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Congratulations to the AGA Awards of Merit Recipients
We’d like to take a moment to congratulate the 59 member company who were recently presented with the prestigious Awards of Merit. The Awards of Merit, based on a cumulative point system, are awarded to individuals for their active and continuous service to the AGA Operating Section through participation on technical committees, as well as participation in AGA events. These folks bring a great deal to the natural gas industry, and we are proud to honor them for their many contributions. The Gold Award of Merit winners included Richard Lonn at AGL Resources Inc., and Jerry Paul Smith at JPS Measurement Consultants, Inc. For a complete list of recipients, please take a look at our press release, and don’t forget to leave a few words of congrats to all the recipients in the comments below.
AGA’s new natural gas video award
Video. We all love it. Admit it. You do, too. Don’t be embarrassed. I promise I won’t tell anyone. It’ll be ok.
A couple weeks ago I got pinged at least a dozen times about a certain video. People sent me links through email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. You know the video in question. I’m sure you got them, too. We weren’t alone either. The video is creeping up on one million views and that doesn’t include different versions or embedded ones.
According to YouTube people are watching hundreds of millions of videos a day and uploading hundreds of thousands of videos daily. In fact, every minute, ten hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. Facebook estimates that more than 10 million videos are uploaded by users each month.
Yep, everybody loves video.
One of my first interactions with AGA members was at the communications and marketing meeting last fall. As I was preparing to give my presentation on blogs, a ton of people came up to me with last minute requests. “Can you show our new commercial during the break. We’re really proud of it.” Or, “We’ve got this video that we think the group would like.” And so on. All of them were well done. I’m sure anyone there that day still remembers the polar bears.
Over the past year we’ve seen those great videos keep coming. From member companies to our partners, we just saw some great work telling the natural gas story. The story that we need people, including legislators, to understand.
One of my favorites. I may have to recues myself when this one comes up for voting.
People talk about vision all the time. Here’s a vision for you. We are going to build a place that holds all the best videos that answer the question “Why is natural gas so great?”
Here’s what we’re going to do.
AGA is putting together a contest. Anyone is eligible and can submit a video by leaving a link to the video in the comments below or emailing me at dgibson@aga.org. We’ll need to get your entry by August 31. We’re going to separate the videos into categories (safety, natural gas, natural gas utility) and select a group of finalists that will be voted upon on this blog by our readers. The winners will receive:
- An award to commemorate their achievement
- Free registration (up to two people) to the AGA communications and marketing meeting with an opportunity to speak about their experience making the video
- A spotlight profile here on True Blue Natural Gas
- An official AGA press release recognizing them to our media contacts
Most of you have already done the work. This is just a chance for recognition for that hard work. It’s also a chance to shine a spotlight on the natural gas industry. In a world where video can catch fire, AGA is looking for our natural gas video that can go viral. Help us find it.
Ugh…I can’t resist. Enjoy.
AGA Members Recognized for Safety Excellence
Today, at AGA’s 2009 Operations Conference and Biennial Exhibit in Pittsburgh, a staggering 17 companies were honored for their outstanding safety records last year.
Twelve Safety Achievement Awards were given to companies that achieved the lowest “DART” incident rate – a mathematical calculation that describes the number of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time employees that resulted in days away from work or restricted work activity.
Additionally, five companies earned Vehicle Safety Achievement Awards by experiencing the lowest motor vehicle accident rate for companies of their type.
Kudos to these companies for going the extra mile to ensure that their employees and their customers remain safe.
Safety Achievement Award winners include, by category:
Local Distribution Utilities
Mega: Enbridge Gas Distribution (North York, Ontario)
Very Large: Dominion East Ohio Gas Co. (Cleveland, OH)
Large: Citizens Energy Group (Indianapolis, IN)
Comgas (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Medium-Large: Dominion Hope (Clarksburg, WV)
Medium-Small: Equitable Gas Company (Pittsburgh, PA)
Small: Columbia Gas of Maryland (Cumberland, MD)
Combination Utilities
Large: PECO Energy (Philadelphia, PA)
Medium: Central Hudson Gas & Electric (Poughkeepsie, NY)
Montana-Dakota Utilities (Bismarck, ND)
Transmission Companies
Large: Tennessee Gas Pipeline (Houston, TX)
Medium: Eastern Shore Natural Gas (Dover, DE)
Vehicle Safety Achievement Award winners include, by category:
Local Distribution Utilities
UGI Central Penn Gas (Reading, PA)
Combination Utilities
Consumers Energy (Jackson, MI)
Transmission Utilities
CenterPoint Energy Pipelines (Houston, TX)
Small Member Companies
Crossroads Pipeline (Bremen, IN)
Northern Indiana Fuel & Light (Auburn, IN)
True Blue Natural Gas Blog from the American Gas Association (AGA)- Beating the Heat with Summer LIHEAP Action Day
- “The Future of Natural Gas,” Meet Dr. Ernest J. Moniz, MIT
- Renewable Gas – Vision for a Sustainable Gas Network
- The Natural Gas Revolution
- The natural gas grid…the really smart grid
- Meeting the Route 66 guys
- Drilling 101
- ‘Drive To Inspire’ Rides Through Tulsa
- Congratulations to the AGA Awards of Merit Recipients
- Summer LIHEAP Action Day
