April 21, 2023
By:
Middle Tennessee Natural Gas Utility District (MTNG) has been awarded a $311,845 grant through the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s first-ever Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization (NGDISM) grant program.
The grant award was presented by USDOT/PHMSA Representative Damond Smith in a small ceremony at the MTNG Administrative Center in Smithville, Tennessee, on Friday, April 21. MTNG was one of only thirty-seven recipients selected from one-hundred-seventy-nine nationwide applicants. MTNG will utilize the grant funds to purchase safety equipment, including,
•Four Remote Methane Leak Detectors (RMLD) which utilize lasers to detect natural gas leaks, and
•Fifty-seven Sensit Gold G3 methane and carbon monoxide detectors to replace older equipment on every MTNG service truck and five calibration units.
“These equipment upgrades through the NGDISM grant will allow MTNG to enhance our ability to eliminate natural gas leaks and carbon monoxide issues, building on a nationally recognized safety management program. MTNG Executive Vice President & CEO Mike Davidson thanked DOT, PHMSA, US Representative Scott DesJarlais, US Representative John Rose, US Senator Bill Hagerty, US Senator Marsha Blackburn, and the US Taxpayers who made this grant possible. “This funding will significantly assist MTNG’s continuous efforts to keep our system safe and reliable, and we are grateful for the assistance of our legislators and everyone who helped make this grant possible,” said Mr. Davidson.
“This is an exciting day for Middle Tennessee Natural Gas,” said Davidson, speaking with WJLE at the brief ceremony Friday. “We learned recently that we were one of 37 recipients nationally of a new grant and the only one in Tennessee through the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization (NGDISM) program. This grant is in the amount of $311,000 to purchase some safety equipment to make sure we can detect and find any potential leaks that may be in our system,” said Davidson. “In this first round of funding there were 179 applicants and Middle Tennessee Natural Gas is honored and thankful to be one of the 37 grantees for this funding,” he said.
“We have tried to budget funding for this equipment over the last few years and have been able to purchase some of that, but this will mean we can get some leak detection equipment in every one of our service trucks. This grant meets a huge need and is a huge boost forward for Middle Tennessee Natural Gas,” Davidson continued.
“Middle Tennessee Natural Gas Utility District was established in 1955 with a vision to bring energy to the rural parts of middle Tennessee and since that time we have grown quite a bit. We now serve around 70,000 customers. Each and every day those customers count on us to deliver the safest and most reliable energy source there is, and we focus every day on making sure we deliver that product in the safest manner possible. We are excited about the growth of the district because demand for natural gas continues to grow each and every day. It is a great, reliable, and abundant energy source in this country,” said Davidson.
“It was a very competitive grant application process,” said Stennett. “We just worked hard and tried to answer all the questions that we could and to put our best foot forward. We had some help from our Senators and Congressmen to write letters of recommendation for us which we appreciate very much,” he said.
“The whole purpose of this grant was to invest back into the communities and Middle Tennessee Natural Gas is doing exactly that,” said Smith. “They are reaching out to their 70,000 plus customers and they are doing the work to keep them safe and that is the heart of this grant,” he added.
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the most significant investment in our nation’s infrastructure in over half a century. This law included the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) first-ever Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization (NGDISM) grant program. The legislation designated $200 million a year in grant funding, totaling $1 billion over the next five years. The Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization Grant funding was made available to a municipality or community-owned utility (not including for-profit entities) to repair, rehabilitate, or replace its natural gas distribution pipeline systems or portions thereof or to acquire equipment to (1) reduce incidents and fatalities and (2) to avoid economic losses.