Middle TN Gas Receives Grant To Improve Safety Measures

Middle Tennessee Natural Gas will improve safety measures through a new federal grant.

The utility received more than $311,000 to modernize its safety equipment. Cliff Swoape is Director of Human Resources and Communications. He said they saw during the 2020 Cookeville tornado the value of emergency equipment such as leak detectors.

“We were able to go in with those laser leak detectors and ensure that there were no leaks underground that we couldn’t pick up in all the debris and the damage,” Swoape said. “But still able to get those folks back in to help start salvaging their personal property a lot quicker.”

Swoape said previously, utility workers had to walk step-by-step in trying to detect an underground leak. The laser detectors perform the work much faster.

The utility will purchase four of the detectors. Swoape said the delivery date has not been determined. Swoape said the grant helps because it allows Middle Tennessee Natural Gas to get the equipment in place more quickly than if it were a budget item

“This is going to allow us to do it all at once instead of balancing it out every several years of budgeting,” Swoape said. “This has enabled us to do something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

Middle Tennessee Natural Gas was the only utility in the state to receive the grant through the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization program. Only 21 percent of those who applied for the grant received money. Swoape said he credits the utility staff for their work on the application.

“We hope customers will never notice these improvements,” Swoape said. “Safety is when nothing happens.”