2016

Awards Review

Inside this issue:

Awards of Merit 4

Distribution Achievement 2

Gild of Ancient Supplers 2

Industry Leader Accident Prevention Certificates

3

John B. McGowan, Sr. Research Award

2

Meritorious Service Award 1

Milton W. Heath Sr. Memorial Award

2

Safety Achievement 2-3

Safety Awareness Video Excellence (SAVE) Award 2

MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD The 2016 AGA AWARDS REVIEW highlights industry specific awards and recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the natural gas industry. The recipients are formally recognized at AGA’s Annual Operations Conference. The selection process is based on criteria involving professional and personal commitment and dedication to improving the operations and engineering sectors of the natural gas industry through safety, accident prevention, research, active AGA committee and event participation. Visit the Safety & Operations section at AGA.org to download the Awards Manual.

The AGA Meritorious Service Award, is presented each year to the "individual who has performed the most meritorious act in the gas industry in saving a human life during the prior calendar year." This year, AGA is proud to honor a group of brave men from New Jersey Natural Gas.

Every day, the women and men of New Jersey Natural Gas are committed to providing its half a million customers with safe and reliable service.

On a bitterly cold February 24, 2015, that commitment was put to the test.

Responding to a pressure notification, gas mechanic Anthony Widmer, was sent to Oak Avenue in Stafford to check the system. As he approached the location, Anthony smelled an unmistakable odor that alerted him to a gas leak in the area. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, he called for additional first responders.

Three crews consisting of Kevin Walsh, Bill Sinclair, Chris Smith, Carlos Rojas, Ed Jones and Dean Barnett and Henry Garcia, answered the call. Working with local police and fire officials, they cordoned off the

street and evacuated the area before setting about identifying the location of the leak. Soon they had the leak pinpointed and began the arduous task of excavation made difficult with multiple layers of road pavement and deep frost. In an instant everything changed. The structure at 59 Oak Avenue exploded. Dean Barnett was trapped under huge pieces of roof and other debris from the obliterated house and Ed Jones was also seriously injured.

In the face of an incredibly difficult situation, and never once thinking about their own well-being, Kevin, Bill, Chris, Carlos and Henry rose to the challenge. They quickly came to the aid of their injured colleagues, effectively managed the scene - including Carlos moving the fireman out of the work area - and did all they could to keep the neighborhood residents, and those around them, out of harm's way. Their actions were a testament to their training, their courage and their character.

As a result of the heroism of these men - Anthony, Kevin, Bill, Chris, Carlos, Henry, Ed and Dean - we know there are many people breathing easier today.

MILTON W. HEATH SR. MEMORIAL AWARD The Milton W. Heath, Sr. Memorial Award, sponsored by Heath Consultants Inc., recognizes the individual who, in the past five years, has made an outstanding contribution to leak detection, prevention or repair. This year’s award is presented to Dr. Kiran Kothari of Gas Technology Institute in recognition of his development of successful deployable technologies that have directly contributed to the low level leak detection of methane and ethane with various infrared, acoustic and magnetic technologies. These technologies have the potential to avoid damages to facilities where leaks may exist that are not detectable through other technologies.

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JOHN B. MCGOWAN SR.

RESEARCH AWARD The John B. McGowan Sr. Research Award, sponsored by Continental Industries, recognizes an individual or company who has

made an outstanding contribution to improving the natural gas system safety, delivery, design, construction, operation,

maintenance or efficiency through their research efforts. This year’s award is presented to Phil Fowles of Consolidated Edison

Company of New York, in recognition of his work, in collaboration with GTI, OTD, NYSEARCH/NGA and Consolidated Edison,

on research and development to enhance employee and public safety through no-dig solutions for identifying pipelines,

developing an emergency main shut-off system, and monitoring cathodic protection systems. In the context of current pipeline

safety initiatives, these research initiatives are of vital importance to natural gas distribution and transmission systems.

DISTRIBUTION

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Distribution Achievement Award recognizes the

individual who, in the past five years, has made a

significant contribution to the science and art of gas

distribution. This year, we recognize the efforts of

Pacific Gas & Electric’s, Austin Hastings for his

innovative work to maintain the supply of natural gas

to 44,000 customers when the primary supply of

natural gas from a transmission pipeline was

unavailable due to the hydrostatic testing of that

pipeline.

The following AGA member companies earned Safety Achievement Awards by experiencing the lowest motor vehicle accident rate for companies of their type.

LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

Alliant Energy (Madison, WI)

COMBINATION

New York State Electric & Gas Corporation (Rochester, NY)

TRANSMISSION

Questar Gas Company (Salt Lake City, UT)

SMALL MEMBER COMPANIES *

Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company (Dover, DE)

* All companies with a fleet mileage less than 1,000,000 miles were considered a small member.

SAFETY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS GILD OF ANCIENT SUPPLERS AWARD

Ron Bradley, Vice President of Gas Operations with PECO,

An Exelon Company, and Chairman of AGA’s Operations

Section, is honored with this year’s Gild of Ancient

Supplers Award for his exceptional leadership and service

to AGA and the natural gas industry. The Gild of Ancient

Supplers will make a charitable donation in Mr. Bradley’s

name.

The Awards of Merit and Safety Achievement Awards

represent high achievement in our industry’s top priority.

The most important thing we do is deliver natural gas to our

customers safely and reliably. I want to congratulate this

year’s recipients and thank them for their hard work to

safeguard our customers and communities.

~ Dave McCurdy, AGA President & CEO

SAFETY AWARENESS VIDEO EXCELLENCE (SAVE) AWARD

The AGA Safety Awareness Video Excellence (SAVE) Awards recognize the outstanding contributions utilities across the country make in natural gas safety communications. This year AGA accepted submissions for videos made for internal and external audiences with the external audience category winner being determined by a public vote.

AGA is pleased to announce the winner in the “External Audience” category is Pacific Gas & Electric for their video Educating California Families and Communities about Safe Digging and 811 (Hear From Jamir). This year’s winner in the “Internal Audience” category is Puget Sound Energy for their video I’m Just the Messenger about personal safety for field personnel.

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SAFETY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

Small: Columbia Gas of Maryland (Cumberland, MD) Medium-Small: Mobile Gas Service Corporation (Mobile, AL)

Medium-Large: Duke Energy Corporation (Cincinnati, OH) Large: COMGÁS (Sao Paulo, Brazil)

PSNC Energy (Gastonia, NC)

Very Large: DTE Energy (Detroit, MI) Mega: Enbridge Gas Distribution (North York, ON)

COMBINATION

Small: Florida Public Utilities (Fernandina Beach, FL)

Medium: Vectren Corporation (Evansville, IN) Large: NV Energy (Las Vegas, NV)

TRANSMISSION

Medium: Dow Pipeline Company (Arlington, TX)

Large: Columbia Pipeline Group (Houston, TX)

Enable Midstream Partners (Oklahoma City, OK)

The following AGA member companies have earned Safety Achievement Awards by experiencing the lowest incident rate for the number of days away from work, restricted or transferred (DART) among companies of their size and type, based upon a maximum figure of 1,960 hours worked per employee.

2015 INDUSTRY LEADER

ACCIDENT PREVENTION

CERTIFICATES

The AGA member companies listed below

have earned Accident Prevention

Certificates by achieving a DART (days away

from work, restricted or transferred ) incident

rate below the industry average for their

company type.

Local Distribution

Company

Small

Berkshire Gas Company (Pittsfield, MA)

Chesapeake Utilities Corp (Dover, DE)

Clearwater Gas (Clearwater, FL)

Knoxville Utilities Board (Knoxville, TN)

National Gas & Oil Corp. (Newark, OH)

Medium-Small

AltaGas Utilities, Inc. (Leduc, Alberta)

Columbia Gas of Kentucky (Lexington, KY)

Dominion Hope (Clarksburg, WV)

Entergy Gas (New Orleans, LA)

Minnesota Energy Resources (Rosemount,

MN)

UniSource Energy (Prescott, AZ)

Medium-Large

Columbia Gas of Virginia (Chester, VA)

South Carolina Electric & Gas (Columbia, SC)

South Jersey Gas Company (Folsom, NJ)

SEMCO Energy Gas Company (Port Huron, MI)

TECO Peoples Gas (Tampa, FL)

Large

Alliant Energy (Madison, WI)

Black Hills Corporation (Rapid City, SD)

Citizens Energy Group (Indianapolis, IN)

Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania (Canonsburg, PA)

New Mexico Gas Company (Albuquerque, NM)

WE Energies (Milwaukee, WI)

Very Large

Columbia Gas of Ohio (Columbus, OH)

Dominion East Ohio (Cleveland, OH)

Peoples Natural Gas (Pittsburgh, PA)

SourceGas (Golden, CO)

UGI Utilities Inc (Reading, PA)

Washington Gas Light (Washington, DC)

Xcel Energy (Minneapolis, MN)

Mega

AGL Resources (Atlanta, GA)

Centerpoint Energy Gas (Houston, TX)

ONE Gas, Inc. (Tulsa, OK)

Public Service Electric & Gas (Newark, NJ)

Union Gas Limited, a Spectra Energy company

(Chatham, ON)

Combination Companies

Small

Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power (Cheyenne,

WY)

Gainesville Regional Utilities (Gainesville, FL)

New York State Electric & Gas (Rochester, NY)

Rochester Gas & Electric Corp (Binghamton,

NY)

Medium

Delmarva Power & Light (Wilmington, DE)

Liberty Utilities (Oakville, ON)

Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. (Bismarck, ND)

Large

Ameren Corporation (St. Louis, IL)

Consumers Energy (Jackson, MI)

LG&E/KU (Louisville, KY)

Northern Indiana Public Service Co.

(Merrillville, IN)

PECO, an Exelon Company (Philadelphia, PA)

Puget Sound Energy (Bellevue, WA)

Transmission Companies

Medium

Eastern Shore Natural Gas (Dover, DE)

Large

Spectra Energy (Houston, TX)

AWARDS OF MERIT The individuals listed have earned AGA Awards of Merit for their active and continuous service to the AGA Operations Section through participation on technical committees, as well as leadership in AGA events. The awards are based on a cumulative point system.

DIAMOND AWARD OF MERIT (125 POINTS)

Craig R. Hoeferlin, Laclede Gas Company

PLATINUM AWARD OF MERIT (100 POINTS)

Dannie R. Mercer, Atmos Energy Corporation Bruce L. Paskett, Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. Paul E. Pirro, Public Service Electric and Gas Company James N. Witte, Southwest Research Institute

GOLD AWARD OF MERIT (75 POINTS)

Alicia M. Farag, LocusView Solutions Susan L. Fleck, National Grid Gary J. Hebbeler, Duke Energy Corporation Paul J. LaNasa, Consultant Timothy J. Lauder, Public Service Electric and Gas Company Mark J. Pelkey, National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation Daniel H. Rebman, UniversalPegasus International Edward R. Vogel, Jr., Linde Engineering North America Inc. Stephen M. Yapchanyk, Consolidated Edison Co. of NY

SILVER AWARD OF MERIT (50 POINTS)

Ronald A. Bradley, PECO, An Exelon Company Cheryl F. Campbell, Xcel Energy Inc. Craig E. Chester, P.E., Williams Companies, Inc. Thomas J. Davies, National Fuel Gas Distribution Ronnie R. Frazier, Atmos Energy Corporation (Retired) Terrence A. Grimley, Southwest Research Institute Dr. Eric W. Lemmon, National Institute of Standards and

Technology Steven L. Lindsey, The Laclede Group, Inc. Karen S. Lively, Performance Pipe, Div. of Chevron Phillips

Chemical Company LP Giuseppe A. Mirasola, Consolidated Edison Co. of NY Stephen Misketis, Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. William T. Murtaugh, Gas Measurement Instruments Ltd. Tim D. Owen, Atmos Energy Corporation Matthew Rowan, DTE Energy Allen J. Spivey, AGL Resources Michael L. Stroud, Vectren Corporation Somali S. Tomczak, AGL Resources Barry R. Walker, LG&E-KU, PPL Companies Gary R. White, PI Confluence, Inc. Thomas C. Wilson, Pacific Gas and Electric Company Chris Wykle, Sensus

BRONZE AWARD OF MERIT (25 POINTS)

Stephen V. Abernathy, PE, Piedmont Natural Gas Company Loretta J. Baggenstos, Puget Sound Energy Amos F. Barnes, Southern Connecticut Gas Company Mark Blundell, TransCanada Corporation Ilia Bluvshtein, PhD, Union Gas Limited David Bromley, BP Pipelines (North America) Inc. Brian C. Broussard, Atmos Energy Corporation Wayne F. Bryce, JANA Corporation Carlos J. Castano, PROMIGAS S.A., ESP Talmadge R. Centers, Jr., CenterPoint Energy Peter Clyde, LG&E-KU, PPL Companies Thomas W. Coleman, III, Elster Gas North America Stephen R. Colyer, Ameren Illinois Ken Davis, Ameren Illinois Clifford DeBerry, Jr., Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division Mike Deegan, City of Clearwater Gas System Mark A. Engels, Dominion Energy Mike Farlow, ONE Gas, Inc. Sue Flood, Rochester Gas & Electric Corporation Michael J. Gabriel, PECO, An Exelon Company Randy R. Gary, Vectren Corporation Les Goodman, EN Engineering Peter E. Harley, National Grid Ragnvald H. Johnson, National Grid Gregory L. Jones, AGL Resources James A. Kelly, PE, CH-IV International Denise Kennedy, Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. John A. Kilsdonk, Madison Gas and Electric Company Suzanne King, PE, Xcel Energy Inc. David Klimas, EN Engineering John J. Lau, ENSTAR Natural Gas Company Chad Martin, National Grid Scott W. McKenzie, Eversource Energy Tony E. Miller, Ameren Illinois Stephen J. Miska, T.D. Williamson, Inc. Ryan N. Nutter, Dominion Transmission Clancy O'Hara, Union Gas Limited Scott J. Perry, NiSource Inc. King Poon, Thermo Fisher Scientific William R. Roller, Formosa Plastics USA Wayne Rutledge, AGL Resources Steve Schueneman, Puget Sound Energy Harry V. Shapiro, Puget Sound Energy Rick Spann, Questar Pipeline Company Randy Taylor, Florida Public Utilities Company Aleesha Valentine, JANA Corporation Jim F. Warner, Consumers Energy Company Patrick E. Whiteside, AGL Resources