EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Pat Fallon calls on Trump admin to bolster US grid resiliency amid Spain blackouts
Massive energy blackouts across Spain and Portugal are prompting Rep. Pat Fallon (R., Texas) to ensure that similar problems don’t happen in America.
The Washington Reporter exclusively obtained a letter Fallon wrote to Energy Secretary Chris Wright calling on the Trump administration to “restore American energy independence and do away with the previous administration’s ideologically driven push for renewable mandates.”
“The U.S. needs prioritize dependable sources of energy like natural gas, oil, and coal to power our nation and protect our national security,” Fallon told the Reporter.
“At the same time, the longer we leave our electrical grid vulnerable, the longer we invite cyberattacks from adversaries like China or Russia, risking widespread outages that endanger American lives,” he continued. “We must ensure we have planned for future threats to our grid to safeguard America’s future.”
Due to years of neglect, “the prospect of additional widespread outage due to domestic energy policy or a failure to secure our software systems is cause for considerable alarm,” Fallon warned in his letter to Wright.
Fallon wrote that the Trump administration’s reprioritization on “reliable forms of energy — particularly natural gas, oil, and coal — is important not only for meeting America’s domestic energy needs, but for affording the US leverage on the world stage,” but noted that there is more to do.
Grid resiliency, Fallon told Wright, is essential to withstand problems caused by both nature and by man, like an EMP strike. Years of neglect under President Joe Biden could have left America particularly exposed, Fallon warned.
Now, Fallon wants a briefing from Wright.
Fallon wants the Energy Department to brief him on “the state of US grid resiliency, both from an energy use perspective and how secure our electrical grid is in the face of potential cyberattacks by foreign adversaries such as China, Russia, or North Korea.”
“We can’t afford to leave this to chance, especially when Americans’ livelihoods and our national security depend on it,” he concluded.
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