APGA Weekly Update, April 12, 2018

Transcription

1 APGA Weekly Update, April 12, 2018 APGA Speaks to California Natural Resources Committee On April 9, APGA s Executive Vice President, Dave Schryver, participated in a hearing in the California Assembly s Natural Resources Committee on state legislation, AB3232, which would require the California Energy Commission to establish a plan to achieve the goal that all new residential and nonresidential buildings built on or after January 1, 2030, to be zero-emission buildings. The hearing began with the bill s sponsor, Assemblywoman Friedman, discussing the bill. Some of her key points included: - The greenhouse gas emissions of buildings in California are greater than the emissions of all the power plants in the state and this must be addressed if the state is to meet its climate goals; and, - The intent of the bill is not to mandate electrification and she is willing to work with the opposition to ensure that renewable natural gas is treated fairly in the bill. Witnesses who spoke up in support of her bill included: Efficiency First California; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Natural Resources Defense Council, which stated that building sector emissions represent 25 percent of the state s greenhouse gas emission; and an architect and engineering group. Other groups that spoke up on support of the bill included: the Sierra Club; the California American Lung Association; Earth Justice; and, Fossil Free California. There were also several groups that spoke up in opposition to the bill. Those groups included the California Renewable Gas Association, who communicated that they agreed with the intent of the bill but believe the bill would lead to more electrification and in turn greater emissions. They communicated they are working on a study of the emissions impacts. The Building Industry Association communicated that this bill would be a quantum leap in building standards and would lead to impacts on the grid and grid reliability. The California Manufacturing and Technology Institute expressed concerns regarding the impact the bill would have on industrial rate payers. Other groups that weighed in to add their name to the opposition included: the Western Propane Gas Association; the California Natural Gas Producers Association; several business and dairy groups; and Dave Schryver of APGA communicated APGA s opposition. At this time, Assemblywoman Melendez stated she would like to hear more from APGA and Dave was allowed to address the Committee. In his remarks, Dave communicated that: - Restricting Californians right to choose what energy resource best fits their needs will ultimately increase their energy costs, lead to a less reliable energy system and produce little or no environmental benefits. - Natural gas is delivered to Californians at three times the efficiency and one-third the cost of electricity.

2 - Households that use all-electric appliances pay almost $900 a year more than mixed-fuel homes. This will unfairly place low and fixed-income families in the uncomfortable position of having to choose whether to pay for energy versus other necessities such as food, medicine, child care, and more. Ultimately, the committee voted 6-3 to advance the bill to the Energy and Utilities Committee. For questions on this article, please contact Dave Schryver of APGA staff by phone at or by at dschryver@apga.org. APGA Presents at the NAPSR Southern Region Meeting This week in Montgomery, Ala., the Southern Region of the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR) hosted their annual meeting. This meeting brings together lead state pipeline safety regulators from the region, NAPSR leadership, representatives from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration s (PHMSA) state programs office, and other invited stakeholders. The focus of this meeting was to highlight accomplishments from the prior year and goals for the current year pertaining to pipeline safety. APGA presented details on key programs developed by APGA to assist municipal gas systems in meeting pipeline safety requirements. Attendees were also briefed on products offered by the Security & Integrity Foundation. During each of the state updates, it became clear that many of the pipeline safety regulators understand the nuances of operating a municipal gas system and the unique challenges faced by APGA members. Regulators are trying to look for innovative ways to hold municipal gas systems accountable to regulatory requirements without negatively impacting the tax payers in the service area of the system. They also spoke about the importance of ensuring that all municipal gas systems, not just APGA members, are aware of the tools and resources available to them through APGA, regional, and state associations. The Southern Region of NAPSR is comprised of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Puerto Rico, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Kentucky. APGA has also been invited to speak at the NAPSR National Meeting in October For questions on this article, please contact Erin Kurilla of APGA staff by phone at or by at ekurilla@apga.org. Agencies Sign Federal Permitting Agreement This week, the heads of the Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Energy (DOE), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Army Corps of Engineers, and others signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) implementing the One Federal Decision process. This MOU marks a major step in reforming how the federal government permits and approves major infrastructure and capital projects.

3 An MOU is a formal agreement that lays out how two or more parties operate. Between federal agencies, MOUs are used to formally define relationships in context of statutory requirements or other mandated interaction that is otherwise undefined. MOUs help agencies outline timelines, procedures, and other essential responsibilities in executing policy goals. The One Federal Decision MOU implements Executive Order (EO) This EO, signed in August 2017, mandated federal agencies that are involved in permitting to establish timelines for environmental review and permitting process, with the goal of reducing the time and steps that it takes to authorize construction of a given project. This MOU provides several agreements to streamline the permitting process: A goal of two years to complete all permitting reviews; Each agency will have 90 days to submit a plan to implement the One Federal Decision; Agencies will actively communicate throughout the permitting process for a given project; Agencies will conduct concurrent reviews (such as under NEPA), so that permit reviews are not stalled in one office; and, Direct agencies to cooperate with FERC proceedings if necessary. Further, this MOU establishes clearer designations for lead and cooperating agencies, outlines specifics for project planning, concurrence and scoping, and dispute resolution. This MOU has significant impacts for the natural gas and energy industries. The two-year target for review will significantly reduce the time it takes to permit major projects, thereby reducing costs and potentially making projects more attractive. Additionally, allowing concurrent reviews not only increases the speed at which projects can be evaluated, but can safeguard against certain agencies from slow walking or delaying projects. The MOU will also help clarify lead agencies and promotes communication, which should help reduce confusion or misinformation. For questions on this article, please contact Doug MacGillivray of APGA staff by phone at or by at dmacgillivray@apga.org. EPA to Redo Fuel Economy Standards Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final determination of its mid-term evaluation for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards for model years lightduty vehicles. EPA Administrator Pruitt determined that the standards were not appropriate for those model years and should therefore be revised. CAFE standards set fleet-wide fuel economy standards for a given vehicle class. In 2012, the EPA finalized a rulemaking procedure for fuel economy standards for model years In late- November 2016, the EPA fast-tracked the process by releasing its proposed determination months

4 ahead of schedule. This action did not allow sufficient review of scholarly and industry research and input on the effects a 54 miles per gallon standard would have on the automotive sector. In March 2017, the EPA issued a Notice of Intent to reconsider the final determination from This action reopened the midterm review process and allowed the EPA to reconsider the prior proposed determination. In his action last week, Administrator Pruitt now set the EPA on a path to setting new CAFE standards. In the final determination, the EPA notes that vehicle trends did not meet assumptions made by proposed determination in Comments submitted to the EPA noted that many companies would struggle to meet the amount of assumed electric vehicle absorption and that many manufacturers would rely on the purchasing of credits and offsets to comply with the standards. The EPA also cites NGVAmerica and their request to provide an even playing field for NGVs. Following the final determination, the EPA will next initiate a notice of proposed rulemaking and open a comment period. These will be forthcoming in the Federal Register. APGA will evaluate whether to submit a comment. For questions on this article, please contact Doug MacGillivray of APGA staff by phone at or by at dmacgillivray@apga.org. APGA and SIF Speak at Tennessee Gas Association Conference On April 10 and 11, APGA s John Erickson briefed the attendees of the Tennessee Gas Association Distribution & Operations Conference in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on current issues affecting operators of gas utilities. His first presentation on April 10 addressed recent and pending pipeline safety regulations as well as APGA programs to assist members to improve the safety and efficiency of their operations. John began by noting that no significant regulations have been issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in the past 12 months. Several regulations are pending, including changes to plastic pipe regulations, operator qualification regulations and transmission regulations. The first two have gone through public comment and could be issued at any time; however, the Executive Order requiring agencies to remove existing regulations to offset the cost of new regulations has added an extra step in PHMSA s normal rulemaking process. The transmission rule is still undergoing PHMSA s Advisory Committee review and cannot be issued as a final rule until that process has been completed. He continued with an overview of APGA s System Operational Achievement Recognition (SOAR), Gas Overall Awareness Level (GOAL), and benchmarking programs. He noted that eight Tennessee utilities have been awarded SOAR, more than any other state. He also noted that 33 Tennessee utilities were using the APGA GOAL program to measure the effectiveness of their public awareness programs with customers and non-customers living near their lines.

5 The next day, John provided his thoughts on how operators could best prepare for state audits of their Distribution Integrity Management Programs (DIMP). He noted that there are currently 80 active Simple, Handy, Risk-based Integrity Management Plan (SHRIMP) subscribers in Tennessee. First, he advised to make sure your DIMP plan is up to date. The DIMP rule requires operators to update plans at least every five years, but if an operator wrote into its plan that it would re-evaluate its plan more frequently, then that operator must perform the reviews on the more frequent schedule. Second, he urged attendees to make sure they were completely familiar with all aspects of their plan especially any action items such as additional risk reduction measures called for in the plan and performance measures. Finally he noted that the PHMSA Inspection Form 24 used to audit implementation of DIMP is publicly available from PHMSA and under the Resources tab in the SHRIMP program. Downloading and using that form prior to the audit would be the best way to ensure the audit goes smoothly. For questions on this article, please contact John Erickson of APGA staff by phone at or by at EIA Reports Storage Decrease of 19 Bcf to Put Working Gas Storage at 1,335 Bcf Here is the weekly EIA Summary Report issued on Thursday, April 12, 2018, which reports the week s storage report highlights for Friday, April 6. A 19 Bcf decrease has been reported. Working gas in storage was 1,335 Bcf as of Friday, April 6, 2018, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decrease of 19 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 725 Bcf less than last year at this time and 375 Bcf below the five-year average of 1,710 Bcf. At 1,335 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.