Blogs

APGA Submits Comments in Response to DOE’s Commercial Warm Air Furnaces RFI

By Renée Lani posted 2 days ago
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On July 1, APGA submitted comments in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) request for information (RFI) pertaining to energy conservation standards (ECSs) for commercial warm air furnaces (CWAFs). Although not appliance manufacturers, APGA members do provide the energy needed to fuel CWAFs; consequently, public natural gas utilities are a critical stakeholder in this work. Through its comments, APGA requested for DOE to make a formal determination that the CWAF ECSs need not be updated at this time. APGA’s comments also supported those of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), with whom we closely coordinated. In addition ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 65 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 3,077 Bcf

By General Inquiries posted 2 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, July 2, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, June 26. A 65 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 3,077 Bcf as of Friday, June 26, 2020, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 65 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 712 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 466 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,611 Bcf. At 3,077 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
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Industry Provides Communication Toolkit: July is PSMS Month!

By Erin Kurilla posted 2 days ago
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APGA works closely with a coalition of pipeline trade associations and representatives from their memberships on the Industry Pipeline Safety Management Systems (PSMS) Team. The team is dedicated to raising awareness and providing tools to assist with the adoption of PSMS principles. On behalf of that team, the Association of Oil Pipelines (AOPL) developed a ‘Communications Toolkit’ for the promotion of PSMS to all stakeholders. As an industry, we are collectively pushing PSMS messages through social media platforms throughout July. APGA encourages its members to participate in this effort by sharing APGA’s social media posts on this topic and by posting individual ...
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2020 APGA Safety Contest Winners Announced

By Simon Cook posted 2 days ago
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Congratulations to all 41 winners of the 2020 APGA Safety Contest! These gas systems highlight the dedication of APGA members to maintaining the highest safety standards within their system, their communities, and in the natural gas industry. Among the winning systems, the City of Tallahassee, Fla., and the City of Winder, Ga., will be receiving an award for meeting the criteria to win the safety contest five years in a row. In addition, Lake Apopka Natural Gas District, Fla., will be receiving an award for meeting that criteria ten years in a row. These are remarkable achievements and serve the entire industry by exemplifying what it means to set and maintain ...
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House Passes Moving Forward Act Which Includes Various Energy Provisions

By Doug MacGillivray posted 2 days ago
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On July 1, the House passed H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act. The $1.5 trillion package, dubbed an infrastructure bill, passed along party lines. The House then left for its two-week mid-summer recess.  While the base bill and components did deal with infrastructure, H.R. 2 was much broader and delved into general domestic policy. The bill includes many energy provisions, including electric vehicle and alternative vehicle investments, various energy tax credits, and incentives for home energy and energy efficiency programs. Items that APGA tracked included the Build America Bonds program, a new pipeline repair state grant program, and tax credits pertaining ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 120 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 3,012 Bcf

By General Inquiries posted 8 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, June 25, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, June 5. A 120 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 3,012 Bcf as of Friday, June 19, 2020, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 120 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 739 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 466 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,546 Bcf. At 3,012 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range
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APGA Presents to the Business Council for Sustainable Energy

By Stuart Saulters posted 8 days ago
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At the invitation of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE), APGA staff presented on recent state legislation related to energy choice. At State and Regional Policy Committee meeting on June 18, APGA staff spoke specifically on recent bills passed in Oklahoma and Louisiana. These states followed Arizona and Tennessee, which have also passed legislation ensuring their citizens have a choice in the energy for their homes and businesses. While the bill may be structured differently based on the laws of the state, the outcome ensures individual cities and towns can’t mandate electrification, like occurred in Berkeley, California. Along with APGA staff, ...
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APGA Submits Comments on EPA’s Guidance Procedures Proposed Rule

By Erin Kurilla posted 8 days ago
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While federal agencies are required by law to allow for public comment on proposed rulemakings, traditionally no such opportunity has been required for guidance documents. Executive Order (EO) 13891 “Promoting the Rule of Law through Improved Agency Guidance Documents” requires all agencies to increase transparency. In response to that EO, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the proposed rule “EPA Guidance; Administrative Procedures for Issuance and Public Petitions” on May 22, 2020. APGA is engaging in opportunities to work with other trades and build coalitions as we learn the issues and understand the critical players. Therefore, ...
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APGA Webinar on Converting Woody Biomass into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG)

By Stuart Saulters posted 8 days ago
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On Wednesday, June 24th, APGA members were able to hear from SunGas Renewables, which was founded in 2019 as a subsidiary of the Gas Technology Institute (GTI). The discussion detailed the company’s efforts to take the sun’s energy that is stored in organic wastes and their byproducts, principally woody biomass, and convert it into renewable fuel at high efficiency, while simultaneously reducing adverse environmental impacts. There was also a conversation on the specific steps of gasification that aims to result in a fuel that is pipeline quality. As well, the presenter shared on all GTI has done to further and promote gasification technology for many years. ...
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APGA Submits Comments in Response to Two DOE Appliance Test Procedure RFIs

By Renée Lani posted 8 days ago
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On June 24, APGA submitted comments in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) request for information (RFI) pertaining to test procedures for consumer water heaters and residential-duty water heaters. Similarly, on June 4, APGA also submitted comments in response to DOE’s RFI pertaining to test procedures for commercial warm air furnaces (CWAFs). Although not appliance manufacturers, APGA members do provide the energy needed to fuel the appliances in question; consequently, public natural gas utilities are a critical stakeholder in this work. The RFIs for both sets of test procedures posed a number of complex questions, ranging from current market ...
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APGA Continues to Engage with PHMSA on Farm Taps

By Erin Kurilla posted 8 days ago
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On January 23, 2017, the Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration (PHMSA) published the Operator Qualification, Cost Recovery, Accident & Incident Notifications, and Other Pipeline Safety Changes Final Rule . Within that final rule were new requirements for the inspection and testing of service lines off of production, gathering, and transmission pipelines – commonly referred to as farm taps (§192.740). Soon after the publication of the Final Rule industry trade associations, including APGA, encouraged PHMSA to revisit this new requirement as many complexities were not originally discussed during the rulemaking process.  In response on March 26, 2019, ...
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ICC Appeals Panel to Hear APGA-AGA Appeal on IECC Provisions

By Renée Lani posted 15 days ago
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As previously reported, APGA and the American Gas Association (AGA) jointly filed an appeal of four International Code Council (ICC) actions related to provisions in the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). APGA, through the appeal, contended that these provisions should have been prevented from moving forward by ICC staff during the code development process because they either raised potential federal preemption concerns or were outside of IECC's defined intent and, consequently, should not be included in the next edition of the IECC. APGA members would be directly and materially affected by state or local adoption of the requirements of these ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 85 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 2,892 Bcf

By General Inquiries posted 15 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, June 18, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, June 5. A 85 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 2,892 Bcf as of Friday, June 12, 2020, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 85 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 722 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 419 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,473 Bcf. At 2,892 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range
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APGA Holds First Stop on Virtual Membership Tour

By Dave Schryver posted 15 days ago
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Today, APGA held the first stop on its virtual membership tour with a sold-out virtual meeting with Florida public gas systems. As we have done in the past, APGA’s President & CEO, Dave Schryver, and senior staff were scheduled to meet with APGA members in-person over a two-week period. Due to concerns related to COVID-19, the membership tour has been transitioned to a virtual tour that will include over 25 regional/state visits with APGA members nationwide. The membership tour allows APGA staff the opportunity to come to meet with the folks who work for our member utilities and listen to the concerns and daily challenges of our member gas utilities to better ...
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APGA Submits Comments on PHMSA’s Liquid Pipeline Regulatory Reform Proposed Rule

By Erin Kurilla posted 15 days ago
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On Monday, June 15, APGA joined seven other industry trade associations in submitting comments to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Regulatory Reform for Hazardous Liquid Pipelines. While the large majority of this proposed rule focused on changes to 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 194, which focuses on oil spill response plans, and Part 195, which focuses on safety regulations for liquid pipelines, there were some significant proposals associated with 49 CFR 190 included. Part 190 codifies the enforcement procedures used by PHMSA and their state pipeline safety partners for all pipelines. ...
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APGA Starts Strategic Planning Process

By Dave Schryver posted 15 days ago
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APGA is proud to announce the kick-off of the American Public Gas Association's (APGA) strategic planning process! This is an exciting and critically important opportunity for our members to set the direction for our organization in the next three years. We are also pleased to share with you that APGA has selected  Vista Cova , a consulting firm with over 30 years of association management, to assist us in our strategic planning process.  Our first step is to seek input from members with a brief 5 question survey and can be found here on the APGA Community . We encourage all members to participate! We plan to use your answers to help assess the value we ...
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State of Tennessee Approves Utility Commissioner Credits for Attending the APGA Annual Conference

By Dave Schryver posted 15 days ago
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The State of Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury has approved the 2020 APGA Annual Conference, which will be held virtually beginning on July 20th and running through the 23rd, for 6.25 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, policy-making responsibilities, and other topics ...
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APGA Launches PSMS Virtual Series

By Erin Kurilla posted 22 days ago
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APGA is launching a three-part workshop series to guide participants through their first steps along their Pipeline Safety Management Systems (PSMS) journey. During the series, systems will deepen their understanding of PSMS principles, perform a PSMS gap analysis, identify actions to address gaps and enhance safety at their system, and develop metrics to evaluate the benefits of PSMS at their system. Those that participate and engage in all parts of the workshop series will: Understand PSMS and its elements Complete a PSMS gap analysis designed specifically for APGA’s membership Hear other public gas system’s solutions for PSMS gaps Develop an action ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 93 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 2,807 Bcf

By General Inquiries posted 22 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, June 11, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, June 5. A 93 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 2,807 Bcf as of Friday, June 5, 2020, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 93 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 748 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 421 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,386 Bcf. At 2,807 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range
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APGA Webinar with BioEnergy DevCo discussing Anaerobic Digestion

By Stuart Saulters posted 22 days ago
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On Wednesday, June 10 th , APGA members were able to hear from BioEnergy DevCo (BDC) on some of their efforts to produce renewable natural gas (RNG). Specifically, BDC provided a broad overview of anaerobic digestion (AD) technology, which is the method their company uses to naturally break down organic wastes and convert into RNG, as well as an organic soil amendment. The basic mechanics of AD were detailed.  Then, there was a discussion on how this technology can be leveraged to meet energy production, sustainability, and economic development goals for the cities and towns where APGA members operate.  APGA members seemed to enjoy this topic, as the speakers ...
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