American Gas - December 2011 - (Page 2)

PresideNt’s MessAge All Things New AGA embraces new leadership, a new year and a new foundation. arry Borgard, who graces our cover and whose AGA chairmanship for 2012 is the subject of the feature story in this issue of American Gas, has chosen as his chairman’s theme “Creating a Future-Ready Natural Gas Industry Today” because he believes that natural gas will, as he puts it, not play a role— rather it will play the dominant role in meeting our nation’s future energy needs. As he notes, natural gas is the cleanest burning, most reliable and most efficient primary energy source, and now that its domestic abundance has led to stable and affordable prices, it truly has become the foundation fuel that will power our economy, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our energy security—both today and far into the future. Thus Larry’s goal is to make sure our industry is prepared to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to us, given our fuel’s many advantages. The announcement that Larry would be our 2012 chairman came at the annual AGA Executive Conference in San Diego this past October. It was my first executive conference as AGA president and CEO, and I was extremely gratified by the membership involvement and the high level of the discussions that took place. I believe we have made great progress since I joined AGA last February, particularly in the area of pipeline safety, and I applaud the work that our members and AGA staff have done in furthering pipeline safety this year. The fact that in October the Senate passed the Pipeline Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2011 convinces me that we will have pipeline safety reauthorization by year’s end. The conference’s other high-level topic was one I have discussed in this space before—our need to reduce our nation’s unsustainable L DAve mccurDy President and ceO dmccurdy@aga.org deficits by addressing entitlement reform and tax reform in ways that promote economic growth. To this end we were honored that Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, agreed to speak at the conference, and her message echoed ours. On the issue of tax reform, which generated the most discussion, our members support a level playing field in which the government stops picking winners and losers through corporate tax breaks and instead allows everyone to compete fairly. After all, given the efficiency, environmental, domestic abundance and performance advantages of our foundation fuel, on a level playing field we feel we can compete with anyone. Speaking of which, it was with great satisfaction that, just prior to the conference, the International Gas Union voted yes to AGA’s bid to host the presidency of the IGU for the 2015– 2018 triennium, while also hosting the World Gas Conference in Washington, D.C., in 2018. Hosting this conference will make AGA and the U.S. domestic natural gas industry players to be reckoned with on both the domestic and international stage. And not incidentally, in the year 2018 AGA will be celebrating its 100th anniversary as the association dedicated to serving and representing the natural gas utility segment of this great industry. 2 december 2011/January 2012 AmericAn GAs

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

American Gas - December 2011
Contents
President’s Message
In the News
Safety First
Ask AGA
Future Ready
At Your Service
Places to Be
Noteworthies
Jobline
Marketplace
Advertisers’ Index
Facts on Gas

American Gas - December 2011

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