nerc has 90 days to develop its proposed standards through a collaborative process. the proposed standard will be reviewed independently before it's submitted to the ferc. mr. president, our energy policy act standards are foundational. constant information sharing between government and industry coupled with alerts for rapid response are also key tools for dealing with the changing state of security. as policymakers, we must include physical security as a key issue in our decisions. we must always take -- also take measured steps to protect the grid, but we shouldn't sensationalize the threat. i commend nerc and ferc for starting the standard-setting process and i would urge all the participants to strike this balance between measures related to physical security and costs and benefits for electric consumers -- customers and the broader public as a whole. again, i thank the chairman of the energy committee for her willingness to join me on this letter which, again, i feel is very important as we begin this review through the inspector general. i know that you, mr. p