Propane Dispatch

August 7, 2020

Line 5 Update

In a victory for the propane industry, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office will not appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court after a lower court's opinion affirmed the constitutionality of an agreement between the state and Enbridge Energy to build the Line 5 tunnel. A notice of appeal regarding the Court of Appeals' June 11 decision should have been filed within 42 days or Thursday, but no appeal was filed.

Despite this win, the fight over Line 5 and a new tunnel remain. Attorney General Nessel's office will instead focus its efforts on other litigation related to the current pipeline and not the new proposed tunnel. A three-judge appellate panel unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the law that was also found to be constitutional by a lower Court of Claims judge. Those rulings would allow Enbridge to construct a $500 million, four-mile utility tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac to house Line 5.

The June decision upheld the constitutionality of not just the tunnel agreement, but also a third agreement with the State of Michigan that allows the company to continue operating the existing pipeline "while a tunnel to house a replacement section of Line 5 is permitted and constructed," Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy said.

2020 Employee Training

IPGA offers CETP and non-certified employee training for those employed in the propane industry or looking to obtain propane training certification. To make training more accessible to everyone, classes are held in multiple locations. Classes are open to members and non-members and pre-registration is necessary. Please note, locations have changed, for the most current information, click here.

Industry Efforts Seeking DOE Funding Rewarded

NPGA is very pleased to share a recent announcement by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) whereby six (6) projects focused specifically on propane are among those that have been awarded funding in the agency’s vehicle technologies research area. These six projects total over $9 million in research funding dedicated to the propane industry from DOE for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020.

The Areas of Interest (AOI) under which these projects were awarded include:

AOI 05: Improved Efficiency of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Natural Gas and Propane (LPG) Engines
AOI 13: Alternative Fuel Proof-of-Concept in New Communities and Fleets
AOI 15: Technology Integration Open Topic

To view the propane projects within these areas of interest, click here.

This funding is a result of strong collaborative efforts between NPGA and PERC, who worked together on identifying the industry’s research needs, which ultimately enabled NPGA to share these priorities with the appropriate federal legislators.

The collaborative efforts between our two organizations have continued to yield positive results as the House Appropriations Committee recently approved all four of NPGA’s recent requests for FY 2021 appropriations funding in the Committee’s Energy & Water Appropriations bill. The industry requests included in the bill focused on vehicle engine technology, micro-CHP, micro-grids and renewable LPG.

The Senate is currently focused solely on legislation related to COVID-19 relief, and it is unclear if it will pass a new Appropriations package before the end of this fiscal year (September 30) or if it will simply seek a continuing resolution. Nevertheless, the fact that we were able to secure report language for funding in four different areas of propane industry research in a Democratic-majority House of Representatives bodes well for future research opportunities.