Clear Path XII: How the Midwest Responds to a Petroleum Shortage

At the height of hurricane season, you’ll often hear emergency managers say incidents are “federally supported, state managed, and locally executed.” Those are words to live by in the emergency response world, but do they still ring true when critical energy sector infrastructure in the Upper Midwest is impacted by a cyber attack just days before a severe winter storm?

Enter, Clear Path XII.  

Each year, the Clear Path Exercise Series, sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), is designed to bring together leading energy sector stakeholders to review policies, identify areas for collective improvement, and strengthen the relationships and cooperation between industry and government energy sector partners. It is the principal forum for enhancing the energy sector’s ability to work together in response to catastrophic incidents.  

This summer, CESER hosted Clear Path XII in Lansing, Michigan, joining representatives from the petroleum industry, the State of Michigan, federal agencies and Canadian government partners to tackle the perfect storm: a combined cyber attack on energy infrastructure in the midst of a severe winter storm.  

Specific exercise engagements included a:  

• Social Media Drill (August 8) to test the ability of participants to collaborate in the digital ecosystem and to counter mis- and dis-information, 
• Two-day Petroleum Shortage Tabletop Exercise (TTX) (August 14-15) to discuss the initial and cascading impacts to the energy sector and sector interdependencies in response, and 
• Senior Leadership TTX (August 16) to discuss response operations and activities in response to a cyber attack on the petroleum subsector during a severe winter storm. 

Early takeaways from the Clear Path XII Social Media Drill reflected the importance of speaking with one, unified voice, to ensure clear, de-conflicted communications for maintaining public safety and transparency in a rapidly evolving scenario. The Drill provided stakeholders with an opportunity to cross-collaborate, share best practices, and even amplify critical messages as a key response mechanism to the growing concerns spread by mis- and dis-information. 

The two-day Petroleum Shortage TTX challenged participants to continue the cross-cutting planning efforts and identify areas for further integration. During Day 1, participants discussed the criticality of timely data to inform decision making, ideas on how to consolidate requests for information (RFIs) to private sector partners, and the importance of expectation management, especially in terms of the timeline and duration of damage assessments to impacted energy sector infrastructure. On Day 2, exercise participants advocated for the continued establishment and enhancement of partnerships within the region to alleviate critical pain points, such as waiver requests and approvals for petroleum transportation. Additionally, conversations around resource prioritization, equipment, and personnel bench depth were abundant, highlighting the need for ongoing general and specialized training for all job types. Executives present at the Senior Leadership TTX echoed these initial findings, and noted the effectiveness and core strength of exercises, like Clear Path, as an avenue to grow partnerships and remain prepared for issues such as maintaining reliable oil and gas resources during emergencies. 

More detailed findings will be released following an After-Action Report.

To learn more about the Clear Path Exercise series, visit CESER’s website.