The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) has provided an updated list of what it considers to be “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” to help state and local officials as they work to protect their communities while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety as well as economic and national security.
CISA states that it recognizes that state, local, tribal, and territorial governments are ultimately in charge of implementing and executing response activities in communities under their jurisdiction, while the Federal Government is in a supporting role.
Because CISA states further that “this list is advisory in nature, and is not, nor should it be considered to be, a federal directive or standard in and of itself,” fuel ethanol facilities should discuss response activities with their state and local governments to determine if workers in their facilities would be considered “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” in a case of community restriction, access management, social distancing, or closure orders/directives.
To date, Growth Energy has identified the following updates related to state closures, and while some states explicitly call out fuel ethanol facilities, members should connect directly with their state and local agencies for the most recent and official guidance and directives.