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 ResponseGoing 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 have already we have already passed supplemental Disaster Relief funding, but we understand more is needed and we will continue to work with administration and their colleagues so our citizens can get the Additional Resources they need to recover and rebuild. This committee we roll up our sleeves and search for solutions to the challenges it presents themselves after a major disaster. We want to make sure our jurisdiction is wellprepared and you all are responding appropriately, both now and we learn lessons of bad instances and are even better prepared for the next storm or disaster. If you lack certain authorities let us know so we can expedite recovery. We want to know about these things to fix them. We want to be practical and forward thinking. How can we help insure the relevant federal responses were coordinated with state, local and industry responders . Had wheat germ decisions are made to provide benefits to those in need . If we need to rebuild, what can we do to make of the structure more resilient . Because this committees broad jurisdiction over Public Health, total vacation, supply and delivery of energy we will gather facts and Lessons Learned. We have already heard from witnesses on oversight and investigations subcommittee about hhs Public Health preparedness and response as to the hurricane and we will examine the Disaster Response to environmental disaster and of our education as well, but today we focus on Emergency Response. This year we have been confronted with different challenging situations, flooding in houston, possibly the greatest evacuation floridas history, Energy Crisis importer rico and and us Virgin Islands that could leave millions without power for months to come. We may take for granted how lucky we are that we can flip a switch and lights . For citizens of puerto rico and the us Virgin Islands, almost every aspect of their life has been deeply disrupted. Hospitals without external generators cannot serve their patients. Getting the power restored is critical. Those who live in remote areas that dont have access to fuel our cut off even from the most basic of necessities. The panel today will provide perspectives about the state of current fuel and electric supplier Recovery Efforts, what works, what could be done better under circumstances and what may be considered in the future. I expect this will be next line carried to identify vulnerabilities and assess whats needed to better prepare and respond to future storms and disasters and without i want to thank you for being here today. I appreciate the testimony you have submitted and thank you for the good work you in your teams are doing out there. We want to learn from you and be even better prepared when the next disaster hits. Unless anyone else seeks the remaining minute i would like to ask a question of the vice chair. Do you intend to wear that jersey on the house floor when we take the picture of the full house this afternoon. I tried to wear this about three weeks ago and it was bad, so this will not be in the picture. I was just curious because then we would always be ever always be able to find you forever in the picture. Recognize Ranking Member of the full committee for opening statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for convening todays hearing in reviewing the disaster of the 2017 Hurricane Season and im grateful to former senator of puerto rico and the Virgin Islands for coming today. I guess they are on the second panel, but the committee did not even receiver spot to the outreach of the economic Public Authority of proper in puerto rico and how they have managed with more dust more actively mismanaged the grid over the years. We are focusing on Energy InfrastructureRecovery Efforts nmsa accounts from the area affected page a dire cyst situation that contradicts the rosy stories from the white house. Puerto rico and the Virgin Islands are currently experiencing the largest blackout in American History in this nightmare for our citizens is far from over. The question force today should be why is it taking so long to restore power in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands and whos in charge of the effort to restore power to puerto rico . No one seems to be in charge and its frustrating its a chaotic effort to restore power. I want answers and so do many colleagues. Untroubled by the contracts with Numerous Companies with overlapping missions a patchwork failing to turn the lights back in puerto rico and then needs to change now. Im concerned by the terms of the contract with white fish and Cobra Acquisitions that has barred prep of from holding the Company Liable of good repair work or letting the government. The governor has since taken steps to have the whitefish contract canceled, but we need to learn more how they are being awarded and whether the bidding process is competitive we have requested documents from whitefish to learn more about how that agreement materialized. Fema issued a statement as it had no involvement in the development of the contract. Why not . The federal government should be engaged in the contracting process of largescale rebuilding contracts in which cant taxpayers will ultimately fit the bill. Missions like this are why we have a strong federal government the Trump Administration needs to do more. If we cant get the power turned back on, soon people more people will die. Our government owes it to the citizens in these territories to do everything it can to fix this and while we while this is the most urgent concern its also important that the great importer rico be rebuilt with more modern Energy Technology on increased resiliency, Energy Efficient and replacing the old grid will cost taxpayers more money and do nothing to make electricity in puerto rico more reliable or affordable. As Congress Prepares the next emergency spending bill we must make change to the current law to enable that rebuilding to occur with modern electricity grid in the territories. Failing to invest into puerto rico now will cost taxpayers down the road and we must consider ways to turn around puerto rico situation including alternative to prepa to oversee the grid and all ideas from privatization which im not a fan of from privatization to creation of a new federal Power Marketing ministration. All these things have to be up discussion and whatever road we go down [inaudible] i dont know if anyone wants the minute i still have. I will get back civic the gentleman yields back in at this point we are ready for testimony thank you in advance thank you for making sending your testimony in advance and we ask you take no more than five minutes to summarize your testimony and then we will ask questions. We are joined first by patricia hoffman, acting under secretary for science and energy. Welcome. Chairman, distinguished members of the subcommittee, i appreciate the opportunity today to discuss Energy Security and Emergency Response issues related to the 2017 Hurricane Season. The mission of the office of electricity delivery it and Energy Reliability is to develop innovative Cutting Edge Solutions to ensure our Nations Energy of the structure remains reliable, affordable and resilient. In order to fulfill this mission the department of energy leverages Technical Capability of the National Arrow laboratories in partnership with key private sector stakeholders focused on Early Stage Research transformative projects are our organization is also the lead for providing Energy Related expertise to the federal Energy Management agency also known as fema. Our inner Agency Partners in the administration as part of the department of energy Emergency Response activity. It serves as the lead organization for Emergency Support function 12 under the National Response framework and as the specific agency for energy. As the lead deal we is responsible providing information and analysis about energy instruction and to insist in facilitating damaging infrastructure. During hurricanes harvey irma, maria and nate we have worked with industry and federal and local partners to facilitate response and recovery. Overall, doe has received 18 Mission Assignments and has deployed more than 110 personnel each of these storms have presented unique challenges to the energy sector. With respect to Hurricane Harvey, we sought electricity outages in about 300,000 customers in texas and louisiana while offshore and onshore through oil and natural Gas Production people were disrupted by the storm with the greatest impact to the mid stream and downstream oil and refining sector. At its peak, more than 4 Million Barrels per day of Refining Capacity representing more than 20 of the us Refining Capacity was offline and took several weeks for floodwaters to receive with the refining system in texas and louisiana resuming normal operations. I