Oct. 4, 2024

At Washington Gas, we pride ourselves on providing safe, affordable, and reliable natural gas service to homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, and restaurants across the District. However, as all District residents know, whether it’s broken water mains and boil water advisories, or electrical outages due to downed power lines during a storm, our great city faces many challenges with its aging infrastructure. As a proud, lifelong Washingtonian, I know these issues firsthand. They affect my life, just as they affect the lives of our customers.  

At Washington Gas, we take the issue of aging infrastructure seriously, which is why we are working diligently to replace our old, outdated and leak-prone pipeline infrastructure to ensure that our customers can continue to rely on us for safe, reliable natural gas service. However, continuing to patch and repair aged pipe made from outdated materials is usually not the safest or most effective option. 
 
That’s why, on September 27, 2024, Washington Gas filed its Strategic Accelerated Facilities Enhancement (“District SAFE”) Plan with the District’s Public Service Commission. District SAFE proposes a $215 million investment over the next three years to replace high-risk, leak-prone pipes as required by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). This proactive work is not unique to Washington, D.C. – it mirrors pipeline replacement efforts across the country by utilities committed to safety and working in partnership with their local communities.
 
The company must be allowed to do this critical safety work for our customers that choose natural gas to warm their homes and businesses, heat their water, and cook meals for their families or their own customers. By proactively replacing aging, leak-prone pipes, we reduce the risk of gas leaks and improve the overall safety and reliability of our system.
 
In addition, District SAFE supports the District’s climate goals by significantly reducing methane emissions in the region. If we replaced all of our aging and leak-prone pipes, we could reduce emissions by more than 90% compared to 2014 levels, because new pipelines have far fewer emissions. District SAFE will accelerate the process for reducing emissions.
 
District SAFE will also stimulate our local economy by creating and sustaining good-paying union jobs. These infrastructure improvements ensure that the work being done benefits not just our customers directly, but also the broader community and local families. And we will work hard to leave our worksites as good as or better than we found them whenever possible to ease the burden on customers and District residents.
 
We seek a partnership with the District Department of Transportation for District SAFE to be successful, maximize efficiencies, and reduce disruption and inconvenience from related construction activity to our customers and residents.

Modernizing our infrastructure to meet today’s needs and prepare for the future benefits all of us. At Washington Gas, we’re experienced professionals who have been working in the District’s streets for as long as we’ve been around, but the accelerated District SAFE program is about increasing investments, and being proactive instead of reactive to ensure our system is as safe and efficient as possible.
 
Washington Gas is committed to this effort because the safety and well-being of our customers, friends, neighbors, and community members is paramount and at the heart of everything we do. And we’re committed to doing everything we can to lower the cost and minimize the impact to residents of doing this critical safety work, while also furthering the goal we share with the District – to meet regional climate goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through safety work that provides our customers and community with the modern infrastructure they deserve. 
 
Washington Gas is proud to have served our wonderful community for more than 175 years and we look forward to collaborating with the District, our customers, and our partners to ensure that the energy infrastructure needs of today and tomorrow are met safely, efficiently, and responsibly.

Kevin Murphy is the Chief Engineer and Vice President for Washington Gas. Brandon Todd serves as the Senior Director of Corporate Public Policy at Washington Gas and is a former Member of the D.C. Council representing Ward 4.