American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017 - 99

New COGA Event Expands Outreach
DENVER-According to the Colorado
Oil & Gas Association, its members'
commitment to give back and positively
impact their communities has been engrained in the industry's culture for 150
years. From gifts of natural gas-fueled
school buses in Weld County, to countless
volunteer hours and more than $2 million
raised for the American Red Cross during
the state's 2013 floods, oil and gas employees and their families are there to
help when Colorado needs it.
Sarah Sandberg, COGA chief operating
officer, suggests these good works deserve
some limelight. "You would be hardpressed to find another industry with the
same level of community engagement
and positive impacts, not to mention all
the ways that oil and gas make peoples'
lives better on a daily basis," she considers.
"We should celebrate everything this industry has given back to the state, and
we want to put together an event that
highlights all that. What better way to do
that than the Mardi Gras Ball?"
Scheduled for the night of Friday,
March 3, at Denver's History Colorado
Center, Sandberg says COGA hopes the
event will bring some South Louisiana
festivity to the Mile High City. "It fits
the time of year and will be an exciting
environment," she says. "There will be
brass bands and king cakes, and we will
dance into the night in celebration of our
communities."
Sandberg says the event comes as a
welcome celebration for oil and gas fam-

ilies that have spent the last few years
dealing with economic and political pressures threatening their livelihoods. In one
example, she cites, in 2016, oil and gas
workers and their families had to watch
with bated breath to see whether anti-industry ballot initiatives would go before
Colorado voters. According to COGA,
the proposed measures essentially would
have shut down the state's industry and
put thousands out of work.
"That is a terrible stress to be under
that no one deserves to deal with," Sandberg reflects. "Fortunately, those dangerous
measures did not qualify for the ballot,
but what I find so amazing is that, while
this was playing out, companies and their
employees remained committed to giving
back and, in some cases, even increasing
their efforts."
Sandberg indicates that many of the
state's operators make it a priority to
serve their communities through volunteering and donations. She says they understand their ability to influence positive
change and therefore make it possible
for the employees and entire organizations
to volunteer time and resources to their
communities.
"Giving people paid time off to volunteer and matching employee donations
is a big deal, because it lets Coloradans
participate in their communities in a
meaningful way they might not be able
to otherwise," Sandberg notes.
As an industry advocate, COGA wants
to make sure such widespread community

outreach and engagement does not escape
notice, she relates, and the association's
latest effort to spotlight companies' charitable impulses will funnel that into the
combined benefit for Children's Hospital
Colorado.
As the idea began to solidify, Sandberg
says COGA sought a beneficiary to form
a long-term partnership for what it hopes
will be an annual event. "Children's Colorado is a nonprofit everyone can relate
to, and almost everyone has some sort of
tie to it," she describes. "Many of our
companies support its extraordinary work."
In fact, she notes, COGA already engages with Children's Colorado as cosponsors of an elite cycling team for the
Courage Classic Bicycle Tour, benefitting
Children's Hospital Colorado and the
Children's Fund. That, she continues, is
another example of the industry's community outreach to which the ball will
draw attention, and will be part of its
awards program, which Sandberg says
will recognize an individual as well as a
small and large company.
"The Community Impact Awards will
highlight those who have gone above and
beyond to have a positive impact in their
communities," she explains. "We are delighted to ensure those doing the best at
representing the industry's values are celebrated for their goodwill and hard work.
For information about tickets or sponsorship opportunities, contact COGA at
303-861-0362 or visit http://www.coga.org/events/mardi-gras-ball/.
❒

PHMSA Releases Pipeline Safety Rule
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Department
of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration released
a final safety rule for onshore hazardous
liquid pipelines on Jan. 13 that improves
on the October 2015 proposed rule, but
nevertheless remains too inflexible, assesses the American Petroleum Institute.
PHMSA says the rule, which is to
take effect six months from its publication
in the Federal Register, addresses standards
for repairing aging and high-risk infrastructure, and tests for assessing pipeline
condition, and extends leak detection requirements to onshore, non-high-consequence-area (HCA) transmission lines.
The rule requires operators to integrate
data on the operating environment, pipeline
condition, and known manufacturing and
construction defects into their safety

plans, and to annually evaluate their protective measures in HCAs, and to implement additional measures as necessary,
the agency continues. It also sets a deadline
by which operators must use in-line inspection (ILI) tools for any new or replacement pipeline that can affect an
HCA.
Additional information on the pipeline
safety rule is available on PHMSA's website at www.phmsa.dot.gov.
While API supports development of a
pipeline safety rule, Midstream Group
Director Robin Rorick worries the new
rule "has the potential to decrease pipeline
safety rather than improve it."
"While this rule is an improvement
over previous versions, the agency's 'one
size fits all' approach in portions of the
final rule creates situations where industry

will be forced to redirect its attention
away from areas that present higher risks
to those that are lower risk," Rorick contends.
❒

Coming In March
AOGR's "Gas Treating & Processing" special reports feature new
technologies to optimize existing
treating and processing facilities to
improve cost efficiencies. Reports
also present the benefits of installing
fieldwide monitoring systems in
shale plays, and examine the newest
solutions for reducing emissions in
upstream operations, including advanced engine controls and bifuel
technology.
FEBRUARY 2017 99
American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017
