Dan Gibson ARRA funding for Clean Cities

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Dan Gibson | Comments Off


Great news for our friends at the Clean Cities program. Vice President Joe Biden recently announced $300 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for state and local governments, and transit authorities to expand the nation’s fleet of clean, sustainable vehicles. The funds are also going to be used for the fueling infrastructure necessary to support those vehicles.

The $300 million in funds adds to the reported $11 billion already announced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to bolster state and local government energy efficiency programs and weatherize low-income homes.

Clean Cities is a government-industry partnership sponsored by the DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program. With almost 90 local coalitions and more than 5,700 stakeholders, Clean Cities’ mission is to reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector.

We’ve mentioned Clean Cities before when Piedmont Natural Gas was awarded the 2008 Clean Cities Award, given annually by the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition (CCFC) to the business or organization that “best demonstrates excellence in clean transportation and fuel activities” and I’m sure we’ll be mentioning them in the future as well. There is some great work going on there with natural gas fleets.

For more information on the ARRA, visit the ARRA web site or be sure to visit AGA’s section on ARRA. We’ve got some great audio there from recent teleconferences on the topic. While you’re there, you can also check out AGA’s section on energy efficiency.

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Paula Gant Natural gas key to Wellinghoff vision

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Paula Gant | Comments Off


The Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Jon Wellinghoff, recently made news by suggesting that there may never be a need for a new nuclear or coal power plant to be built in the U.S.  Chairman Wellinghoff envisions a future in which renewable resources such as wind, solar, and hydrokinetics are backed-up by natural gas-fired generation — central and distributed facilities — which will provide load-response services.  If this potential were fully realized, coal and nuclear could theoretically be priced out of the market, potentially making baseload generating capacity a thing of the past.  A robust electric transmission system, demand response programs — “smart” grid — and increased energy efficiency would be an important part of the picture.  Chairman Wellinghoff raises a very important point regarding the economics that support this vision — expectations of ever-higher construction costs and increased siting challenges associated with new coal and nuclear plants are changing thinking about the relative cost equation comparing traditional central generation plant and distributed resources — renewable or other.  This shift in thinking on the part of leading policymakers is representative of the sea change that is occurring in thinking about how and where we produce energy.

Natural gas will play an important role in enabling this “smart” vision whether through traditional uses in space and water heating, or in the production of electricity inside of or nearer to homes and businesses.  As part of the state-wide New Jersey Clean Energy Program, natural gas utilities in that state administer Pay for Performance, which provides incentives of up to $1 million to industrial and commercial customers for purchasing and installing Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units.  This emerging technology is expected to become increasingly prevalent as an innovative way to enhance energy efficiency through recovery and productive use of waste heat, thus reducing both demand on the electric power grid and carbon dioxide emissions. And although it’s not yet ready for the mass market, even micro CHP (the smaller version designed for residential use) is beginning to earn some attention.

In short, Chairman Wellinghoff is definitely on to something “smart” and natural gas will be key to his vision becoming a reality.

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Dave Parker Who is the American Gas Association?

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Dave Parker | 1 Comment


“You think you know me well/Well, you don’t know me.” – You Don’t Know Me by (“The Genius”) Ray Charles

At the American Gas Association (AGA), which represents the natural gas distribution segment of the natural gas industry, we know how Ray Charles felt because as omnipresent as our members are in Americans’ lives, most people don’t know us at all.

090430pullquoteparker Who is the American Gas Association?

Part of the problem is our name.   Many people hear “gas” association and automatically think of gasoline.   Maybe some years back we should have changed our name to the American Natural Gas Association, and maybe someday in the future we will.  But for now the best we can do is explain patiently that we represent natural gas utilities, which have nothing to do with gasoline or the oil that is refined into gasoline.

Another problem is that we are closely connected, at least in the public’s mind – and too often in Congress’ mind – with the energy producing segment of the industry, as in the “oil and gas” industry.   It’s almost one word, the “oilandgas” industry, as if we were joined at the hip.  That mistaken perception is certainly enhanced by the trade association that does represent the major energy producers, the American Petroleum Institute, or API, which has run a gazillion ads that state those ads are sponsored by “the people of America’s oil and natural gas industry.”  Yes, the producers API represents produce natural gas as well as oil, but AGA does not represent the oil or natural gas producing community, which, in addition to API, is represented by several other producer-focused associations at the state and local level.

We represent that local natural gas utility down the street or across town – the one that delivers natural gas for home heating, water heating, cooking and other end-use applications to more than 70 million homes and businesses throughout the United States.

Why is clearing up this confusion about who we are so important to us?   For one thing, when the price of energy, be it gasoline or natural gas, skyrockets, the media, the general public and, once again, members of Congress, assume our members are raking in the dough.  Actually, by law, natural gas utilities can’t make one penny of profit on the natural gas commodity they deliver to customers - what they pay suppliers for natural gas is what they charge customers.  So high prices hurt utilities as well as customers because more customers have trouble paying their energy bills.

Rather, our members make their money by charging a fee for the delivery, and maintenance, of the natural gas pipeline system in which they deliver natural gas to the customer.  In that sense, we’re more like UPS or FedEx than API.  Our members are delivery vehicles.

We are AGA. Every day, 70 million customers – which adds up to 171 million Americans – receive clean-burning natural gas safely and reliably from our 202 natural gas utility members.   Hopefully, now you know us.

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Lauren Blosse Natural Gas Council Appeals to Senator Bingaman on Energy Legislation

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Lauren Blosse | Comments Off


A group of U.S. natural gas associations has written a letter to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to call attention to problematic provisions in the “energy efficiency resource standards” (EERS) included in Senate and House energy bills that are pending on Capitol Hill right now. While the end result is a laudable one, the National Gas Council (NGC) is mainly concerned with the uncertainty contained in the current EERS language.

The Natural Gas Council, comprised of the American Gas Association, the Natural Gas Supply Association, the Interstate Natural Gas Association, and the Independent Petroleum Association of America, pointed out to the senator that the mandate for new energy consumption reduction goals for natural gas customers seems to rely on large, after-the-fact penalties rather than incentives.  These penalties are tied to consumer behavior, which utilities can neither control nor dictate, but which monetarily punish utilities when customers fail to meet the reduction goals.  The Council is optimistic that this Congress will draft legislation that will help reduce the nation’s energy and carbon intensity through a mechanism that is clear and predictable, and one that takes into account its impact on those entities already working to increase energy efficiency.

Read what the group had to say here.

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