Blogs

APGA Speaks to MNGA Annual Conference

By Bert Kalisch posted 4 days ago
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In mid-July, Bert Kalisch addressed the 2019 Mississippi Natural Gas Association’s (MNGA) Annual Conference in Orange Beach, Ala. In his presentation, Bert highlighted APGA’s advocacy issues and promotional activities including operations and safety, pipeline safety reauthorization, direct use, and the new Natural Gas Genius campaign. Bert highlighted for MNGA the recent U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) notice of a proposed interpretive rule requested by APGA and other gas industry stakeholders that would save consumers from the costs of unnecessary and burdensome overregulation and provide greater customer choice. He articulated why DOE’s proposal to appropriately ...
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Greenville Utilities Commission Wins 2019 APGA Safety Management Excellence Award

By John Erickson posted 4 days ago
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The APGA Operations and Safety Committee selected Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC) as the winner of the 2019 APGA Safety Management Excellence Award. This award recognizes one APGA member each year for consistently operating at the highest levels, clearly establishing itself as an achiever of excellence in the field of safety management. The committee looks for systems that have implemented innovative and effective employee safety practices. Safety is the highest priority in public gas systems, and it is always difficult to single out one system among all the deserving applicants. GUC will be presented with a plaque at the APGA Annual Meeting in Stowe, Vt. ...
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DOE Issues Proposed Interpretive Rule in Response to Petition Submitted by APGA and others

By Dave Schryver posted 4 days ago
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On July 2, the Department of Energy (DOE) released a proposed interpretive rule in response to a petition submitted to DOE by APGA and other gas industry stakeholders. The petition, submitted last June, requested a legal interpretation that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) does not authorize the adoption of efficiency standards that would limit the market for fuel gas vented appliances or equipment to condensing products. In its proposed interpretive rule, DOE “partially grants the petition by issuing an interpretation that non-condensing operation is a product feature and that no DOE rulemaking may prescribe a standard that would make that feature ...
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Congressional Overview

By Stuart Saulters posted 4 days ago
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Several efforts on Capitol Hill have occurred to complete legislation reauthorizing the Pipeline Safety Office within the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), including hearings by the committees with jurisdiction over the agency and discussion drafts released. However, more is still to come. Subcommittees in the Senate Commerce Committee, as well as the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, are expected to publish bills, and then, all these stakeholders will engage in getting one bill to pass Congress and sent to the President. With a reauthorization due date of September 30 and August recess, there are a few working days ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 81 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 2,471 Bcf

By Audrey Anderson posted 4 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, July 11, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, July 5. An 81 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 2,471 Bcf as of Friday, July 5, 2019, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 81 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 275 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 142 Bcf below the five-year average of 2,613 Bcf. At 2,471 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
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New Community Features: Following Notifications, New Reply Options, Save Posts as Drafts, and Scheduled Posts

By Marghet Hager posted 5 days ago
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We are excited to announce new community features on the www.apga.com: new reply options, new reply notifications, list of followed posts, blogs, and files, save a post as a draft, and scheduled posts. Updated Reply & Content Editor Options To make it more intuitive for users to reply to threads online, we have renamed the options 'Reply Inline' and 'Reply to Discussion' to simply be 'Reply' to reply to another member's post on the community. To send a private message to another community member's inbox about that topic, that option has been renamed from 'Reply to Sender' to 'Reply Privately'. When you click REPLY, ...
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Pipeline Safety Legislation Mark-Up

By Stuart Saulters posted 18 days ago
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On June 26, the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy held a mark-up on the Safer Pipelines Act of 2019 (H.R. 3432). There were several amendments offered, but none were adopted. However, through this, the Republicans were able to express concern over the legislation removing the cost-benefit provision within the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) rulemaking process, as well as allowing for mandamus lawsuits, or the ability to “sue and settle.” Congressman Kennedy, from Massachusetts, also submitted an amendment that was withdrawn to include the provisions from the Leonel Rondon Act , which is the bill Senator Markey ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 98 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 2,301 Bcf

By Audrey Anderson posted 18 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, June 27, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, June 21. A 98 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 2,301 Bcf as of Friday, June 21, 2019, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 98 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 236 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 171 Bcf below the five-year average of 2,472 Bcf. At 2,301 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
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2019 APGA Annual Conference App Now Available!

By Marghet Hager posted 18 days ago
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APGA is excited to announce our partnership with Grupio to provide you with a unique mobile experience at the 2019 APGA Annual Conference. Download the 2019 APGA Annual Conference mobile app and access the schedule, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, hotel floor plans and more from the convenience of your phone or tablet. You can also create a list of favorite sessions that you are looking forward to attending at the 2019 APGA Annual Conference and download them onto your device’s calendar. Networking has never been this easy. From within the app, find other attendees and private messages with them! Also in order to protect our members’ contact information and ...
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Pipeline Safety Advisory Committee Reviews Proposed Transmission Rules

By John Erickson posted 18 days ago
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On June 25-26, the Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee (TPSSC) met in Washington, D.C., to continue its review of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) proposed changes to gathering line regulations. The TPSSC is a congressionally-mandated peer review committee composed of industry, government and public pipeline safety experts that advises whether PHMSA’s rules are reasonable, practicable, technically feasible and cost-effective. Rich Worsinger of Rocky Mount, N.C., represents public gas on this committee. The proposed gathering line rule would subject some gathering lines that are currently not regulated by federal ...
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APGA Speaks to TGA Annual Conference

By Bert Kalisch posted 18 days ago
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In mid-June, Bert Kalisch, APGA President and CEO, addressed the 2019 Tennessee Gas Association’s (TGA) Annual Conference in Destin, Fla. In his presentation, Bert highlighted APGA’s advocacy issues and promotional activities including operations & safety, pipeline safety reauthorization, direct use, and the new Natural Gas Genius campaign. Also addressing the general session of TGA’s Annual Conference was APGA Board of Director member John Olshefski, who is Senior Vice President of Customer Care for Huntsville Utilities. John spoke on leadership, and shared his personal experiences as a Citadel graduate, retired colonel in the U.S. Army, and currently as ...
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State of Tennessee Approves Utility Commissioner Credits for Attending the APGA Annual Conference

By Dave Schryver posted 18 days ago
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The State of Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury has approved the 2019 APGA Annual Conference, which will be held July 28-31 in Stowe, Vt., for six hours of Utility Commissioner Training Credits as required under Tennessee law. By way of background, the State of Tennessee recently passed legislation that requires utility board members to receive 12 hours of training with the first 12 months of their initial election/appointment (or re-election/reappointment) and 12 hours every three years thereafter. The subjects for training include board governance, financial oversight, policymaking responsibilities, and other topics reasonably related to a board member’s ...
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Commissioner LaFleur to Leave FERC

By Dave Schryver posted 18 days ago
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On June 20, Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur announced through Twitter that she will be leaving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at the end of August and the July Open Meeting will be her last Commission Open Meeting. Commissioner LaFleur was first nominated by President Obama to FERC in 2010 and was confirmed for a second term by the Senate in 2014. She served as Acting Chairman of the Commission from November 2013 to July 2014 and January to August 2017 and as Chairman from July 2014 until April 2015. APGA leadership meets with the FERC Commissioners twice a year as a means to communicate information and positions on federal regulatory matters of ...
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APGA Holds Government Relations Webinar

By Dave Schryver posted 25 days ago
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On June 20, APGA held a webinar for its members to provide an overview of APGA’s legislative and regulatory activities in 2019. The webinar was presented by Dave Schryver, APGA’s Executive Vice President, Doug MacGillivray and Stuart Saulters, Directors of Government Affairs. During the webinar, there was an overview of the activities of the 116th Congress and a discussion of some of the activities, such as providing funding for the federal government and raising the debt limit, that Congress will be forced to act on when it returns from its August recess, which ends on September 9. Dave, Stuart and Doug discussed a number of legislative items that APGA has ...
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APGA Attends NEF Board Meeting

By Audrey Anderson posted 25 days ago
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On June 20, Audrey Anderson, APGA Editorial and Marketing Director, attended the summer board meeting for the National Energy Foundation (NEF) in Washington, D.C. Bert Kalisch, APGA President and CEO, is on the NEF Board of Directors, and Audrey stood in for him for this meeting. NEF is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the development, dissemination and implementation of supplementary educational materials and programs. NEF resources for education relate primarily to energy, water, natural resources, science, math, technology, conservation, energy efficiency and the environment. NEF recognizes the importance and contribution of natural resources ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 115 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 2,203 Bcf

By Audrey Anderson posted 25 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, June 20, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, June 14. A 115 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 2,203 Bcf as of Friday, June 14, 2019, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 115 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 209 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 199 Bcf below the five-year average of 2,402 Bcf. At 2,203 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
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Natural Gas Direct Use Technology Workshop

By Stuart Saulters posted 25 days ago
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APGA staff and member Sue Kristjansson, from Oak Ridge Utility District, attended a workshop of key stakeholders engaged in natural gas direct-use technology development and deployment. The objective was to identify opportunities to increase the effectiveness of getting new products to market. Also, current and future challenges facing our industry were identified and discussed, as well as ways to overcome obstacles limiting the advancement of new natural gas technologies. There was, additionally, conversation on opportunities to expand natural gas technology development and enhance the effectiveness of research and development programs. It was valuable discussion ...
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APGA Submits Testimony for Pipeline Safety Hearing

By Stuart Saulters posted 25 days ago
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APGA has submitted testimony for a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, titled Legislative Solutions to Make Our Nation’s Pipelines Safer. That event was held on June 19, and it focused on provisions regarding the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) reauthorization in two recent pieces of legislation, H.R. 2139, the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act, and the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Majority draft bill, the Safer Pipelines Act of 2019. At the hearing, Energy Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) mentioned the need for additional overpressure protection for distribution operations. This is being driven as a result ...
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DOT Receives Report on Voluntary Information Sharing

By John Erickson posted 26 days ago
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Last week, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) released the report of the Voluntary Information-sharing System Working Group (VISWG). The VISWG was created to comply with Section 10 of the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-183 – PIPES Act 2016). Congress required PHMSA to establish a federal advisory committee to provide recommendations to the United States Department of Transportation Secretary on the development of a voluntary information-sharing system (VIS). The VIS encourages collaborative efforts to improve inspection information feedback and information-sharing with ...
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GAO to Study Impact of Transmission Pipeline Disruptions on Distribution Systems

By John Erickson posted 26 days ago
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On June 14, APGA’s John Erickson was interviewed by Sarah Arnett, Senior Analyst Physical Infrastructure Team of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), about the actual and potential impacts of transmission pipeline disruptions on local distribution systems. A January incident in Rhode Island has raised concerns about service disruptions related to the interaction of interstate gas transmission and intrastate distribution pipeline systems. In that incident, Algonquin Pipeline experienced low pressure forcing the local distribution company, National Grid, to shut off gas to approximately 7,000 customers on an extremely cold January day. GAO received ...
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