American Gas - May 2011 - (Page 2)

President’s message your Friendly neighborhood natural gas Utility America’s utilities make giving back to their communities a full-time effort. One Of AGA’s most important messages, especially when we are representing our members before Congress and our federal regulators, is that we speak for the 175 million Americans who depend on natural gas every day for home heating, water heating, cooking and a host of other uses. We represent not just our members’ interests but also their customers’ interests because natural gas utilities want the same things their customers want—reliable supplies of our clean-burning, highly efficient fuel at reasonable and stable prices. But as the cover story starting on p. 22 of this month’s issue of American Gas illustrates, natural gas utilities and the people who work for them are not only connected to their customers by the pipes that deliver natural gas to homes and businesses in a community, they are also connected to them as friends, as neighbors, as business leaders, as civic volunteers—and even as customers of the local businesses that are natural gas customers. Take the economic impact of a natural gas utility in a community. According to a study commissioned by America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), the natural gas industry is responsible for 2.8 million American jobs. More than 600,000 jobs are the direct result of finding, producing and delivering natural gas to customers, while more than 700,000 jobs are the indirect result—that is, jobs created by companies that sell products and services to the natural gas industry. Meanwhile, 1.5 million American jobs are the result of the consumer spending done by the workers in those direct and indirect natural gas industry jobs. All total, 31 states have at least 10,000 jobs related to the natural gas industry. That is a significant economic impact. And then there is the charitable giving and volunteer work that natural gas utility employees do in their communities. Nationwide, natural gas utilities contribute nearly $3 billion to local energy assistance programs, which help low-income families in their communities pay their natural gas bills. And as our cover story also notes, utilities are leaders in charitable giving and corporate philanthropy, setting up foundations in which utility employees donate money to assist their communities in everything from education, to local business development, to making sure less fortunate children have a present to open on Christmas day. They also donate their time, volunteering by the tens of thousands in local civic and charitable initiatives. Speaking of business development, natural gas utilities also work with local business and political leaders to attract new businesses to their communities, thereby bringing in more local jobs, putting more tax revenue into local government coffers, and—not incidentally— hooking up more new businesses and their employees to natural gas distribution lines. Small wonder that so many of AGA’s members have been serving customers, and contributing to their communities, for more than 50 years—some longer than 100 years. Call it doing well by doing good. The more vital and thriving the community is, the more vital and thriving its natural gas utility is— and vice versa. Barry Myers DAve mccurDy President and ceO dmccurdy@aga.org 2 may 2011 AmericAn GAs

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - May 2011

American Gas - May 2011
Contents
President’s Message
Industry News
Safety First
To Be the Best
Fueling America
On the Money
Noteworthies
Marketplace
Advertisers’ Index
Places to Be
Jobline
Facts on Gas

American Gas - May 2011