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Anonymous ID: e04aa8 Dec. 17, 2020, 2:26 p.m. No.12070172   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0190 >>0280 >>0447 >>0608 >>0721

Department of Energy

Secretary of Energy Signs Order to Mitigate Security Risks to the Nation's Electric Grid

DECEMBER 17, 2020

 

Home » Secretary of Energy Signs Order to Mitigate Security Risks to the Nation's Electric Grid

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette issued a prohibition order designed to reduce the risks that entities associated with the People’s Republic of China pose to the Nation’s bulk-power system (BPS). The order invokes the authority delegated to the Secretary by Executive Order 13920, Securing the United States Bulk-Power System (EO 13920), and takes effect January 16, 2021. The order prohibits utilities that supply critical defense facilities (CDF) from procuring from the People’s Republic of China, specific BPS electric equipment that poses an undue risk to the BPS, the security or resilience of critical infrastructure, the economy, national security, or safety and security of Americans.

 

“The bulk-power system is the backbone of our Nation’s energy infrastructure and is fundamental to our national security, the American economy, and our way of life,” said Secretary Brouillette. “It is imperative we secure the BPS against attacks and exploitation by foreign adversaries. This order is one of several steps this Administration is taking to greatly diminish the ability of our foreign adversaries to target our critical electric infrastructure.”

 

President Trump issued EO 13920 on May 1, 2020, and granted implementation authority to the Secretary of Energy. The prohibition order is exemplary of the Department’s commitment to pursuing a phased approach to the EO 13920’s implementation and provides a compliance grace period of several weeks to minimize potential procurement and supply chain disruptions.

 

The “Prohibition Order Securing Critical Defense Facilities” prohibits utilities that supply CDFs at a service voltage of 69kV or above from acquiring, importing, transferring, or installing BPS electric equipment, and is specific to select equipment manufactured or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of the People’s Republic of China. The order applies from the point of electrical interconnection with the CDF up to and including the next “upstream” transmission substation. Utilities subject to this order will be notified no later than 5 days from the issuance of the order.

 

The link to the prohibition order and additional information about the Bulk-Power System Executive Order are available at: https://www.energy.gov/oe/bulkpowersystemexecutiveorder.

 

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News Media Contact: (202) 586-4940

https://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-energy-signs-order-mitigate-security-risks-nations-electric-grid

Anonymous ID: e04aa8 Dec. 17, 2020, 2:27 p.m. No.12070190   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0280 >>0447 >>0608 >>0721

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Securing the United States Bulk-Power System Executive Order

Office of Electricity

Home » Activities » Securing the United States Bulk-Power System Executive Order

Updated: December 17, 2020

 

On May 1, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13920, "Securing the United States Bulk-Power System," (BPS EO) which authorizes U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to work with Federal partners and the energy industry to secure America’s Bulk-Power System. The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a press release on May 1, 2020.

 

On December 17, Secretary Brouillette issued a prohibition order related to the EO, “Prohibition Order Securing Critical Defense Facilities” The order applies to a limited number of utilities and specific BPS electric equipment from the People’s Republic of China that poses an undue risk to the BPS, the security or resilience of critical infrastructure, the economy, national security, or safety and security of Americans. The DOE issued a press release on December 17, 2020.

 

In anticipation of issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking later this year, the Department is reviewing comment submissions from the Request for Information (RFI) that closed on August 24. The public may view comments submitted in response to the RFI, however, please note that Regulations.gov may have reduced functionality on Tuesdays and Thursdays as the beta site is tested on those days, but all submitted comments will be recorded.

 

Executive Order on Securing the United States Bulk-Power System

BPS EO Federal Register (85 Fed. Reg. 26595)

“Prohibition Order Securing Critical Defense Facilities”

About the EO:

 

The EO declares threats to the bulk-power system by foreign adversaries constitute a national emergency. Serving as the backbone of our Nation’s energy infrastructure, the BPS is fundamental to national security, emergency services, critical infrastructure, and the economy. The 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment and the 2020-2022 National Counterintelligence Strategy describe in detail the threat foreign adversaries pose to our critical infrastructure and the importance of energy to the United States. Accordingly, it is imperative we work quickly to increase protections to the U.S. bulk-power system.

 

DOE, in consultation with the heads of other agencies, will issue regulations implementing the authorities delegated to the Secretary in this EO. While the EO is applicable to both the Federal government and industry, the rulemaking process will allow ample opportunity for stakeholder comment and input and will provide flexibility in the timeline for implementation.

 

BPS EO Specific Reference Documents:

 

Frequently Asked Questions (Updated)

BPS EO – One Page Summary

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and OE Assistant Secretary Bruce Walker discuss the EO with POLITICO Energy (5/13/20)

Stakeholder Call on the Bulk-Power System Executive Order (5/21/20) (Transcript)

DOE Issues Request for Information for Bulk-Power System Executive Order (7/8/20)

Related Reference Documents:

 

2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (114-94)

Division F – Energy Security. Sec. 61003. Critical electric infrastructure security.

2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community

2019 Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain

2020-2022 National Counterintelligence Strategy

Upon issuance of the RFI, DOE’s guidelines on ex parte communications now govern how interested parties may communicate with DOE about the rulemaking. The guidelines, available at https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/gcprod/documents/ex_parte_guidance.pdf, require DOE employees to have the primary goal of listening and asking clarifying questions during meetings with interested parties. We cannot engage in negotiation or reveal substantive aspects of the forthcoming rulemaking. This restriction is meant to safeguard the integrity of DOE’s rulemaking process and is in effect until a FINAL rule is published. For additional information regarding the BPS EO, please email bulkpowersystemEO@hq.doe.gov.

https://www.energy.gov/oe/bulkpowersystemexecutiveorder

Anonymous ID: e04aa8 Dec. 17, 2020, 2:50 p.m. No.12070465   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0480 >>0505 >>0529 >>0546 >>0608 >>0613 >>0721

U.S. Investors Are Funding Malign PRC Companies on Major Indices

FACT SHEET

 

UNDER SECRETARY FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH, ENERGY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

 

DECEMBER 8, 2020

 

Under Xi Jinping, the CCP has prioritized something called ‘military-civil fusion.’ … Chinese companies and researchers must… under penalty of law – share technology with the Chinese military. The goal is to ensure that the People’s Liberation Army has military dominance.  And the PLA’s core mission is to sustain the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on power.

MICHAEL R. POMPEO

SECRETARY OF STATE

 

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) threat to American national security extends into our financial markets and impacts American investors.  Many major stock and bond indices developed by index providers like MSCI and FTSE include malign People’s Republic of China (PRC) companies that are listed on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List and/or the Department of Defense’s List of “Communist Chinese military companies” (CCMCs). The money flowing into these index funds – often passively, from U.S. retail investors – supports Chinese companies involved in both civilian and military production.  Some of these companies produce technologies for the surveillance of civilians and repression of human rights, as is the case with Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang, China, as well as in other repressive regimes, such as Iran and Venezuela.

 

As of December 2020, at least 24 of the 35 parent-level CCMCs had affiliates’ securities included on a major securities index. This includes at least 71 distinct affiliate-level securities issuers. There are also at least 13 PRC firms on the Entity List whose parent company or affiliates are included in the MSCI or FTSE stock indices. The MSCI emerging market index includes 230 Chinese A-shares stocks incorporated on the Mainland, quoted in renminbi, and listed on Chinese Communist Party-controlled Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges.

 

Investments Financing Communist Chinese Military Companies Pose National Security Risk to the United States

“Some of the Chinese companies [on MSCI Index] present significant national security and humanitarian concerns for the United States, which increases the risk that they could be subject to sanctions, public protests, trade restrictions, boycotts, and other punitive measures that jeopardize their business and profitability… for example, military contractors that provide military aircraft and telecommunications support to the People’s Liberation Army.  The list also includes companies that manufacture surveillance equipment that China uses to oppress religious minorities as well as one company indicted for engaging in economic activity with Iran and North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions law.”

 

Letter from Robert C. O’Brien, National Security Advisor and Lawrence Kudlow, Director of National Economic Council to the Department of Labor

 

Parent-Level Communist Chinese Military Companies (Pics 1-4)

(continued…)

https://www.state.gov/u-s-investors-are-funding-malign-prc-companies-on-major-indices/

Anonymous ID: e04aa8 Dec. 17, 2020, 3 p.m. No.12070613   🗄️.is 🔗kun

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(continued…)

https://www.state.gov/u-s-investors-are-funding-malign-prc-companies-on-major-indices/

 

PRC Entity List Companies on the MSCI and FTSE

A number of PRC firms have been placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List for engaging in or enabling activities contrary to the national security and/or foreign policy interests of the United States. This includes entities that have been implicated in supporting PRC military development, providing material support for human rights violations and abuses in the PRC’s campaign targeting Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and companies helping the Chinese military construct and militarize the internationally condemned artificial islands in the South China Sea. Hikvision, iFlyTek, FiberHome, and Dahua are prominent examples of PRC firms with widely recognized ties to the oppression of Uyghurs that benefit from inclusion in the MSCI EM and/or FTSE Emerging stock indices.  China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), China Shipbuilding Group, and Guangzhou Haige are prominent examples of companies that enabled China to reclaim and militarize the disputed artificial islands in the South China Sea.

 

Communist Chinese Military Company Affiliates on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

China Mobile Communications Group (NYSE: CHL)

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (NYSE: CEO)

China Telecommunications Corp. (NYSE: CHA)

China United Network Communications Group Co. (NYSE: CHU)

PRC stocks directly affect the pension assets of American workers and retirees

There are more than 5,000 public pension systems in the United States, according to the United States Census Bureau.

$10.7 trillion invested in the private pension plans is covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

The Thrift Savings Plan’s governing board study revealed that a majority of pension funds use the MSCI emerging market index as their investment guide, including:

The 401k’s of all 10 largest publicly traded U.S. companies;

All 10 of the top federal contractors;

All 20 of the largest state pension plans;

All six of the largest target-date mutual-fund providers with holdings of $1.9 trillion as of June 2019;

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), with $131 billion in pension insurance reserves;

Numerous Insurance Funds;

Numerous University and College Endowment Funds.

Institutional investors and endowment managers can and should pay attention to these risks

“Under Secretary Krach sent a letter to the governing boards of American universities, alerting them to the threats the Chinese Communist Party poses to academic freedom, to human rights, and to university endowments. These threats can come in the form of illicit funding for research, intellectual property theft, intimidation of foreign students, and opaque talent recruitment efforts.

University governing boards can help ensure their institutions have clean investments and clean endowment funds by taking a few key steps: 

 

Disclose all PRC companies invested in endowment funds, especially those in emerging-market index funds.

Divest from Chinese companies on the Commerce Department Entity List that are contributing to human rights violations, military coercion, and other abuses.

And simply understand the recommendations issued by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, which examined the risk to investors of Chinese companies that are listed on U.S. stock exchanges.”

Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, September 2, 2020

 

Additional Resources

Executive Order on Addressing the Threat from Securities Investments that Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies

Letter from Under Secretary of State Keith Krach to Business Leaders on Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory urging financial institutions’ boards to divest from companies that contribute to human rights violations

Letter From Under Secretary Keith Krach to the Governing Boards of American Universities urging endowment funds to divest from companies that are on the Entity List or that contribute to human rights violations

Find out more about American economic diplomacy, headed by Under Secretary of State Keith Krach

 

https://www.state.gov/u-s-investors-are-funding-malign-prc-companies-on-major-indices/