Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, boys, and girls of all ages. Welcome to the most amazing interview show on the information super highway. Now zooming to you live and simultaneously from two secret studio bunkers in dual time zones are located somewhere South of Alaska, East of area, 51 North of Guantanamo. And if we give you one more clue, we'll all be in deep trouble. It's the amazing twin namesake separated at birth. The two most famous guys, not in witness protection. It's coffee with Jim and James.
Speaker 1 00:00:38 Good morning, LinkedIn community. Welcome to another episode of coffee with Jim and James. Well, if you know me again, you might notice that I'm back in my uniform, which is a little bit peculiar given the state of the everything going on lately. But today is a very special reason I have this back on. So if you see me at conferences, this is what I normally wear. Uh, our guests today, who James is going to introduce in a second. Uh, we've known her for years, uh, have much respect, a lot of praise, a lot of great things she does for our industry. So out of that respect, I thought I would put on the uniform again and I've been wearing a hoodie for six months. I noticed that James, so that means you, you shaved your head, not cut your hair, but that's semantics. So James, how are you doing today?
Speaker 1 00:01:34 And would you please give us the honor of introducing our esteem? Yes, today. Absolutely. I'm doing awesome. All things considered, I'm blessed, blessed to be busy. This is what I keep saying to people. I think that's our new hashtag. Um, and thank you, Aaron. You you'd have no idea that you're on because that means gyms, uh, all squared away and acting, you know, is not active now, which was always a good sign. Uh, but I would be honored to introduce miss Corolla. Uh, Aaron is the VP of operations and pipeline safety at APGA, uh, and a longtime friend of ours as well. I don't know if you remember, I'm blessed with a memory, but, um, we, I met you for the first time, actually the Texas gas association, um, uh, I believe you were speaking maybe. And then, uh, we actually were blessed to have and join us, uh, at our conferences past year as well and touched motors and welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having me. I'm glad to be here. I'm honored to be invited to join you guys for coffee. Obviously you haven't watched it. It's not a word anybody that's used yet, but we are very, very thrilled.
Speaker 2 00:03:01 Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 00:03:02 Yeah, it's great. I actually, um, have gotten a chance to hear you speak about the APGA and other things. And I think probably that's probably a good starting point. Why don't you give us a little insight into the APGA, um, and uh, public gas systems and such like that. And, uh, just give our viewers a little bit of the overall of that.
Speaker 2 00:03:24 Sure. Uh, thanks so much for having me again, um, the American public gas association who I've been with now, right at three years, believe it or not, time is really an interesting measure of things these days, but, uh, joined them about three years ago and we represent publicly owned gas utility systems, um, of which people are surprised to learn there's over a thousand in the country. And I like to say that although 750 of the thousand are APGA members, uh, we really represent all thousand, right. Um, and a little known fact that I wanted to just kind of put a plug in. And, um, while talking to you guys is for any public gas system, that's less than has less than 500 customers. We just grant them APGA membership for free. Um, let's, let's say that we can get something away for free. Um, no, I mean, it's really important to us.
Speaker 2 00:04:21 We know that those, you know, frankly, super small systems out there, you know, don't necessarily have the resources to join even a regional or local trade association, but so much of what we do. And so much of the information we disseminate we think is really important to push out to those guys. So, uh, if you have less than five, if you're a public asset system with less than 500 customers, you're actually an APJ member, whether you wrote us a check or not. Um, and again, that's just to get you guys, our publications and to make sure that you're abreast of all the different pipeline safety issues that are going on and all the different things happening up on Capitol Hill that you might be interested in. Um, so that's APJ, we represent public ask systems. Um, really we work very, very closely with AGA kind of our sister trade association that represents investor owned utilities and especially on the pipeline safety front. I think, um, I love, you know, I came from AGA, which may be a little bit, but so did my predecessor, John Erickson actually came from AGA over to APGA in the nineties. So we have a long history together working together on advocacy issues. And so I'm really glad to be able to kind of carry that legacy forward and, um, and work with who I used to work with when I was over at AGA. Um, and then when I think about, uh, yeah, Jim or James, excuse me,
Speaker 3 00:05:49 Keep going. I'll ask him in a second. Keep going. You're good. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:05:52 Um, well I guess some people kind of wonder, I guess what the is with a publicly-owned gas system and an investor owned. And, um, the average public gas system actually only has 25 employees. So we're significantly smaller than the average investor owned. And the reason for that is that when, um, after world war II, when a lot of the nation's kind of pipeline infrastructure and backbone were being built, um, investor owned utilities, frankly didn't see the return on investment and to going into some more of the rural communities, especially through the Southeast. So if you kind of think about the Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi kind of corridor, um, as they were building pipelines down to the Gulf or from the Gulf, excuse me, up North, I wasn't that long ago that we started going North, but back then when we were going South and North, um, these communities decided that they wanted access to natural gas.
Speaker 2 00:06:53 They wanted to bring gas to their community. And even though the investor owns, you know, frankly, that they, they represent their shareholders, right. They didn't see that return on investment. The community decided to go ahead and build the infrastructure themselves. So that's part of what that, that legacy is. What, um, is really at the culture of APJ is membership that kind of can do serving the community. Um, it's really at the core of the culture around APJ and that kind of familial attitude really just kind of resonates and still exist in 2020 today. Um, and it makes it really a fun group to work with, um, uh, really a lot of pride in, in their system and in what they do for their community.
Speaker 1 00:07:38 Oh, I'm sorry. Quick question. You've mentioned a lot of lending mean interrupted before, but you were hitting on some are 25 50 people, you know, smaller, um, are some of these and we call them and correct me if I'm wrong, but I call them unis or municipality, uh, an acceptable term.
Speaker 2 00:07:57 Sure, sure. Yeah. I mean, a lot of people use that synonymously. We try to say publicly owned just because that comes in all sorts of shapes and forms. Some are, you know, multiple counties and utility boards. We see that a lot in States like Tennessee. Um, we have, we have a couple of cooperative members as well because technically they're still publicly owned utilities. Um, so yeah, munies counties, utility boards, like they're all kind of in our bucket if you will.
Speaker 1 00:08:26 And some get big too. I mean, like we have friends at severe County in Tennessee and there, uh, you know, the severe County folks.
Speaker 2 00:08:34 Yes. Yeah. Shout out to Matt. Hey, um, yeah, I mean, so some of our biggest members that people might not realize are publicly owned or places like Philadelphia, Memphis, Tennessee, Colorado Springs, long beach out in California are all publicly owned gas utilities. So the parallel I like to give people is that like, at least in where I live in Vienna, Virginia, our public, we have publicly on water. Right. So you have a municipally-owned water system, very common, right. Um, you can just kind of translate that to a publicly on gas utility as well. And some, some cities and localities have everything, you know, water, wastewater, electric, gas, broadband, you know, all of it is a publicly owned utility.
Speaker 1 00:09:24 We, we, we service a lot of the same industry, obviously. Um, so, so that rings true. Aaron, one thing that, uh, I've always been, um, impressed with you about is really your passion for what you do. Um, you mentioned something at our conference and you kind of went in full out, like you just geeked out on. I mean, you really did I in a good way, right? I'm, I'm a nerd man. I'm, I'm the first one I'm in a day in the data and I'm pouring through things, but you kind of went on a tangent on one of our panels. And one thing that kind of rang from it, what's your passion for what you do. Um, so you, you spoke a little bit about AGA and how, you know, you made the transition to the public side. Tell us a little bit about that passion and how it drove you really from, from going to school all the way to where your land at sometimes. I don't know if it's just me. Sometimes I look around and go, I never thought I would be doing, especially today. I look around and go, I didn't really foresee this, but man, I feel like I'm home.
Speaker 2 00:10:34 Sure. Um, well, I guess I'll give people a little bit of my bio. I went to school for chemical engineering in Pittsburgh. Um, and when I graduated and actually, while I started interning in the summer there as a chemical engineering intern, I decided to get a job with the local gas company, which was equitable gas, but actually worked in their midstream department. Um, and they're now known as EQT and really kind of just happened to be working in an industry that was booming with Marcellus shale, which is really at the forefront of that and fell in love. I think I just enjoy people, I the most, and I enjoy getting to know folks and I enjoy learning from folks that have come before me. And I think that what really resonates with me is the fact that the gas, the gas industry, as a whole unexpectedly, the gas utility industry, as we all work together and it's not a super competitive environment, you know, we all have the same goals.
Speaker 2 00:11:38 And I think I really stuck with pipeline safety because nothing is more true than everybody pushing towards the same goal. And, um, when we all want to keep the guests in the pipe, um, then it's so easy to get passionate about that. It's so easy to kind of lay your head on your pillow at night and go to sleep, feeling good that you really tried to make the communities safer. And that's why I think even taking all that passion and then bringing it to the community owned, um, membership, um, it's easy for me, right? It's easy to kind of say, Hey, I help people make sure that they operate safely. Like who doesn't want to do that day in and day out.
Speaker 1 00:12:20 That's our vision as a company that's on the AWS side, our vision is to make the world a safer place to work. So we agree. Jim, you just saw Aaron, uh, give a presentation recently and what a segue and she's, so she's such a professional segue right into, BSMS like, uh, like a pro I hope it's not a copy with Jim and Aaron after this, but James, Jim, do you want to talk a little bit about that presentation and
Speaker 3 00:12:59 Hand handed off to air in a second, but uh, recently at the Louisiana gas association, one 92, one 95, uh, pipeline safety, I'll call it summit conference. It's a huge conference for years and this is the first virtual one they've done. And I have the pleasure of, uh, sitting in on Aaron's presentation on PSMs. And I have to tell you, Aaron, you knocked it out of the park. You, uh, again like you're doing here, you're such a great presenter, but, um, what James was talking about before was the passion that you have when you're speaking to it, it was just gripped us in. And, uh, what's your thoughts on PSMs it's such a buzz word right now. What's, what's your feel insight, what's your guidance for other people out in the industry?
Speaker 2 00:13:44 Yeah. You know, full disclosure, right? Full disclosure to your, to your wide audience. You know, I was one of the folks when I first heard about it, I kind of side, if you will, and wonder, you know, really can this work and I it's taken, you know, as pipeline safety management systems has really been talked about in our industry now, believe it or not almost a decade, right. Since 2010. And even before that in various ways shapes and forms. Um, but it's still new, right? Like there's still people, we're all on this kind of, um, journey to use the safety management system term of it kind of accepting it and embracing it and figuring out what it means, um, for each of us individually, not just for everyone at their systems and at their companies and utilities. Cause I think it's not just gas utilities, right?
Speaker 2 00:14:34 Like we all can kind of take those safety management principles and apply them to what we do at work. And even frankly what we do at home. Um, you know, I think that one of the important things is, you know, I appreciate what you said about the presentation with Louisiana gas association and their pipeline safety conference. And I really hope that at least, I always say, I just want one person to get something out of each of these presentations. And if I can do that, then it was totally worth the time. Um, and I, you know, unfortunately we're really kind of at that point in the safety management systems conversation where there's potential for this to not be voluntary, like right now it's voluntary. Right. And right now everyone can figure out what it means for them and they can apply it in a way that that's helpful and useful.
Speaker 2 00:15:26 And we're really at that tipping point. And I just hope that folks kind of see the benefit of safety management and aren't scared by it because I really do think it is, it can be helpful as soon as it becomes voluntary. It's no longer about, um, what you think of safety and what your culture is at your organization. And it becomes like, did I create a plan and did I check all the boxes? And I go, yeah, my goal is, you know, not just for APJ, but for any pipeline operator that's listening or frankly, even contractors that work for them is that, Hey, if you can start to do this, now we can kind of hedge off that idea of it becoming a requirement. Because I do think if it becomes a requirement, it loses its luster and it just doesn't work the way it was intended.
Speaker 1 00:16:11 We moved from a proactive environment into a reactive, you know, prescriptive type of environment. And you nailed it with checking the box, you know, and I'm not gonna trash operator qualification. Uh, obviously there's a place in it's it's done wonders, but it's the same thing. Now we're living in a world where it's like, okay, what do I got to do to meet the bare minimum? And then that's a scary thing to think about when we're talking about pipeline safety,
Speaker 2 00:16:42 Do a whole other segment on operator qualifications.
Speaker 1 00:16:45 Well, I guess, uh, you know, when, when you, when you said that you side, you know, your first statement, you know, you just kinda real Hm. I dunno if it's gonna work. I felt like Steve Allen was somewhere crime when he reads only hears that episode. He's just gonna, you know,
Speaker 2 00:17:03 You know, it's honest though, it's, I think it's where a lot of people still are. Right. You know, we've got to get them over sine and just kind of learning and then embracing.
Speaker 1 00:17:13 And you said one thing, uh, at the LGA presentation that really stuck with me was get started, do something you don't, you know, just take that first step. And, uh, I think you folks are gonna have a survey coming up for your members, I believe. Is, is that a correct statement?
Speaker 2 00:17:30 So a couple of things, one is, you know, we're trying to help, uh, I I say create a safe space for the APGA membership to come and learn more and get started. Um, so we have a virtual workshop series it's multi-part, um, feel free to check it on APGs website for our membership, um, but broader than the membership APJ and actually energy world net partnered, um, partner to, to kind of give a, uh, we ADJ developed what we called our gap analysis tool for small operators. And what it really did is kind of took all those principles of safety management systems and put them in a multiple choice format. Just, I always say it does two things. One, it helps people even understand what safety management systems is and like bite sized chunks. And then two is, it really helps them start to understand where they are compared to what the API 1173 recommended practice, um, tells, you know, recommends that they do.
Speaker 2 00:18:28 So you kind of get both and it's an again, a safe place that, that tool, just like the workshop is a safe place. Just do it on your own. Don't feel like you need to share it with anyone. Um, and, and so we have that, but then I, I don't know if this is what you meant, but I'm going to put a plug and say that, uh, coming soon that E every fall, the industry does a industry wide survey. And it's just really like, have you started, have you done a gap assessment and stuff? And that really helps drive our, everyone up in DC is conversations, um, around with all the lawmakers and regulators and everyone else about, Hey, we are doing this voluntary. Um, so make sure if you're an operator and you're watching this watch for that survey.
Speaker 1 00:19:15 Sounds good, Aaron. Um, obviously these times are string grill. I don't know where you're at currently, but it looks like you're at home
Speaker 2 00:19:26 As
Speaker 1 00:19:27 Jim's at the beach, but, uh, I'm also at home. Um, so being thrust into this world, what, how has that impacted NPG? And obviously there's APGA events and some, I think, still coming up, what does that look like? What's that pivot look like? And, and I, I'm going to speak honestly, from, from my, I think a lot of people's perspective is, you know, it's, it's a hard thing to wrap your brain around on to make this transition, uh, you know, we're, we're attending events where we're doing the best we can. I know all of us want to do this in person, but we want to do it safely. So what's that look like for APGA?
Speaker 2 00:20:10 Yeah. So I think I mentioned earlier how small or small in the sense of number of employees, most of our membership has. Um, and so we've always tried to provide virtual venues for our membership because we know not everyone can attend an in-person event. Not everyone can kind of peel themselves away for two to three day event, um, especially when they've got a system to run and they just, frankly, their bench is not that deep. And so we've always tried to do that, but we've just kind of, um, I guess, screwed that, those bolts down a little bit and said, Hey, listen, we really need to great virtual content in little bite sized chunks. And so kind of like what you guys are doing here. I think it's important that we remember who we are as an industry, you know, so much, I kind of talked about my first experience working in like a midstream company.
Speaker 2 00:21:06 I was in the field a lot, but last thing I wanted to do was sit down and watch like, and do like a two hour training thing. Um, and trust me, I know PJ's members, the last thing they want to do is sit down for like three straight days and watch their computer screen. Like they just, no one wants, no one wants to do that. No one wants to sit in a chair for three days, nor do they have the time and the luxury to do that. So we're trying to find ways to just give people, um, you know, recorded things that they can use, um, and, and give it in that format so that they can kind of do it at their leisure and, um, and not have to dedicate an entire week or an entire day to an event. Um, so yeah, we're looking for innovative solutions like that.
Speaker 2 00:21:54 And then, you know, I personally here, and I know we talk about this as an industry, time and time again about workforce development, right? And the fact that we need more ways to get training to individual, um, companies and operators, and that comes in all sorts of forms, right? It's, it's training on a technical level, but it's also a leadership development training, um, and just, you know, training for our new engineers and et cetera. So we hope that we're, we're, we're trying to record as much as we can, um, especially when we kind of turn to our operations conference in October so that we can build out this library that says, Hey, you got a new engineer or someone new to the industry that doesn't know anything. We, we have a kind of weak, why not use this time to build up this library of online available content that can be used for training purposes later on. So not just think about it as a single event, but think about it, um, across like forever, if you will.
Speaker 1 00:22:56 Yeah. That's kind of the cool part about these. We've realized that to of this time, you know, we've been doing webinars and, you know, this is a fun thing. We do. We, we laugh with everybody and say, really Jim and I started this as therapy, you know, so we had someone to talk to, cause we're usually out on the road traveling, but we've been offering webinars and things like that. I mean, you're right. Being able to capture that and then have a library of things to pull from. But we do, you know, we have a large percentage of central workers obviously across our industry, but, um, there is a lot of, um, I hate to say it this way, but almost a captive audience of the ones that are in the office and do need those skills. And so being able to build that library and offer some of that content that they can parse through it almost at their leisure and cherry pick the things like you said, a lot of what the training we're saying now is focus on leadership, focus on soft skills. And in the past that might've been something that would have been overlooked or not done in a traditional instructor led training situation.
Speaker 2 00:24:10 Yeah. So we know, I guess I'll just leave this topic with, you know, and try not to take it personally, I guess we know everyone's super busy, not everyone has microphones on their computers, not everyone has cameras on their computers and just kind of be gracious with each other. Right. Uh, I think in some ways it's been, um, kind of, I don't know, heartwarming in a way to know that we're bonding, right? We're all in this together. We all have technical issues and kids and dogs and Amazon delivery is coming to our door and stuff. And it's just, just being gracious with each other and knowing like, Hey, listen, sometimes duty calls. You can't be at your computer for the whole session and just kind of trying to roll with it and just don't take things personally. Right?
Speaker 1 00:24:58 Nope. I hope my daughter didn't hear again. She's really good at it. It's funny that she's actually not been in an episode yet for my dogs. A lot of meetings, I can tell you that sitting on my lap, but you're right. Everybody's been so kind and so gracious. And so patient, you know, during this and how long this continues, who knows, but I hope that we can keep that up. That's an awesome point. Yeah, almost. That was a great, you know, I was going to wrap this up, but do you have any other final thoughts here and you want to share with us that last one was absolutely fantastic. And again, for everybody to have that patience, I, I, that those words will stick with me because sometimes we lose track of that. So thank you for that. But any final words before we wrap, Oh, wait, James, I have the perfect one and this is a new thing I really want to work in, but I ask it to a lot of people, not even in our industry. I mean, in general, I may be at the store and run across somebody and have a conversation, but a question I like to ask, especially you today and you love what you do.
Speaker 2 00:26:15 Oh, I love it. Yeah. I mean, I love what I do. I think more, I love the people I work with. Um, you know, you can, you know, paint or whatever, if you're with fun people and you're with people that encourage you and challenge you and make you want to do your job even better than it is easy to love what you do regardless of what it is.
Speaker 3 00:26:44 Right. So, yes, I love what I do. I love what, who I do it with even more. I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. I mean, it expands out into our industry more than even just, you know, the, the close-knit people that we work with. We work with so many people across this industry. And so then committees and boards and, you know, all those people, I love the industry and I love it for those reasons. It's a family to me. And, uh, I think that's a common thread that we all share here. Yeah, absolutely. Um, it was Aaron. We want to thank you greatly for being on another tremendous episode. This will be the best episode of coffee with Jim and James all week. I guarantee it.
Speaker 3 00:27:48 Thank you. You are a breath of fresh air. You're, uh, you'd light up the screen, uh, your passion for the industry, passion for people, passion, for everything you do just shines through and on behalf of James and I, we can't thank you enough for being on here. We want to encourage our listeners and our Watchers that if you want to connect with Erin, please do, uh, follow the APGA, you know, go to that website, follow them, get some great insight, get some great information. And as always, if you want to connect with James and I please do so. And if you have an idea for a coffee with Jim and James choo James rye message, and we would love to talk to you about that. So until next week, unless we're canceled, which I don't think we're going to be, we're on a roll for sure. Now God bless you. God bless our industry. Everybody, please stay safe and have a great week, and we will see you soon. Thanks. Thanks, Aaron.
Speaker 4 00:28:43 <inaudible>.
