Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff responded to criticism of his role in publicizing information about potential for attacks on the power grid Friday, telling Politico he had done nothing wrong.

Wellinghoff came under attack over a Wall Street Journal article describing an internal FERC report that described possible grid attack scenarios. Wellinghoff was not named in the Journal article as the source of the report, but he discussed it for an earlier Journal article on the subject. (See FERC Criticism of Ex-Chair Mounts.)

The former chairman told Politico that the information in the Journal article was no secret. “There was no classified information,” he said. “There was no secret information and nothing was shared with anybody that was in any way part of some unpublished report.” He and another FERC official had briefed hundreds of people about the study, Wellinghoff said.

Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the committee’s top Republican, sent the Department of Energy’s inspector general a letter last week asking for an investigation into the leak. Murkowski also named Wellinghoff on the Senate floor, criticizing him for participating in the Wall Street Journal story with “sensational,” possibly “reckless” comments.

More: Politico Morning Energy; Senate Energy Committee

GRID Act Gives FERC More Power to Deal With Threats

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., reintroduced legislation that would give FERC more authority to protect the transmission system from security threats. FERC last month ordered the North American Electric Reliability Corp. to identify critical facilities and propose standards to protect them. But spurred by ongoing concern about attacks on the power grid and recent publicity about the potential threats, some in Congress want to go further.

The Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense (GRID) Act would empower FERC to issue emergency orders if an imminent security threat is identified. It also allows FERC to issue protective orders on its own if it determines that NERC has not adequately addressed an identified vulnerability. Under current law, FERC must only act on reliability standards that NERC submits to it.

The bill would also allow FERC to ensure there are enough spare large transformers available to “promptly replace” any that are damaged in an attack. The measure also requires the president to identify up to 100 defense-critical facilities vulnerable to disruption of power supply provided by an external provider. If FERC determines a vulnerability that is not adequately addressed, it may issue a rule to protect it. The bill is similar to one that passed the House of Representatives in 2010 but did not succeed in the Senate.

More: Energy and Commerce Committee

PTC May See Senate Panel Action Starting This Week

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., hopes to start action Wednesday on a package of measures to extend energy tax incentives, including the production tax credit (PTC) for wind power. Wyden, who became chairman of the committee in February, is a strong supporter of the PTC.

It is unclear whether tax extenders would win full Senate approval, particularly in this election year. If the measures must be part of a full package of tax code rewrites, the negotiations will be complex. In the House of Representatives, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., may be open to discussing tax extenders but said he still wanted to keep pressing toward comprehensive tax reform. The PTC for wind, one of a number of tax incentives for the energy sector, expired at the end of last year.

More: E&E Daily

GOP Polls PJM, Others About EPA Rule Impacts

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who oppose the Environmental Protection Agency’s upcoming regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, are surveying grid operators about the role coal plants play in their markets and reliability.

In a letter to PJM and other transmission operators, the lawmakers said they want to know what could happen if coal plants produced less or closed because of the EPA’s rules. Their concern was sparked by the gas and electricity price spikes this winter, they said.

More: Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition

Chu: ‘Don’t Get FedExed,’ Get Into Rooftop Business

Former Energy Secretary Steven Chu has advice for utilities: Instead of looking for protective rules and rates, they should get into the rooftop-solar business themselves. Utilities are in danger of being pushed out, he said, “like the Post Office got FedExed.”

Chu said utilities should consider leasing rooftop installations to homeowners. “This is not a radical model. This is the old telephone system model,” he said.

More: Forbes

— Compiled by Kathy Larsen and David Jwanier