Sponsors (6)
The bill promotes voluntary DOE-led tools, coordination, and workforce training to improve pipeline and LNG security and speed fuel restoration, but its voluntary approach and preserved agency authorities risk uneven protections, interagency complexity, and modest taxpayer and compliance costs.
State and local governments, and the public — federal, state, and industry coordination for incident response is improved, which can speed restoration of fuel supplies and reduce downtime after attacks or outages.
Operators of pipelines and LNG facilities and energy workers — access to DOE voluntary tools and pilot projects to better detect and mitigate physical and cyber threats.
Energy workers — workforce curricula development helps them gain cybersecurity and physical-security skills, improving job readiness and sector resilience.
Utilities, energy companies, and the public — because participation is voluntary, some pipeline and LNG operators may not adopt the new protections, leaving uneven security and continued risks of outages or attacks.
Federal agencies and federal employees — the bill preserves existing authorities and could create jurisdictional complexity between DOE and other agencies, limiting a unified DOE-led approach and complicating coordinated policy or incident response.
Taxpayers — implementing and running the DOE program will require federal resources and could increase costs or divert DOE funds from other priorities.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires DOE to run a program to improve physical and cybersecurity for gas, hazardous liquid, and LNG pipelines through coordination, voluntary tools, pilots, and workforce training.
Introduced January 27, 2026 by Randy Weber · Last progress January 27, 2026
Requires the Secretary of Energy to run a program to improve physical security and cybersecurity for natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines, hazardous liquid pipelines, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities. The program must coordinate federal, state, and industry partners; lead coordinated response and recovery planning; develop voluntary advanced cybersecurity tools and pilot projects; and create workforce training materials. Preserves existing authorities of other federal agencies over pipeline security matters and does not on its face appropriate funds or impose new federal mandates on states or operators.