Investing in Priority Number One: Safety
This piece will take you about two minutes to read – and during that time, the natural gas utility industry will have spent $125,571 on investments to make our system safer for our customers. That works out to $3,767,130 per hour, or $33 billion per year.
Our industry has a simple mission: to deliver safe, affordable and reliable energy to our customers. We do this exceptionally well. Natural gas is 3.5 times as affordable as electricity, and our customers experience 1/650th as many outages as electric customers.
All three pillars are vital to our mission, but safety is our absolute top priority. For years, the industry has been focused on accelerated pipeline replacement programs, driving more modern materials and in turn continuing to advance safety and drive down emissions. These programs have helped to lower emission from natural gas distribution systems by 70% since 1990 by preventing leaks from occurring – and we’re not done yet. AGA leads an annual Pipeline Safety Management System (PSMS) workshop to promote non-punitive self-reporting and consistent self-evaluation to identify areas for proactive action. This helps companies take steps to reduce these risks to prevent incidents from occurring in the first place.
Natural gas utilities work to closely monitor pipelines, maintaining situational awareness at all times. AGA member companies invest in a variety of safety related technologies ranging from aerial drones, to satellites, to ground vehicles and sensors in the pipelines themselves. These technological tools allow natural gas utilities to prioritize rapid repairs when necessary.
America’s natural gas utilities make preparing for safety a priority. AGA operates an Enhanced Peer Review Program. This voluntary safety and operational practices program allows participating companies to be reviewed by their peers, share leading practices, and identify opportunities to better serve customers and communities. Each review features a panel of fellow gas utility professionals from North America who provide the company with feedback to help enhance its safety and efficiency. AGA has administered more than 135 peer reviews and virtual assessments for member companies since 2015 on nearly 322 topics, speaking with more than 1,600 subject matter experts in the process.
Safety isn’t purely physical. Countering cyber threats to critical infrastructure is a vital priority for AGA and our industry. To this end, we founded the Downstream Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center LLC (DNG-ISAC), the industry’s premier cyber and physical threat sharing and analysis organization for the natural gas industry in the U.S. and Canada. This organization exists to facilitate situational awareness and threat communication between operators and the federal government. AGA also administers a Peer Cyber Review Program and Physical Security Focus Group, which allows AGA member companies to consult with peer utility security subject matter experts and walk through comprehensive, AGA-developed assessments that align with the TSA Pipeline Security Directives and Guidelines.
From preventing leaks before they start to heading off cyber attacks at the pass, our industry works day and night to create a safer natural gas system. Our investments in safety ensure that our customers can rest easy knowing that they will be able to access the safe, affordable and reliable energy their everyday lives depend on.