Blogs

APGA and SIF Speak at Kansas Pipeline Safety Seminar

By John Erickson posted 4 days ago
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On November 6 and 7, John Erickson spoke on behalf of APGA and the APGA Security and Integrity Foundation (SIF) at the Kansas Public Service Commission’s Pipeline Safety Seminar in Manhattan, Kansas. In the SIF session, John focused on lessons learned after eight years of the SIF’s Simple Handy Risk-based Integrity Management Plan (SHRIMP) program. Over 1,600 distribution operators have used the SHRIMP program to develop their Distribution Integrity Management Plans (DIMP). John’s talk was based on feedback received from SHRIMP users and state regulators who have audited systems using SHRIMP. One overriding lesson learned is that many operators don’t fully understand ...
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APGA to Begin “Did You Know Campaign”

By Dave Schryver posted 4 days ago
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On November 15, APGA will begin a “Did You Know” campaign in an email that will be sent out to all members. The campaign is intended to provide APGA members with information on a monthly basis that they can share with audiences such as customers, policymakers, media, employees, etc. On the 15th of each month, APGA will send out to its members a piece that focuses on specific issues ranging from the benefits of direct use to cooking with gas and the impacts of mandated electrification. The monthly series is meant to provide resources and education to help our members communicate the benefits of natural gas on a variety of topics. You are welcome to use the facts ...
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APGA Sends Letter to FERC on Natural Gas Hub Liquidity

By Dave Schryver posted 4 days ago
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On November 6, APGA sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) expressing concern about the lack of liquidity in many U.S. natural gas markets and the impact that is having on index prices established by price reporting agencies. As communicated in the letter, a recent report indicated that “natural gas fixed-price volume potentially reported to price-index publishers experienced the largest year-on-year drop since 2009 [for 2018 calendar year].” APGA has been involved in this issue for several years. Donnie Sharp of Huntsville Utilities served as APGA’s representative on a 2017 FERC Technical Conference on the issue of hub liquidity. ...
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APGA Speaks at Tennessee Gas Association Management Conference

By Dave Schryver posted 4 days ago
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On November 7, Dave Schryver, APGA’s Executive Vice President and incoming President & CEO, spoke at the Tennessee Gas Association’s Fall Management Conference. The conference was well attended by a large number of representatives from Tennessee’s public natural gas systems as well as representatives from investor-owned utilities and pipelines. In his presentation, Dave discussed the many benefits that the direct use of natural gas provides, including affordability, and reliability. He also discussed the efforts to ban natural gas in new construction in several cities in California, including Berkeley and San Jose, and how that effort may spread to other ...
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APGA Webinar on ICC Voting

By Stuart Saulters posted 4 days ago
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On November 5, APGA staff held a webinar on the International Code Council (ICC) voting process. Specifically, the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) was discussed, as it is currently being revised. APGA members have the unique opportunity to be an integral part of the voting process, a role that employees of investor-owned utilities do not have. The webinar provided updates on the voting process and highlighted proposed modifications from the recent ICC Public Comment Hearings, some of which are very concerning. A few stakeholders are suggesting the IECC should mandate homes be “electrification-ready,” meaning they have the circuitry installed for ...
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APGA Speaks at IAMU Seventh Annual Energy Conference

By Bert Kalisch posted 4 days ago
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Prior to the APGA meetings in Huntsville, Bert Kalisch, APGA President & CEO, addressed the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities' Seventh Annual Energy Conference. Bert provided a regulatory and legislative update that included a focus on pipeline safety reauthorization and electrification/decarbonization. Much of the presentation centered around how the direct use of natural gas provides a multitude of benefits to energy consumers, communities and our country as a whole; and, that affordable, reliable and efficient natural gas has already played an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Bert reported that APGA’s efforts are focused on highlighting ...
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LIHEAP Funds Released

By Michael Brady posted 4 days ago
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On November 1, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education released $3.32 billion of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2020 Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding. This accounts for approximately 90 percent of FFY 2020 regular block grant funding to LIHEAP grantees. The total amount of funding is $3.68 billion, level with FFY 2019, and is provided under the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2020, and Health Extenders Act of 2019 (Continuing Resolution), which the president signed into law on September 27, 2019. LIHEAP is a federal block grant program that provides money to low-income individuals/families to help them meet ...
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APGA Holds Fourth Annual Operations Conference

By Erin Kurilla posted 4 days ago
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From October 29-31, APGA held its fourth annual Operations Conference in Huntsville, Ala. The 276 attendees from 71 APGA member systems had access to 30 different speakers at the conference. In addition, the sold-out exhibition provided an opportunity to network with 38 exhibitors that shared their technologies and solutions for some of the industry’s greatest challenges. Tommy Battle, Mayor of Huntsville, and Alan Mayberry, Associate Administrator of Pipeline Safety at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, provided opening presentations. New this year, attendees were able to choose between two tracks of presentations. One track focused ...
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APGA Submits Comments to Massachusetts on Professional Engineering Stamps

By Erin Kurilla posted 4 days ago
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On November 1, APGA submitted comments to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) on their proposal for addressing the Professional Engineering (PE) exemption for natural gas utility work. Following the September 2018 incident in Merrimack Valley, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a recommendation to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to “eliminate the professional engineer licensure exemption for public utility work and require a professional engineer’s seal on public utility drawings.” In January 2019, the Massachusetts DPU issued interim guidance to investor owned utilities outlining a few “complex jobs” that will now need ...
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APGA Joins Industry Petition for Reconsideration on the Gas Transmission Final Rule

By Erin Kurilla posted 4 days ago
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On October 1, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published the Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines: MAOP Reconfirmation, Expansion of Assessments, and Other Related Amendments Final Rule. After careful review of the final rule, two elements were identified as unclear. The industry jointly drafted and submitted a Petition for Reconsideration to PHMSA requesting the revision or clarification of those elements. The petition was submitted on November 1. The first area of clarification pertains to the new recordkeeping requirement for class locations. The class location provision of 49 CFR 192 is applicable to both gas distribution ...
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APGA SOAR Program Highlighted at Pipeline Safety Trust Conference

By Erin Kurilla posted 4 days ago
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The APGA System Operational Achievement Recognition (SOAR) program was highlighted this week at the Pipeline Safety Trust (PST) Conference in New Orleans, La. Last year, Erin Kurilla, APGA Vice President of Operations and Pipeline Safety, provided a presentation on the SOAR program at the conference. This year, during the session titled “Have Major New Non-Regulatory Initiatives in the Past 20 Years Improved Safety?,” Luke Litteken, Senior Vice President of Gas at Xcel Energy, furthered the exposure of SOAR through his presentation. He shared two voluntary and industry-led gas distribution programs that are making a difference: APGA SOAR and the American Gas ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 34 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 3,729 Bcf

By Audrey Casey posted 4 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, November 7, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, November 1. A 34 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 3,729 Bcf as of Friday, November 1, 2019, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 34 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 530 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 29 Bcf above the five-year average of 3,700 Bcf. At 3,729 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
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APGA Congratulates Pat Riley and Bert Kalisch on NGV Award

By Dave Schryver posted 11 days ago
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On October 30 in Atlanta, eleven organizations and individuals were honored at Natural Gas Vehicles for America’s (NGVAmerica) 2019 Industry Summit and Annual Meeting for their contributions toward the advancement of natural gas as a transportation fuel. APGA is very proud to have two of our representatives receive the honor: Pat Riley of Gibson County Utility District, and Bert Kalisch, APGA’s President and CEO. These annual awards are awarded to nominees from all stakeholder segments, including but not limited to: NGV industry equipment and service suppliers, policymakers, customers and clean-air/clean transportation advocates. Nominees’ disciplines include ...
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APGA Recognizes Safety Contest Winners at the 2019 APGA Operations Conference

By Dave Schryver posted 11 days ago
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At the 2019 APGA Operations Conference, APGA’s Executive Vice President and Incoming CEO, Dave Schryver, presented plaques to the APGA Safety Contest winners. The APGA Safety Contest is an annual award given out to APGA public natural gas system members for dedication to safety based on the systems' overall incident (lost work time) rates. Public natural gas systems are divided into six groups based on annual number of man-hours worked, and the winner of each group is calculated based on total man-hours worked and lost hours due to accident or injury from January 1 to December 31 of the calendar year. In his remarks, Dave stated that “Safety is paramount when ...
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EIA Reports Storage Increase of 89 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 3,695 Bcf

By Audrey Casey posted 11 days ago
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Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, October 31, which reports the week’s storage report highlights for Friday, October 25. An 89 Bcf increase has been reported. Working gas in storage was 3,695 Bcf as of Friday, October 25, 2019, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 89 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 559 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 52 Bcf above the five-year average of 3,643 Bcf. At 3,695 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
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APGA Joins Georgia Elected Officials in Meetings on Capitol Hill

By Stuart Saulters posted 11 days ago
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For a few days in October, APGA staff was pleased to join elected officials from Georgia for meetings on Capitol Hill. Several mayors and other city officials visited Washington, D.C., with representatives from the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia. The contingent was able to have valuable conversation with almost all members of the Georgia delegation. Information was shared on the importance to enact policies that support the direct use of natural gas. There was also dialogue on the significance of appropriate pipeline safety reauthorization legislation. Other legislative priorities for public natural gas utilities in Georgia, as well as all APGA members, ...
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APGA Submits Comments to CPSC on CO Monitors

By Stuart Saulters posted 11 days ago
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On October 18, APGA submitted comments to the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) on an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding carbon monoxide (CO) and residential gas furnaces and boilers. While APGA is focused on ensuring that their customers are safe, there are serious concerns with what CPSC is proposing. The Air-conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) has highlighted these issues, some specific to current capabilities of CO monitors that would need to be installed on the equipment. As with any policy, APGA wants to ensure that fuel switching is not a result. Consumers need to have choice with their appliances, ...
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APGA Releases Statement in response to LA Times Article

By Dave Schryver posted 18 days ago
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In response to a Los Angeles Times article titled “California ditched coal. The gas company is worried it’s next,” which appeared in the online version of the newspaper earlier in the week, APGA released the following statement. The recent Los Angeles Times article, “California ditched coal. The gas company is worried it’s next” presents a one-sided view that wide-spread mandated electrification is the only way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The reality is that natural gas already has and will continue to reduce emissions, especially when used directly in appliances for home and water heating, and cooking. Right now, natural gas is delivered to Californians ...
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APGA Files Motion to Intervene in PennEast Pipeline Request for FERC Declaratory Order Addressing Eminent Domain

By Dave Schryver posted 18 days ago
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On October 8, APGA filed a Motion to Intervene with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in response to a request for a petition for declaratory order filed by PennEast Pipeline Company, LLC in which they are seeking action requesting that FERC issue an order interpreting the Natural Gas Act’s eminent domain authority. Specifically, they are requesting FERC to clarify that a certificate holder’s authority to “condemn the necessary right-of-way to construct, operate, and maintain a [natural gas] pipeline” and the “necessary land or other property, in addition to right-of-way, for the location of compressor stations [and other associated equipment],” ...
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APGA Holds Winter Outlook Webinar

By Dave Schryver posted 18 days ago
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On October 22, Jenny Fordham, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA), presented a webinar that provided an overview of the 2018-2019 NGSA winter outlook. NGSA represents suppliers that produce and market natural gas. This is the 19th year in a row that they have developed a winter outlook. In her presentation, Jenny discussed market pressure points, which included: weather; the economy; demand; storage; and production. Jenny also discussed projected increases in demand that may come from the residential and commercial sectors as well as in liquefied natural gas exports and in exports via pipeline to Mexico. ...
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