DOE, NARUC partnership yields new educational handbook for state energy regulators
A natural gas partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) has spawned a new handbook for state energy regulators.
This latest effort from the Natural Gas Infrastructure Modernization Partnership (NGIMP), begun in 2016, is called the Sampling of Methane Emissions Detection Technologies and Practices for Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure handbook. Its purpose is the summarization of why methane leaks occur, what leak detection technologies and practices are out there, where regulators can turn to for partnerships and, all in all, feeding information about new and emerging technologies.
“With regulation of natural gas shared among multiple levels of government, both federal and state officials have an interest in voluntarily collaborating to seek to continuously improve the safety and efficiency of the nation’s natural gas infrastructure,” NGIMP Commissioner Diane Burman said. “To that end, this handbook was a natural work product in response to a number of emerging technologies and practices we were hearing about to detect and repair methane leaks in the distribution network that we wanted to facilitate sharing more broadly through an information exchange.”
The DOE is supporting the creation through NARUC’s Center for Partnerships and Innovation. Overall, the addition will help ensure commissioners have a greater knowledge of the tools and resources they need to see their jobs done.
