Here are a few highlights from a successful National Safe Digging Month:

• 22 governors issued National Safe Digging Month Proclamations

• The U.S. Department of Transportation released a new public service announcement

• Common Ground Alliance created a video celebrating the five year anniversary of the Call 811 Before You Dig campaign.

America’s natural gas utilities are working with national state and local governments and leaders in the pipeline and construction industries to promote safe digging year round.

Visit call811.com.  Take the 811 Promise. Call before you dig.

The U.S. Department of Transportation will lead an effort to help expedite federal permitting for a 1,000 mile pipeline modernization project by NiSource, Inc. that will produce thousands of jobs, enhance safety and increase energy capacity.

Secretary Ray LaHood and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrator Cynthia Quarterman recently met with Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and representatives from NiSource in Pittsburgh to pledge their support in expediting the construction.

Secretary LaHood said, “A year ago, I asked pipeline operators to take a hard look at their infrastructure and identify those sections of pipeline that need to be repaired, rehabilitated or replaced to ensure safer and more reliable delivery of energy resources. And we are happy to help NiSource speed up construction and replace some of the oldest pipelines in the nation, ensuring good jobs and increased safety for people in Pittsburgh, as well as throughout Pennsylvania and the other states that will benefit from this project.”

NiSource, Inc. has announced it will modernize its Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC gas transmission and storage system that serves communities in six states, including the Marcellus shale gas production region.

“At NiSource, we are pleased to play our part in this long-term, nation-wide commitment to enhancing America’s core energy infrastructure,” said Jimmy Staton, executive vice president and group CEO of NiSource’s gas transmission and storage business. “We welcome the Department of Transportation’s support in facilitating our investments through an efficient permitting and regulatory review process. We commend Secretary LaHood, Mayor Ravenstahl, President Obama and our many other federal, state and local stakeholders who play a role in helping modernize our nation’s energy infrastructure.  We look forward to working together to get the job done.”

This modernization project will take place in Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, and it will promote the safe and reliable delivery of energy resources across the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. NiSource projects that the modernization project will:

• Invest $4 billion over 10 to 15 years, beginning in 2012;
• Produce an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 direct jobs; and
• Replace approximately 1,000 miles of large diameter pipeline using domestic-made steel.

A year ago, Secretary LaHood issued a Call to Action to the nation’s pipeline operators, asking them to take a hard look at their infrastructure and identify pipelines that need to be repaired, rehabilitated or replaced to ensure safer and more reliable delivery of energy resources. This project is also in accordance with the President’s Executive Order to Improve Performance of Federal Permitting and Review of Infrastructure Projects.

This $4 billion commitment highlighted on Friday is in addition to the more than $4 billion NiSource started investing to modernize its local Columbia Gas utilities over the next two decades. Started about three years ago, the program has already replaced more than 1,000 miles of bare steel and cast iron lines with more modern, corrosion-resistant materials.

AGA members deliver clean natural gas to more than 177 million Americans every day through 2.4 million miles of pipeline infrastructure.

Gas is abundant, and gas pipeline companies are rapidly identifying and pursuing new investments to bring this resource to consumers throughout the United States.  In the first quarter of 2012, a number of gas companies announced investment plans to build the gathering line infrastructure required to bring abundant shale gas and natural gas liquids to market. In some cases, gas infrastructure investments are being made to accommodate increased demand for gas-fired power generation.  In other cases, utilities and transmission companies see new opportunities to harness increasing gas supplies from their neighborhood shale plays and transport them to consumers within and outside of their traditional service territory.

For example, ONEOK Partners announced last week that it will invest more than $140 million to construct a 270-mile natural gas gathering system going into the Bakken shale.  The system will create new opportunities for Bakken and Three Forks producers to process and deliver natural gas to the marketplace.  ONEOK will also spend more than $1.5 billion between 2011 and 2014 to support its natural gas and natural gas liquids businesses, including an additional 500-mile natural gas liquids pipeline.   Last month, NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage announced similar plans for bringing gas to market from the Marcellus and Utica shales, two areas where shale deposits have created potentially vast new gas supplies for the northeastern United States.  The company’s Pennsylvania Marcellus Pipeline project will invest about $145 million to bring 300,000 dekatherms per day of new capacity onto its system and connect to multiple interstate pipelines.

A number of companies have sought authorizations from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand storage, processing, transportation, and trading hub facilities to interconnect with major interstate pipelines.  Recently, FERC authorized Hope Gas Inc., a local gas distribution company, and Hinshaw to build new facilities to take gas from several producers in the Marcellus region for delivery to three major interstate systems.  FERC’s approval anticipates that E&P activity in the West Virginia Marcellus will create enough supply in the next few years to outstrip demand on Hope’s LDC system and in West Virginia as a whole!  We can expect FERC to remain active in reviewing such projects in 2012 and 2013.

To learn more about our country’s abundant natural gas resources, check out  AGA’s most recent Energy Analysis report discussing findings on U.S. 2011 Natural Gas Reserves and a recent snapshot of natural gas trends going into 2012.

Whether you are planning to do it yourself or hire a professional, smart digging means calling 811 before each job.  Call811.com has information and recommendations for planting trees and hedges, installing a pond, fence, mailbox, deck or pouring concrete.

A utility line is damaged by digging once every three minutes nationwide.  One-third of these incidents are caused by failure to call 811 before beginning a digging project. Striking a single line can cause injury, repair costs, fines and outages. Every digging project – even small projects like installing a mailbox, building a deck or planting a tree or garden – warrants a call to 811.

America’s natural gas utilities urge you to call 811 before you dig.

When calling 811, the individual is automatically connected to the local one-call center which collects information about the digging project. The one-call center then transmits this information to the appropriate utility companies who will send representatives to mark the locations of underground lines in the immediate vicinity of the planned work location.