Jake Rubin Streamlining Industry Reporting on Methane

Posted on January 27, 2021 by | Comments Off on Streamlining Industry Reporting on Methane


At the American Gas Association’s annual event at the CFA Society of New York today, our Chair of the Board of Directors David Anderson unveiled the Natural Gas Sustainability Initiative (NGSI) Methane Emissions Intensity Protocol. A joint effort with the Edison Electric Institute and an outgrowth of their two-year work on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting, the NGSI Protocol provides a consistent approach for company-level reporting of methane intensity within each segment of the U.S. natural gas supply chain. The goal of NGSI is to measure, report and recognize progress in advancing sustainability across the supply chain.

“This protocol provides a comprehensive, consistent and comparable method to calculate and disclose methane intensity,” Anderson said to more than 150 people who attended the event virtually. “This is not meant to replace regulations, but to provide a meaningful tool to increase transparency and to continue to decrease emissions.”

The detailed Natural Gas Sustainability Initiative (NGSI) Protocol describes the methodology and provides data entry sheets for each covered segment – production, gathering and boosting, processing, transmission and storage, and distribution. The NGSI Protocol methane metric is more comprehensive than the metric used in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the AGA-EEI ESG Template for gas distribution operations, which included only methane data reported to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). The NGSI Protocol methane metric also includes sources and emissions that fall below EPA’s regulatory reporting threshold, in alignment with the ONE Future Protocol.  Each data sheet is prepopulated with emission sources, emission factors for non-GHGRP sources, and equations that automatically calculate segment-level methane emissions intensity when a company inputs its data.

AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert addressed the virtual event today as well sharing a view on what is happening in the nation’s capital and what natural gas utilities expect from the Biden Administration.

“Today, natural gas utilities are taking a major step forward to further demonstrate our commitment to reduce emissions from our own operations and to collaborate with the entire natural gas industry to demonstrate an all-in commitment to emission reductions. We continue to reduce emissions in our own operations and across the energy economy. Investors, customers and policymakers can see that we are a solutions-oriented industry and an essential part of this nation’s cleaner energy future,” Harbert said.

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Adam Cloch Working as One

Posted on January 25, 2021 by | Comments Off on Working as One


On the evening of December 26th, Black Hills Energy and police in Aspen, Colorado began receiving information that there was a problem at several natural gas stations across the city. As temperatures dropped in the depth of winter, this was clearly going to be a problem, and Black Hills Energy employees took swift action to make sure their customers would have the energy, and the heat, they needed.

In those first hours, Black Hills Energy began to implement its emergency procedures to help keep customers safe and warm. This included not only a herculean effort to distribute 400 space heaters bought from Xcel Energy, but also a call for help from surrounding utilities, using the framework from AGA’s Mutual Assistance Program.

While not activated for this incident, AGA sponsors the National Mutual Aid Program. A voluntary, no-fee mutual assistance program designed to suit the wide variety of needs of its member companies across the United States and Canada. Members include a coalition of AGA member companies, which agree to a set of baseline provisions that govern mutual assistance and agree to maintain an updated database with emergency contacts.

With the case in Aspen, customers needed their service turned on as quickly and safely as possible. When Black Hills Energy requested assistance, surrounding utilities stepped up to help. Technicians soon started arriving from states as far as Nebraska and Iowa. In all, more than 200 technicians arrived to assist with restoring service for customers.

Because of the strict regulations that govern the natural gas delivery system, technicians can follow the same procedures and use the same tools across the country, and in this case, allow them to operate efficiently and effectively in Aspen.

Moments like this, while rare, highlight the detailed levels of emergency preparedness put in place by natural gas utilities to ensure they can meet the needs of their customers, and the strong partnerships they maintain with community partners like first responders and local government.

Local utilities take considerable pride in playing a role in the communities they serve, and this is a perfect example of the plans, preparation and demanding work that is a hallmark of the industry to make sure customers have the energy they need and expect.

Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo summarized it perfectly when technicians came to restore service to his own home:

“They were incredibly selfless and happy to help us,” DiSalvo said to the Aspen Times. “They really felt like they were doing the community a good deed, which they were. I said, ‘You guys are heroic.’”

The restoration process went off without a hitch and it is thanks to the training and planning that Black Hills Energy, and all natural gas utilities, put into delivering clean, affordable, and reliable natural gas.

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Adam Cloch Fueling Our Resilient Energy Future

Posted on January 13, 2021 by | Comments Off on Fueling Our Resilient Energy Future


The American Gas Foundation (AGF) is out with a new study looking at the importance of natural gas in a resilient energy system. Our energy grid is changing rapidly. With the transition of coal generation to renewables and natural gas, we are seeing utilities, system operators, regulators and policymakers deliberate the design and structure of our future energy infrastructure.

Natural gas is destined to play a significant role in these conversations. This is true not only because of the abundant supply of natural gas in this country that will fuel our economic growth, but because of its increased efficiency and reduction in emissions.

The study has also found the resilience of our current energy system is largely dependent on the gas system’s ability to quickly respond to events and use its extensive storage resources for long durations and peak seasonal demand.

To understand this fact, we can look at four case studies laid out in the AGF study; all of them natural disasters that natural gas played a crucial role providing support to the energy system in maintaining resilience.

Click here to see all of the study materials including executive summary, summarized report and the full report.

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Adam Cloch The Numbers Guy is Calling the Shots

Posted on December 18, 2020 by | Comments Off on The Numbers Guy is Calling the Shots


At the beginning of 2021, AGA will have a new chair taking the helm – David Anderson, President and CEO of NW Natural. It is an honor richly deserved by Anderson. He has served on AGA’s board in many different capacities for the past several years and has had a relationship with the association for decades.

By trade, Anderson is a CPA with a background in finance. He took an internal audit job at Texas Utilities now TXU and made his way up the chain to senior vice president and chief financial officer before moving over to NW Natural as CFO.

Eight years after joining the utility in a number of different roles, Anderson was named president and CEO in 2016. On what it means to lead, Anderson told American Gas, “I think there are two kinds of people out there in leadership, and some are managers and some are leaders. A leader is someone that hopefully can get people to want to follow them versus force them to follow them. I’ve always tried to grow in that area, and [with] all of these positions and now as CEO, it has allowed me to even continue to grow in that area and hopefully be a good leader for our team.”

Moving into 2021, he is looking to build on the theme developed by AGA Chair Diane Leopold, executive vice president and COO of Dominion Energy, along with Anderson and AGA vice chair Kimberly Greene, chair, president and CEO of Southern Company Gas. Together they have laid out their Bold Action for a Clean Energy Future including goals to:

  • Protect the People, by leveraging technology and evolving best practices to make the workforce and communities utilities serve safer every day;
  • Preserve the Planet, by reducing emissions, finding new efficiencies and securing natural gas’ rightful place as part of the clean energy future;
  • Picture the Potential, by reimagining the industry for the future, innovating, cultivating the workforce and exceeding customer expectations.

As we look to our future and consider the longevity natural gas has in producing affordable, reliable and safe energy, Anderson also believes that we must consider ways to innovate and change. He said, “if there’s ever an industry ripe to succeed in this, it’s natural gas. We’ve just handled so many challenges over time, and you’re talking about a customer base out there that loves our product, it’s very affordably priced, it’s environmentally friendly now, so this is all about making it better.”

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