MID-ATLANTIC
CONTINGENCY PLANNING GROUP
April 28th,
2004
The Spring meeting of the
Mid-Atlantic Contingency Planning Group was held in conjunction with the
combined Ohio/Kentucky Contingency Groups meeting at the Stonewall Resort in
Roanoke WV. Gale Carovillano called the
meeting to order.
The following were in attendance:
Chairperson: Gale Carovillano (Columbia Gas
Transmission)
Vice Chairman: Todd Smith (Roanoke Gas)
Secretary: Tom Gibson (Columbia Distribution)
Randy Johnson Columbia Distribution
Skip Hall Columbia Distribution
Gary Gardner AGA
Gary Forman Nisource Pipelines
Roy Rushing Ohio Gas Association
Doug Vaught Cinergy
Ed Unger South Jersey Gas Co.
Dawn Elliott Transco
Gary Northrup AGL Resources Inc.
David Daughtry City of Richmond
Mike Gagnet Roanoke Gas
Drew Moncol Dominion – VA Power
Jody Derrickson Dominion Trans. & Cove Point
Jody Tidd Dominion Delivery
Dan Scarberry Dominion Delivery
Bill Christian Columbia Transmission
Jim Cosgrove Washington Gas
P. Scott Murphy Washington Gas
John Ward Baltimore Gas & Electric
Chuck Jager Baltimore Gas & Electric
Brian Blount Columbia Transmission
Debbie Toman TGP/ANR
Chili Childress Columbia Transmission
David Spencer Columbia Transmission
Michael Radford Columbia Transmission
Steve Hunter Columbia Transmission
Steve Browder Columbia Transmission
Tim Clark Columbia Transmission
Sharon Burdette Columbia Transmission
Introductions and
Cross-Group Discussion:
The meeting started with
introductions. This spring meeting
included attendees from both the Mid-Atlantic Contingency Group and the Ohio
and Kentucky Contingency Groups. Given
the diversity and lack of familiarity between the groups, it was recognized
that the value in this meeting would be from the exchange of ideas and
methodologies. Discussions about
additional meetings of this nature were well received and it was suggested that
once every other year during the spring meeting was appropriate.
Joining the groups was AGA’s Gary
Gardner. Gary (AGA executive staff) is
the AGA’s CIO and also serves as point person with government agencies on
security issues. Gary reviewed his
efforts in educating government agencies as to the industries efforts in
preparing for emergency situations.
Most recently, Gary attended a critical infrastructure meeting in which
he noted that the DOE was, to a certain extent, impressed with the efforts of
groups such as ours; however, did have the opinion that we (Gas Companies) were
too “internally focused”. Also noted
was that while he could point to various contingency groups and efforts in
place on the east coast and mid-west, the southeast and west coast had little
or no activity.
Following Gary’s comments the
group in general discussed the value and pitfalls of regionalized groups and
efforts.
Tom Gibson presented a history of
the Virginia and Maryland Groups and the combining of those two groups into the
Mid-Atlantic Contingency Supply Planning Group.
Dan Scarberry (representing the
Ohio and Kentucky Groups) reviewed the value in running their mock emergencies
and holding meetings.
Tim Clark (TCO) briefly discussed
the Northeast Gas Association (NGA) efforts and methods. This Group, like the Mid-Atlantic Group, was
formed from two separate groups; the New York Gas Association (NYGAS) and the
New England Gas Association (NEGA). The
NGA is more similar to the individual state gas associations (OGA, KGA, etc.)
from other states such that they functionally cover more that just gas supply
planning. Those functions include: Gas system operations, technology R&D,
gas supply planning, education and training, outreach, and financial and
administration.
Columbia Transmissions:
Tim Clarke reported that the
2003-2004 winter operating season was 2.5% warmer than normal. Peak day occurred on January 30 with a total
throughput of 6.7 MMDth. Average
temperature was 10 degrees.
This winter, supply receipts
totaled 429.0 MMDth and FSS withdrawals totaled 197.0 MMDth for a total
throughput of 626.0 MMDth. Non-firm
capacity was restricted 171 days in Areas 1 and 10, 77 days in Area 2, and 93
days in Area 4. There were no major
incidents related to compressors and/or line outages.
TCO’s FSS customers started the
winter season with 97.8% of their SCQ and ended at 20.7%. They withdrew 197.0
Bcf in total this winter as compared to 219.1 Bcf last year.
TCO will
continue with its pigging program this summer.
They plan to smart pig a total of approximately 993 miles of pipeline in
six states (WV, VA, ME, PA, OH, and NY).
Ceredo to Lanham will be out of service from May 2004 to November 2004 to make the line piggable due to the new Pipeline Integrity Rule.
VM107 in Virginia (outlet of
Bickers) will be down for smart pigging.
LNG currently at 75%. Peak day was on 1/10/04. Average temp was 13 degrees. Operations in recent years have changed
significantly for Gas Control, which has taken over LNG operations (now
automated).
Reported that the winter in their
operating area was 7% colder than normal.
Peak day was on 1/10/04 with 1.5 BCF sendout at an average temperature
of 17 degrees. Very little peaking was
utilized.
A freeze up occurred putting 1200
customers out.
Current projections are for a 3.5%
growth rate for the next 10 years.
Jody Derrickson reported that the
winter was 1.4% colder than normal and 1/25/04 was their peak day with 5.7 BCF
in deliveries to DTI customers. Other
partnership operations and LNG (Cove Point) accounted for another 2.0 BCF of operational
throughput. Storage began at 97% full
and ended at 26%. The resultant
turnover was 208 BCF for DTI with partnership accounting for another 80 BCF.
Cove Point receives shipments once
every 5 to 7 days. Each ship contains
about 3.1 BCF.
Jody reported various construction
and pigging projects.
The PL1 line will be pigged this
summer in compliance with the Integrity Rule.
Drew reported that a nuclear plant
would be down in May. Anticipated use
of gas as a fuel this summer will be more dependent on price; unexpected
outages and summer temperatures driving AC load.
Reported that the winter was near
normal. Peak day was 10% warmer than
normal.
David reported that peak day for
Richmond was 161,000 dth with 49-degree days.
Gary reported that total
throughput for the winter was 26 BCF with peak day occurring on 1/10/04. Peak day thru was 308 mmcf. They were left with 30% in storage.
Ed Unger reported that peak day
was on 1/10/04 with an average temp of 11 degrees and a new single day record
sendout of 426,466 dth. The LNG plant
operated 29 days from December 2nd thru February 17th. Total LNG vaporized was 298,570 mcf and they
received 221 truckloads during the winter season. SJ established a portable LNG vaporizer site to supplement supply
to weak distribution system. The unit
was operated 6 times this past winter.
Ed further reported on parts of
their system, which are suffering for lack of capacity due to growth, and the
lack of concessions for constructing new capacity.
Columbia of Virginia
Tom reported that this winter was
5% warmer than normal and 8% warmer when compared against last year. Peak day occurred on January 25th
at 20 degrees and with a throughput of 377 mdth. Throughput for the season was 36BCF. Storage ended up at 24% of SCQ.
The various Ohio and Kentucky
group members reported on their activity as well.
The majority
of respondents on the Mid-Atlantic mock relied on peaking to survive the loss
of capacity. The drill was successful
at demonstrating some deficiencies especially when broken down by hour such
that most were deficient in supply early in the day. Columbia Gas of Virginia reported that it likely would have lost
a portion of its Fredericksburg market due to its reliance on DTI’s PL1
line. This calculation did not account
for the fact that CGV may have been able to pull off of line-pack for some time.
Other
corrective actions were discovered during the meeting, which were not explored
during the Mock. Ed Unger indicated
that he was not available on the day of the mock and those individuals at South
Jersey that were present were unaware as to how to respond. Ed indicated that for the day of the mock he
had between 80 and 100 mmcf he could of shed off of TCO. Additionally, Jody (DTI) indicated that he
could have taken the stranded PL1 line gas back to TET for redelivery to TCO.
Tim Clark reviewed the OH/KY
Mock. Both Mock emergencies revealed
that communication continues to be something that can be improved upon.
Roy Rushing (OGA) demonstrated and
reviewed the content of the OGA Web site particularly as it related to all
mutual assistance programs. Discussion
about the Mid-Atlantic website included ideas about populating it with specific
capacity information so as to be readily available during a mock or real
emergency. This discussion led to more
discussion about secured access for the web site. Given that TCO is currently sponsoring the web site, Gale
Carovillano and Bill Christian are to investigate the possibility of adding
secured access.
Skip Hall
reviewed the Bellingham incident as the driving force behind the OQ2 efforts. AGA, INGAA and other industry
representatives are developing standards, which could affect an expected ruling
by the OPS. This ruling is expected to
specifically call for Controller certification with implementation by December
2007.
Jimmy
Cosgrove (WGL) indicated that they may be able to host the fall meeting for the
Mid-Atlantic group and would touch base with Gale on this possibility. Gary Gardner also suggested the possibility
of the AGA sponsoring a future meeting.