“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby delegate to the Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 3136 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018...”
So what powers do the Sec of Energy have...perhaps to turn off a section of the grid and direct the power to another area if necessary? Or is this related to fueling some tesla toys if they are needed?
That task is pretty much up to the operators of the various utility companies that operate their little piece of power grid. I'm in that line of work. If the Sec of Energy called my desk and said to black out, say, a major city, I'm afraid I'd have to tell him to go pound sand. Realistically, that decision would be mine to make, and I'd question my manager if he said to do so unless we were in a true dire energy deficient situation.
Only in extenuating circumstances would I follow that demand, and it wouldn't be as simple as clicking a point or two on the screen. It's much larger than that, and would probably require manual intervention out on the system in some cases.
Secretary of Energy is Rick Perry, who as former Governor of Texas knows the border well and what it takes to defend.
If you follow this link, and read Section 3136, it will answer your questions.
It authorizes the President to request a report from Sec Energy and provides funds to do the research and prepare the report. It deals with monitoring fissionable materials to promote better nonproliferation.
From my prior post re: Presidential Action related to Section 3136 of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2018
Here is part of Section 3136
SEC. 3136. PLAN FOR VERIFICATION, DETECTION, AND MONITORING OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND FISSILE MATERIAL.
(a) Findings And Sense Of Congress.—
(1) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(A) A January 2014 Defense Science Board report found that “The nuclear future will not be a linear extrapolation of the past... [and] [t]he technologies and processes designed for current treaty verification and inspections are inadequate to future monitoring realities.”.
(B) Section 3133 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113–291; 127 Stat. 3896) required an interagency plan for monitoring of nuclear weapons and fissile material, and section 3132 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 130 Stat. 2768) required an update of such plan. In both instances, the reports submitted failed to answer the congressional requirements, and instead provided only a brief summary of the National Security Council structure and processes.