Covington Natural Gas briefs commissioners on pipeline safety and 811 outreach

Amanda Huggins, regulatory compliance specialist for Covington Natural Gas, presented an informational briefing to the Newton County Board of Commissioners on June 17 about pipeline safety, the company's public awareness obligations and how residents and officials can identify and report gas lines.

Huggins explained that federal and state rules require utilities to maintain public-awareness programs for natural-gas operations and that elected officials are included in outreach. She distributed handouts and a survey for commissioners to complete to document outreach for regulator inspections. She described transmission and local distribution, noting Williams Transco as the regional transmission operator (the city gate), and explained that local utilities reduce pressure and may add an odorant (mercaptan) so leaks can be detected by smell.

Huggins reviewed pipeline materials and sizes, saying modern mains are typically steel or polyethylene and service lines are smaller plastic lines. She reminded property owners and contractors to call 811 two to three working days before any digging; in Georgia, calling 811 before mechanized digging is required by law. She summarized signs of a gas leak (a rotten-egg odor from mercaptan, hissing sounds, bubbles in wet areas, dead vegetation, dirt blowing up) and advised evacuating and calling 911 or the utility after leaving the site.

Commissioners were given contact information for the utility's gas director and operations manager and were asked to return completed surveys to the clerk's office for collection by Covington Natural Gas.