Every day, American Gas Association members are focused on customer service along with industry safety and security. We are investor-owned companies operating private infrastructure, continually working to protect our customers and our physical assets while complying with government regulations. We take the role of government regulators who provide oversight of our diligent work seriously. Still, there is a careful balance that needs to be achieved between a regulated industry such as ours and government regulation. Regulation can be effective while also leaving room for markets to produce necessary actions. We are wary of unnecessary regulation that may take away from security efforts and resources and not achieve a tangible impact on progressing safety and security. Often, economic forces such as greater efficiency, strategic innovation or customer demand can be the best drivers of change.
In the area of cybersecurity, our relationship with the government is only growing in importance. Safety is our top priority, and our commitment to cybersecurity goes hand-in-hand with our core value of enhancing safety for our customers and communities. Since 2014, America’s natural gas utilities have used a portal for the distribution of actionable intelligence and methods for detection and mitigation of cyberthreats. All AGA member companies have access to the Downstream Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or DNG-ISAC, as do members of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the Canadian Gas Association. This initiative was not the product of a government mandate—it is a successful example of a valuable public-private partnership. Government, more so than natural gas utilities, is adept at gathering and sharing intelligence. We are proud to work with our government partners on this initiative.
In this issue of American Gas, AGA’s Kimberly Denbow shares a behind-the-scenes look at how the DNG-ISAC began. AGA’s leadership in the cybersecurity area stems very specifically from the extreme vigilance of the women and men who monitor and respond to cyberthreats in our industry, and the respect that they command within the many layers of our government that touch this issue.
America’s natural gas utilities are also investing in improving our environment, finding more ways to reduce emissions by using our nation’s abundance of natural gas in a sustainable, environmentally sound and safe manner. AGA and the Edison Electric Institute have worked together to establish a Natural Gas Sustainability Initiative, a consistent approach for recognizing voluntary actions to encourage environmental performance and sustainability leadership. This industrywide framework recognizes the innovative, voluntary sustainability programs underway across the natural gas supply chain. The program and the multi-year process that led to its inception are also profiled in this issue, highlighting another example of market-based solutions.
Natural gas utilities are in the business of serving customers, communities and shareholders simultaneously under the watchful eye of our public utility commissions. AGA members talk to their customers every single day. In fact, last month we partnered with CS Week, the premier annual customer service conference serving utility professionals across North America and around the world, to look at ways to help grow and deepen our relationships with the homes and businesses that rely on us for essential energy. While government has a role to play in the utility space, it cannot replicate this relationship and should not.
Together, we have more than 100 years of achievement as testimony of our ability to safely deliver the energy that is the backbone of our economy and daily lives. This track record provides a blueprint for our actions moving forward and for continued success working alongside policymakers.
President and CEO