WEF Joins in Urging Congress To Exclude Provisions in Cybersecurity Bill

The Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) joined 47 other organizations in sending a letter urging Congress to reject a proposed regulation in the cybersecurity bill.

The letter expresses concerns about provisions in section 407 of the Senate version of the cybersecurity bill that would potentially give federal agencies “free rein to assess certain businesses’ cybersecurity gaps and develop unilaterally mitigation strategies for each critical infrastructure entity without input from industry,” the letter says. The provision also gives federal agencies the authority to mandate more strenuous reporting requirements and potentially more regulatory oversight.

Water facilities previously had been determined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to not be high-risk critical infrastructure, but the provision gives federal agencies authority to reclassify individual facilities with little input from the affected entities.

The House version of the cybersecurity bill does not have similar language, and the House-Senate Conference Committee is being urged to drop the Senate provision from the final bill.