Accelerating Municipal Gas Utility Mains Improvement

By Tom Coolidge

There are many good reasons for the natural gas industry to look forward to the new year, which now is fast approaching.

One at the top of my mind these days is the industry’s already strong track record of methane emissions reduction will be strengthened even further in 2023 with PHMSA’s initial award of grants under the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization Grant Program. This is a significant milestone that will fast forward the industry’s efforts. The grants are targeted at repairing, rehabilitating, or replacing natural gas distribution systems, or portions thereof, or to acquire equipment to reduce incidents and fatalities, reduce environmental impacts, and avoid economic losses.

Initial grant awards in early 2023 will enable gas utilities getting the initial awards to launch projects on short order that will provide the envisioned long-term benefits. At the same time, all eligible municipal gas utilities will learn from studying the applications of the initial grant award winners what factors PHMSA valued that separated those getting awards in the first cycle from those that did not. This insight can inform refinement of future applications to better position all eligible gas utilities to best make their case in the next awards cycle.

So here’s to 2023 and all good things that will happen during it! Among those good things will be the municipal gas networks improved thanks to projects enabled by funding made possible by the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization Grant Program.