Blogs

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) distributed a letter this week to all publicly and community owned natural gas distribution systems. The letter introduces the $1 billion grant program to be made available only to publicly and community owned utilities to “repair, rehabilitate, or replace natural gas distribution pipelines, or portions thereof, or to acquire equipment to reduce incidents and fatalities, and to avoid economic losses.” 

The letter lays out two requests of potential grant applicants as outlined below.

1. PHMSA invites potential applicants to provide PHMSA with information and suggestions in response to a list of questions they have provided. They hope that this information will assist them as they prepare to implement and administer the grant program.
2. PHMSA encourages potential applicants to proactively:

1. 1. Register with Grants.gov to receive the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) publication notice;
   2. Register with FedConnect; and
   3. Register with SAM.gov and obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) before submitting the application

View the letter, statement of interest, and help information on registering with these entities on APGA's Grant Program webpage at www.apga.org/resources/phmsa-grant.

PHMSA anticipates the Notice for Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to be published in mid-May. Applicants will have only 45 days to apply but will be able to amend their application if necessary. PHMSA has set up a dedicated webpage for this program at https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/grants/pipeline/natural-gas-distribution-infrastructure-safety-and-modernization-grants. Reach PHMSA at PHMSAPipelineBILGrant@dot.gov for questions.

APGA is holding a virtual meeting for all interested systems on Wednesday, March 30 from 2:00 to 3:00 PM ET to walk through these requests and answer member questions. Please register at https://apga.org/events/webinars.

For questions on this article, please contact Erin Kurilla of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at ekurilla@apga.org.