Mr. David Adkins
Executive Director & CEO
Council of State Governments
1776 Avenue of the States
Lexington, Kentucky 40511
Mr. Marc Ott
Executive Director
International City/Council Management Association
777 North Capitol Street, NE
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20002
Mr. Matthew Chase
CEO & Executive Director
National Association of Counties
660 North Capitol Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Mr. Greg R. White
Executive Director
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
1101 Vermont Ave NW # 200
Washington, DC 20005
Mr. Tim Storey
Executive Director
National Conference of State Legislatures
7700 East First Place
Denver, Colorado 80230
Mr. Bill McBride
Executive Director
National Governors Association
444 N. Capitol St. NW, Suite 267
Washington, DC 20001
Mr. Clarence E. Anthony
CEO & Executive Director
National League of Cities
660 North Capitol Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Mr. Tom Cochran
CEO and Executive Director
United States Conference of Mayors
1620 I St. NW
Washington, DC 20006
To the National Organizations Representing State and Local Government Leaders:
On behalf of the organizations we collectively represent, we applaud you for your leadership and for your work to help your members protect their communities and constituents during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also assure you that our members—the nation’s electric and natural gas utilities, independent power producers, and nuclear generators—remain committed to keeping electricity and natural gas flowing and to helping our customers, communities, and employees stay safe and healthy.
Given the indispensable nature of the energy our members and federal electric utilities produce and deliver, it is vital that they be able to continue their work to ensure electric and natural gas service remains safe and reliable throughout this unprecedented health emergency. To accomplish this, we are asking for your help and that of your members in recognizing that there is a limited number of highly skilled, mission-essential workers who serve on our frontlines and who need priority access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing.
We acknowledge and appreciate that many state, local, territorial, and tribal leaders already have adopted the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) guidance on Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers,1 which was designed to help leaders appropriately prioritize critical infrastructure operators to ensure “continuity of functions critical to the public health and safety, as well as economic and national security.” The DHS guidance was a good first step, and has allowed critical construction, maintenance, and power restoration projects to continue in many jurisdictions. We now are asking for additional assistance that is consistent with a memo that the National Governors Association sent to its members on March 25 on the challenges the energy industry is facing.2
Specifically, we need your support in helping mission-essential employees—those who operate power generation facilities, staff the control rooms that serve as the “nerve centers” for transmission and distribution networks, and maintain the system and do emergency repairs as necessary—to be treated as a higher priority.3 This is particularly important in emergency situations when workers must enter customers’ residences or businesses and as some of our members are going to the extraordinary measure of sequestering this workforce or decentralizing their operations to limit the impact a positive case would have on this category of workers.
Thank you again for the work you are doing to prioritize health and safety and for your help with this urgent request. We all have an important role to play in helping our country navigate through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we look forward to our continued work with your organizations.
Sincerely,
American Public Power Association
Edison Electric Institute
Electric Power Supply Association
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Nuclear Energy Institute
American Gas Association
American Public Gas Association
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
Utility Workers Union of America
cc: U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette
Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Christopher Krebs
1 See: https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce
2 See: https://www.nga.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/COVID-19-Utility-Guidance.pdf
3 See: Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council resource on testing and protecting mission-essential control center and generation facility personnel: https://www.electricitysubsector.org
