Consumers Energy is going to be celebrating all year-long and they’re kicking it off today with some grants to Michigan communities totaling $1.25 million. You can read a complete history of Consumers Energy along with an accompanying Flickr album. You can also watch the video below from their YouTube channel.

Last month they launched their new Natural Gas Resource Center. The center has a ton of useful information for their natural gas customers including information on safety, costs, call 811, even a calculator. There’s more stuff there so take some time to check it out.

Wow…125…pretty old. I’m going to need to do some research to see if that’s the oldest utility out there. Actually, if your utility is older, leave a comment below.

Hat tip to Dan Gretzner for the story.

Larry had a pretty clear message for everyone there.  “First and foremost we need to make sure that our stakeholders have confidence in our industry. Our highest priority is delivering natural gas to our customers safely and reliably. We hope to see Congress reauthorize the Pipeline Safety Act before the end of the year.”

Larry went on to talk about natural gas vehicles and shale among other topics. You can read our press release and Platts has a nice story on the morning. I’ve posted a few pictures below and they’re also on our Facebook page and Flickr.

The Troops to Energy Jobs initiative is an effort to create an accelerated program for returning military veterans into the national energy workforce. Our military does an amazing job preparing our troops with the skills they need to succeed in the field, so why not take these skills and translate them into a career in energy?

The program works by speeding up the training process required for those in the energy workforce, by applying relevant military training to class credits.  And for added convenience, those classes will be available online.

Troops to Energy Jobs will work with the U.S. Departments of Defense, Energy, and Labor, as well as a variety of other institutions to help foster this partnership between the U.S. military and the energy industry.  A survey by CEWD estimated that by 2015, there would be 100,000 job openings in the energy industry, and we clearly need well qualified, dedicated and hardworking people to fill these positions. Who better than our veterans!

The program will target all branches of the military, so all service men and women are eligible.

AGA, as a member of the CEWD, fully supports this program that provides excellent job opportunities to America’s finest, while at the same time training highly skilled workers to help our industry.  The program provides rewarding jobs to those who truly deserve them—a true win-win in our book.

Norris voiced his confidence that natural gas will play a large role in the future of America’s energy needs, but also spoke of the difficulties in getting investments for energy infrastructure that are needed for the natural gas industry to grow.

Norris noted that because natural gas is America’s energy future, in terms of infrastructure, “it is important we get it right.”

“Investing in this type of infrastructure is beneficial for the economy,” said Norris, “because a large investment will help America transition its energy usage while creating jobs.  We need to replace much of this infrastructure anyway, because at this point, it qualifies for AARP benefits.”

In his speech, Norris remarked that America’s energy issue is “the biggest big-picture challenge we face as a country right now.”

There’s no doubt that natural gas is imperative to help reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and satisfy other clean energy goals.

“No matter where I look in the energy debate,” Norris said, “it seems like it all comes back around to natural gas.”

We couldn’t agree more.

As far back as February of this year Secretary LaHood had visited AGA’s headquarter in order to talk with our board of directors about how, together, we can improve pipeline safety.  As he said to our board, a first step is to improve communication among all of the pipeline safety stakeholders, which is why in April he hosted the first-ever Pipeline Safety Forum, whose goal was to determine the best methods to “rehabilitate, repair and, where necessary, replace critical pipeline infrastructure”—all to ensure the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas to the 175 million Americans who depend on it every day.

As Secretary LaHood notes in our interview with him, the Pipeline Safety Forum was an excellent first step, but only a first step in enhancing pipeline safety, while also making sure that all stakeholders, including natural gas customers, are aware of the individual actions they can take to improve the safety of the pipeline system.  To give just one example, the number-one cause of pipeline incidents is damage done to pipelines by outside excavators, including folks digging or planting in their own back yards, who are unaware that underground pipe lies beneath them.  A simple call to the “Call Before You Dig” safety hotline—just dial 811 anywhere in the country—and you will be alerted to the location of underground pipe and/or wire in your digging area.

As the interview makes clear, Secretary LaHood is a firm believer in interaction, communication and collaboration. “I know that each time we bring people together we learn more,” he says.

By reading this interview, you too can learn more about Secretary LaHood’s views on pipeline safety and how the U.S. Department of Transportation, the natural gas industry and our many other involved stakeholders, both nationally and in each of our 50 states, can more effectively work together to improve it.

Juanita Spence from our operations team is working on a blog post for later next week with more about what happened at the event. Some of you might remember Juanita from her updates on twitter during the conference. In the meantime, we’ve had so many requests for photos I wanted to get a quick post up letting you know where you could find them.

I always ask people to take pictures when they go places I don’t get to go and I think you guys will be interested in the photos. The OPS team came through with flying colors. Debbie smiled when she handed me the jump drive and said, “we’ve got a few pictures we’d like to post.”

A few?

Try 200.

I pulled out some of my favorites below to give you a taste. Be sure to leave a comment if you were at the conference and had a good time. We enjoy reading those. You can view the entire collection on Flickr (we’re working on adding them to our Facebook page, too). We also broke them out into sets so it would be easier for you to find specific things.

• Awards
• Awards Breakfast
• Breakout Sessions
• Exhibit Hall
• Signs and Breaks
• Volunteers and Staff

Have fun, we sure did!

First, as a good part of my world functions around the web, I wanted to let you know that we started a twitter hashtag for the event. It’s #agaops. So, if you’re commenting on the conference use #agaops with your tweet and anyone searching #agaops on twitter will see the message. Juanita Spence, part of our operations team, has already started tweeting about the event and even posted a few pictures.

You can also use the hashtag if you’re looking for help with something. We’ll be monitoring #agaops and will try to point you in right direction when we see your question. Twitter is great to use if you need help at the actual event. I’ve used twitter at events before to find people at the event when I didn’t have their contact information readily available or was in a place too loud to talk. People are already starting to use it, including a few of our exhibitors. Maybe there are a few giveaways in our future .

Second, be sure to visit the event landing page on aga.org to get copies of conference materials. They’ll be around the registration and exhibition areas to be sure, but in a pinch, here’s a link to download what you need to find your way around.

You’ll find everything from the conference-at-a-glance to the final program, and even a listing of the exhibitors and fun things to do in the area. I went ahead and grabbed the conference-at-a-glance for tonight and tomorrow for you. Click the image below to get the full pdf.

Finally, and most important, be sure to take advantage of being at the event. While we’ve all learned to get amazing things done by collaborating in our digital worlds, there is no substitute for actually being to look someone in the eye, smile and say “hello.” These are the type of networking events that help build lifelong relationships. So, when you’re at the Grand Opening Reception this evening, take a little time to make a new acquaintance.

Leave us a comment below or jump over to twitter and let us know what you think. Be sure to use the #agaops hashtag so we can find you. Here’s a link if you want to learn more about hashtags and how to use them.

Yes, those local utilities deliver clean, reliable natural gas to the homes, businesses and industries in cities and towns across America, but they also are connected to their customers in ways that go far beyond their natural gas pipe in the ground.

They also are connected by the significant economic impact they have on their local communities.  A recent study says that America’s natural gas industry is responsible for 2.8 million American jobs, of which more than 600,000 are the direct result of finding, producing and delivering natural gas to customers.  In addition, more than 700,000 jobs are the indirect result of our industry—that is, these jobs are created by companies that sell products and services to the natural gas industry.   And finally, 1.5 million American jobs are the result of the consumer spending done by the workers in those direct and indirect natural gas industry jobs—what is sometimes called the “induced result” of our industry.

All total, according to the study, 31 states have at least 10,000 jobs related to the natural gas industry, which is a significant economic impact that is felt in communities around the nation.

Local natural gas utilities also are connected to their communities by the civic pride and local commitment so proudly exhibited by their employees.  Nationwide natural gas utilities, driven by the charitable giving of their employees, contribute nearly $3 billion to energy assistance programs for low-income families struggling to pay their energy bills.  These utility employees are also leaders in charitable giving and corporate philanthropy, donating money to help their communities in everything from education, to local business development to making sure less fortunate children have a present to open on Christmas day.

And finally, natural gas utilities and their employees work with local business and political leaders to attract new businesses to their communities, thereby increasing local jobs and local tax revenues, while also increasing the number of natural gas utility customers.

In sum the local natural gas utility and its employees know that being a good neighbor and friend is good for the soul as well as good for business.  As AGA President McCurdy puts it in his president’s message, “The more thriving and vital the community is, the more thriving and vital its natural gas utility is—and vice versa.”

Excerpts from this American Gas interview, edited for space and clarity, will appear at True Blue Natural Gas throughout March.  The entire interview can be read at aga.org.

AMERICAN GAS: You are a veteran of Capitol Hill and alumnus of Congress. How is Congress different from when you were a member? Has the political process gotten better or worse? Have you given any thought to the strategies that will advance our natural gas utility issues—pipeline safety, LIHEAP, access to new sources of supply, R&D funding and so on?

McCURDY: We could spend a lot of time on the first half of your question. The process has definitely changed. It has become a much more polarized and toxic environment. The political parties have become more harshly partisan and more homogenous—that is, more extremely liberal and conservative. I am a Democrat, but I was part of the right wing of that supposedly left-wing party. That put me right in the middle of the political spectrum—and there were Republicans to the left of me. Today the center has shrunk, which is very harmful because the nature of the debate has changed. It has become more personal, demonizing opponents and such.

But in terms of AGA’s and our members’ priorities—pipeline safety, LIHEAP, research and development and I would add some important tax issues to the list—the key to advancing them is strengthening relationships with our most important stakeholders. That is something AGA has been very good at, and I commend the AGA team for being able to accomplish so much because of those relationships. It also means having the right resources and tools such as GASPAC to be successful.

Access to new sources of supply is obviously a high priority. Part of my congressional district was Duncan, Oklahoma, which at one point was headquarters for Halliburton—it no longer is—but I grew up in that world, and I saw first-hand the incredible innovation and technology development and how it was able to open up these new resources. It really is phenomenal.

I am a strong believer that the exploration and development of new energy supplies can be done in a safe, environmentally responsible manner using best practices, working with our regulators to develop appropriate safeguards and promoting transparency. And people need to understand that. I believe in clear communication based on the facts, and the facts are on our side.

And pipeline safety is also a very high priority.  I recognize that our members look to AGA to provide programs and services that help deliver natural gas safely, reliably and cost-effectively.  Those programs are critical not only to our gas utilities, but also to our pipeline members, international equipment and services members and others. That core focus will not change.