Blogs

This week, over 100 APGA members participated in a webinar with staff from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). PHMSA staff gave a presentation about their work on implementing the new grant program for municipally and community-owned natural gas utilities included in the bipartisan infrastructure law. They shared the factors they are considering as they develop the grant application and discussed what types of projects they hope to fund.

During the webinar, PHMSA staff announced that they will be sending a letter to all eligible utilities soon to make sure that all are aware of the program. The letter will also request some information from those that plan to apply. PHMSA is interested in hearing from APGA members about what types of projects they hope to finance through the program, as well as what types of data are currently collected that could be used to assess the impact of the program. APGA encourages members to respond to that PHMSA outreach when it arrives to help inform PHMSA’s efforts to roll out the program in a way that facilitates members’ successful participation.

APGA staff will be keeping the lines of communication open with PHMSA in the coming months as they work on developing the grant program. The law gave PHMSA 180 days to issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity to launch the application process, which means it could open as soon as May of this year. Please continue to reach out to APGA staff with questions and ideas so that APGA can be effective advocates on members’ behalf and make sure future webinars are as helpful as possible.

A recording of the webinar can be found here.

For questions on this article, please contact Emily Wong by email at ewong@apga.org or Stuart Saulters by email at ssaulters@apga.org.