At Peoples, we want to be more than your natural gas provider—we want to help your community and help the environment. That’s why we started our Long Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan (LTIIP) to replace old pipeline, better the environment, and restore some of the roads and sidewalks our customers use every day. We wanted to share the progress that we’ve made so far in 2019 and what we have in store for the years to come.
After kicking off in 2014 and set to be complete in 2034, the LTIIP is a plan to replace 3,000 miles of old bare steel and cast iron pipelines, prone to methane emissions, with plastic pipelines that will be longer lasting and have a less detrimental impact on the environment.
Since the beginning of the program in 2014, Peoples has replaced 700 miles, completing 600 or more projects a year with 60 construction crews. As of October 2019, we’ve replaced 125 miles of pipe this year alone, and are projected to replace 140 by 2020.
The major goal of this project is to ensure the safety of the communities we serve and the environment we all live in. In the words of Ken Lyle, Director of Restoration at Peoples, “We recognize and embrace the environmental challenges facing the natural gas industry, and we’re committed to taking actionable steps to reduce emissions.”
That’s why we teamed up with the Environmental Defense Fund and Carnegie Mellon University to assess emission levels of our pipelines and determine the best replacement. This research revealed that new plastic pipelines could reduce our methane emissions by as much as 86%, while also improving safety and reliability.
LTIIP also makes Peoples a key player in the EPA’s Methane Challenge Program.
“Our commitment to infrastructure replacement is also a key component of the EPA’s Methane Challenge Program,” says Paul Becker, Vice President of Construction and Engineering, “which recognizes companies that make specific and transparent commitments to reduce methane emissions. The EPA notes that partners in the Methane Challenge program demonstrate concern for the environment, with benefits spanning from climate change and air quality improvements to conservation of a non-renewable energy resource.”
You might have seen us in your neighborhood already, as our teams have been hard at work this year replacing pipelines. Although we know roadwork isn’t convenient for anyone, we do our best to limit the inconvenience of these projects for local residents.
That’s why typically a crew will visit the site to replace the pipeline, put in a temporary fix, and then schedule a time to come back to complete a more permanent restoration. This is the most efficient way to complete so many ongoing projects, while also minimizing the effect on your neighborhood or community. You can also take a look at our Future Work map to see if we’ll be coming to your neighborhood or to check the status of an ongoing restoration project.
Besides the benefit to the environment, LTIIP will also help to improve the infrastructure in local communities. As we continue replacing hundreds of miles of pipeline each year, with each final restoration, our goal is to leave your roads and sidewalks better than we found them.
Although we still have a long way to go until 2034, we’re excited for the progress we’ve made so far. We look forward to the opportunity to contribute to the communities we serve and to protect the environment we all share.
