PGW receives federal money to replace aging gas lines

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Philadelphia Gas Works will receive $125 million in federal money to replace 66 miles of its aging cast iron pipes.

Federal officials announced the latest round of funding — $40 million — on Tuesday at a PGW operations center in Northeast Philadelphia. The city-owned gas utility has already secured $85 million in grants to speed up pipe replacements.

“We are tackling the climate crisis while reducing costs for families by creating jobs filled by union workers,” said Ali Zaidi, President Biden’s national climate adviser.

Old pipes can rupture and release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

Gas leaks are also dangerous. In 2019, two people died when a leak in a more than 90-year-old gas line triggered an explosion that destroyed five rowhouses in South Philly. A few years earlier, a PGW worker was killed while attempting to repair a high-pressure gas main break in the Tacony section of Philly.

In a 2022 filing with state utility regulators, PGW said more than half of its more than 3,000 miles of gas lines were considered “at risk,” or made of cast iron or unprotected steel lines. In a typical year, PGW replaces approximately 30 miles of cast iron mains.

The federal grants will help the utility fund its existing pipe replacement plans more quickly, which the utility estimates will save the typical Philadelphia household hundreds of dollars in the coming years. The projects will focus on neighborhoods with the highest poverty rates, the utility said.

“This saves our customers money because if we replace that line with dollars that come from the federal government instead of ratepayers’ pockets, that’s helpful,” said Seth Shapiro, PGW president and CEO.

The money comes from a grant program to modernize the natural gas distribution system created by the bipartisan infrastructure law of 2021. Philadelphia received the maximum amount under the program and the largest amount ever nationwide, said Tristan Brown, deputy administrator of the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

“Congress … has directed us to focus on underserved communities, the highest-risk pipes and the greatest reductions in methane leaks,” he said. “Philly really fits into each of those categories.”