From July 24 to July 27, over 300 APGA members met in Newport, R.I., for APGA’s 2016 Annual Conference. The event began on Sunday with a reception. On Monday, the conference started with an update on APGA’s activities over the past year by Rich Worsinger, Chairman of the APGA Board of Directors and Energy Resources Director for the City of Rocky Mount, N.C.
Rich discussed, among other things, APGA’s advocacy efforts, including APGA’s ongoing efforts to challenge the Department of Energy’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressing natural gas furnace efficiency standards. Rich also discussed additional APGA efforts to meet the challenges facing the direct-use of natural gas. Rich was followed by Dena Wiggins, President & CEO of the Natural Gas Supply Association, who provided an overview of natural gas supply and demand and discussed many of the challenges facing natural gas production. Attendees next heard from Congressman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) who discussed congressional efforts to enact comprehensive energy legislation. The day concluded with a presentation from Steve Gilliland that focused on the conscious choices people make every day that impact the lives of others and how to positively influence people.
On Tuesday, the day began with presentations of the APGA System Operational Achievement Recognition (SOAR) award to the public gas systems that earned the award. Elissa Richards, President of the National Energy Foundation, then discussed efforts to promote and cultivate an energy literate society. Tisha Schuller, Strategic Advisor to Stanford University’s Natural Gas Initiative, spoke to attendees regarding the need to deescalate the hydraulic fracturing wars and the importance of natural gas in our energy future. The general session concluded with a presentation from Lt. General Russel Honore titled The New Normal: Leadership & Preparedness in the 21st Century. The general session was followed by break-out sessions that focused on issues of interest to elected and appointed officials, such as how you measure and communicate the value of having a public gas system, as well as operations issues and natural gas research and development efforts. In the evening, the Chairman’s dinner was held and featured a number of awards presentations as well as entertainment.
The Annual Conference ended on Wednesday with the Annual Meeting of the membership. The Annual Meeting included an update from APGA’s President & CEO, Bert Kalisch, on the activities of the association over the past year. The membership also approved revisions to APGA’s policy resolutions that direct APGA advocacy efforts. APGA’s 2017 Annual Conference will be held from July 23 to 26 in San Francisco, Calif. Many of the presentations made during the conference are available on the APGA website at
www.apga.org/newport. For questions on this article, please contact Dave Schryver of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at
dschryver@apga.org.