By Robert Bittner

Today’s natural gas infrastructure encompasses a broad range of priorities, including upgrades to pipeline systems, capacity, regulations and customer affordability. Yet it’s possible they can all be summed up in one key priority: “Getting our infrastructure to our customers,” said Dan Lapato, vice president of planning for the American Gas Association.

From navigating once-in-a-lifetime crises to upgrading infrastructure in densely populated residential neighborhoods to maximizing the benefits of new regulations, utilities across the country are continuing to find innovative ways to ensure their infrastructure continues to serve customers and communities.

Protecting the Pipeline

In the early morning hours of March 26, 2024, the cargo ship Dali suddenly lost power and propulsion, crashing into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. The collision brought down the bridge and killed six bridge workers who had been performing overnight maintenance. Fifty thousand tons of debris ended up in the Patapsco River, blocking the shipping channel and threatening the integrity of the 24-inch Key Bridge high-pressure transmission pipeline, which lies along the riverbed.

“After the bridge collapse, the ultimate goal was to safely remove the ship and bridge debris from the Patapsco River where it was resting near the pipeline, without additional complications to the recovery effort,” said Matt Diehl, senior manager, gas construction and maintenance, for Baltimore Gas & Electric.

BGE needed to ensure that the pipeline, which serves about 165,000 customers, remained intact. Doing so required an unusual amount of teamwork. “This was the first time we’ve had to work hand in hand with so many federal and state agencies, as well as the local municipalities and a variety of contractors,” Diehl said. “We wanted to make sure we were partnering well with them throughout the entirety of the process, working together to develop the action plan.”

Service was not affected for the majority of BGE customers, apart from several State of Maryland facilities immediately adjacent to the bridge. “We were able to move temporary natural gas supplies to their location to keep them in service until we were able to reinstate the pipeline,” Diehl said. 

To ensure the safety of divers and other on-site workers, BGE had to inert the pipeline. “Inerting a pipeline of that size and distance was new to us,” Diehl recalled. “The process involved a lot of discussions with the regulatory agencies, to make sure we weren’t compromising any of the regulatory constraints under which we operate that pipeline.”

Purging in an inert gas involves removing all the natural gas while continually monitoring pressures. “Since we had work sites on both the north and south sides of the Patapsco River—and we needed to balance the pressures on both sides—there was a lot of real-time communication happening as we were doing it,” said Diehl. “We knew that the longer it took us, the further back it would push the overall [salvage] timeline. We needed to get it done from a safety perspective—and the sooner that happened, the quicker they could move on with the recovery efforts.”

BGE engineering and construction crews worked 24/7 to plan and perform the process, which took place over three critical days. Salvage and disaster recovery came next, while BGE performed nonstop engineering analysis, then developed a recommissioning plan to reinstate the pipeline to full service. In the end, the pipeline was fully reconnected within three months, with minimal impacts, resulting in numerous compliments from the Coast Guard, PHMSA, Army Corps of Engineers, Governor Moore and the Maryland PSC on BGE’s safe and timely completion.

In the Neighborhood

When Memphis Light, Gas and Water was planning a 5.4-mile, $30 million pipeline modernization project in South Memphis—with construction occurring close to city streets and near at least 722 properties, homes and businesses—the utility prioritized keeping the affected communities well-informed, explaining to customers when and where construction would be done, said Chandrika Rosser, vice president of gas and water engineering and operations for MLGW.

Known as Weaver-Gill, the project involved replacing two 18-inch extra-high-pressure gas transmission pipelines with a new 24-inch high-pressure distribution pipeline. Information began flowing about two months before the planned construction. The communication campaign included a community presentation delivered at about a dozen community meetings, along with emails and door knockers, Rosser explained. “We also have a dedicated website that customers can reach through QR codes. Our goal is to update the site every week with the current status and where we will be working in their neighborhoods.”

She added, “The intentionality that we have with everything that goes into the communications plan has definitely built trust in that particular part of our service territory.”

Community trust was enhanced further by the utility’s willingness to adapt Weaver-Gill to minimize the project’s impact on local neighborhoods. The goal was to keep construction out of the streets and backyards as much as possible to minimize impacts to properties and road access to homes. “We were working very closely to cars, campuses and driveways, etc.,” Rosser noted, “so we ended up doing some additional boring that we had not planned on, instead of trenching,” requiring a mid-project change order.

Despite the magnitude of Weaver-Gill and the community care it required, the project, which began this past spring, was expected to be completed on time in October as of press time.

On a side note, Rosser grew up in the nearby Whitehaven neighborhood. “As an engineer, the coolest part of the job is to design something and see it through the construction phase and then go back by there, years later, and know you had a hand in that,” she said. “Knowing that we’re contributing to the longevity of the natural gas system, enhancing the reliability of natural gas service and enhancing the safety for the customers in the community that I grew up in is priceless.”

Process Improvement

On the regulation side, the key issues for natural gas infrastructure development continue to revolve around permit reform, line-extension programs and economic-development partnerships with counties and cities, said Lapato. “At AGA, we are continually working to educate federal policymakers about the need for our infrastructure,” he said.

Progress is happening.

For example, this past June, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission took steps to remove some of the obstacles responsible for slowing natural gas infrastructure development, including:

• An immediate waiver of FERC Order No. 871, which delayed the construction of previously approved natural gas projects until requests for rehearing of the original certificate order were resolved. The waiver is good for one year, during which time construction will be allowed to proceed during the rehearing period.
• Notice of a proposal to permanently rescind Order No. 871.
• The temporary raising of the cost limits under which natural gas utilities may take on pipeline modifications/construction without being required to see additional certificate authorization from FERC.

These changes are expected to give natural gas companies increased flexibility for developing their infrastructure while lessening—and perhaps eliminating—some of the regulatory burden. While at press time it was too soon to describe new infrastructure directly related to the FERC ruling, Lapato was optimistic. “This order joins other reforms in the past year that will help further streamline the permitting process,” he said. “These are significant steps that will help streamline the process of building or expanding essential natural gas infrastructure, with all their resultant benefits, from job creation to economic development to increased energy reliability and affordability for American consumers.”