Transatlantic cable
May 2014
33
ArcelorMittal expects to source 100 per cent of the plate order
– 160,000 tons – from three of its mills: Burns Harbor (long
quench and temper plate), Coatesville (wide and heavy plate),
and Conshohocken (lighter gauge plate). The bridge project is
scheduled for completion in 2018.
The present 16,000-foot, seven-lane cantilever Tappan Zee,
spanning one of the widest points of the Hudson River about 25
miles north of Midtown Manhattan, is the longest in the state.
After 15 years of planning, it is to be replaced with a 3.1-mile
twin-span cable-stayed bridge with angled main span towers.
The project is believed to be the biggest of its kind in US history.
Manufacturing
The approach of spring found
American and global manufacturers on
a comfortably ascending trend line
In its report for February, issued 3
rd
March, the Institute for
Supply Management (ISM) said that its PMI (purchasing
managers’ index) registered 53.2 per cent for the month, an
increase of 1.9 percentage points from January’s reading of
51.3 per cent – indicating expansion in manufacturing in the
United States, for the ninth consecutive month.
ISM’s New Orders Index for February registered 54.5 per cent,
an increase of 3.3 percentage points from January’s reading
of 51.2 per cent. And inventories of raw materials increased by
8.5 percentage points to 52.5 per cent. The Tempe,
Arizona-based association develops its data from information
collected from the nation’s supply executives.
An exception to the improving trend was the Production Index,
which at 48.2 per cent represented a decrease of 6.6 percentage
points from the previous reading of 54.8 per cent. As in January,
several respondents mentioned the severe winter weather as a
factor impacting their businesses in February.
Of the 18 manufacturing industries canvassed by ISM,
14 reported growth in February. These included primary
metals, fabricated metal products, machinery, transportation
equipment, appliances and components, and electrical
equipment.
Energy
Impediments to US power grid
cybersecurity: an energy industry loath to
share information, regulators lacking expertise
In the January issue of
EuroWire
, this column recounted a drill
in which US o cials and utility executives conducted a mock
attack on the power grid, “knocking out” power lines and
computers across America. “The enemy” injected computer
viruses into grid control systems, bombed transformers and
substations, and knocked out power lines by the dozen. It was
persuasive.
Unfortunately, despite the shock value of that exercise, it must
be reported this time that securing the nation’s power grid will
take more than a sti ening of resolve.
Some leading energy security experts have reported that,
despite rising anxiety over the possibility of a cyberattack,
neither the energy industry nor the US government is set up
well to counter the threat.
Their report, released 28
th
February, was sponsored by the
Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington non-pro t group.
The study was led by Michael V Hayden, a former CIA director;
Curt Hébert Jr, a former chairman of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission; and Susan Tierney, a former assistant
secretary of the Department of Energy and one-time utility
regulator in Massachusetts.
As summarised by Matthew L Wald of the
New York Times
’s
Washington bureau, the authors say that companies are
reluctant to share information with one another – a critical
step in reducing vulnerability – out of fear of being accused
of antitrust violations or failure to comply with cybersecurity
rules. Firms also have concerns about giving away proprietary
information.
The experts found that, while the government had focused on
the high-voltage power grid, less work has been done on the
lower-voltage distribution system, which could cause problems
that would propagate up the chain. And, wrote Mr Wald, federal
rules intended to protect the electricity distribution system from
cyberattack were deemed inadequate because they do not give
companies an incentive to continually improve and adapt to a
changing threat. (“Power Grid Vulnerable to Cyberattack, Report
Says,” 3
rd
March)
Not even public utility commissions were found to be ready for
new problems. Regulated utilities can add security costs to the
expenses for which they bill their customers, if the regulators
nd the expenditures “prudent,” but “many regulators lack the
expertise to make these judgments,” the report said. And many
entities on the grid are unregulated in a competitive market,
which may make it hard for them to recover their costs.
Mr Wald noted that outside experts endorsed some of these
ndings. Samuel P Liles, an associate professor at Purdue
University in Indiana, where he works in the Cyber Forensics
Laboratory, said that sharing best practices was “a hit or a
miss,” although information on threats was generally shared.
At the Utilities Telecom Council, a trade association of
electric and water utilities, Nadya Bartol, a cybersecurity
expert, said the report was correct in asserting that utilities
might not always come forward with helpful information.
She told the
Times
: “They may hesitate to talk about their
vulnerabilities because, ‘if I put it out in the public space,
I will get hacked more.’”
Cyberwarfare is “a domain that favours the attacker,”
Mr Hayden said in the panel discussion accompanying the
release. But he said that the United States could reduce its
vulnerability and improve its ability to recover.
He and his colleagues recommended establishment of
a group like the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations –
formed by the nuclear industry after the Three Mile Island
accident in 1979 – to conduct peer-to-peer audits and
disseminate information on best practices.
The former CIA director also invited perusal of a line of
John Wayne’s, from the lm Sands of Iwo Jima: “Life is tough,
but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.”
Dorothy Fabian
USA Editor
