County so we can partner with core. Its essential that we find the corps of engineers, fema and other agencies. Im concerned about puerto rico, their electric grid was in bad shape before. Some of us were talking a week ago about this may give us the opportunity for the United States to provide an electric system in puerto rico. And coming from texas, we can put all the windmills up in solar and we cant get with wind and solar we love to have a import export facility there, it would be cleaner and probably cheaper too. I dont represent puerto rico but i know they need help in getting literally the whole grid backup. Set something we can look at through the department of energy to see if we can redo the grid to be brought up to what we would consider standards . Its an opportunity to look at all facilities looking at how we can harden the system. Everything should be on the table about what advancements can be done. 47 of puerto rico electricity comes from petroleum. Thirtyfour from natural gas and 2 from renewable energy. Theres opportunities to think about generation mix and location of generation as well as demand response. I know weve had success with wind power, not only west texas but south texas. It gives us an opportunity to have a different fuel supply. Its hard to compete with lowprice natural gas. In your testimony, you said the initial assessment and they didnt outstanding job of responding to the storm. Over the years, weve had partnerships with other states and communities, most of utilities i dont remember seeing that much in houston or Southeast Texas area. Mutual assistance, there probably wasnt that much. The damage was different than the cause of the outage was different. Usually the mutual system comes into reporter when damage and everything going down. Houston and beaumont was flooding. Most was due to the substations been out. Once were able to get the substations and then back up and running we are able to restore the customers. The outages were not very longlasting. Theyre more like a thunderstorm in houston they were continually restoring customers. Their numbers were low on an ongoing basis. So it worries me is that theres still only about 30 of the power restored. Will seek the questions, will think are prime witnesses. Every member can submit questions to the record for ten days. Once you get it you have ten days to respond. Mr. Chairman,. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] for the witness and testimony [inaudible] the request [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] to repair and reconstructs infrastructure. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] my friend, share your concerns. It sounds odd what happened but will talk about this been an issue, but right now maybe this at the risk of offending miss castor but commissioner walker, and join my daughter and my wife love beat the tar out of central florida. [inaudible]nate and a representative of an aide organization. Okay second pillow, are you ready. Will start out with Opening Statements and i recognize thomas, presidency of southwark company. Tom, you have five minutes