The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and the INGAA Foundation have launched a campaign to get the word out about the necessity and virtues of the nation’s gas pipeline network. The effort comes at a time when shale gas-focused pipeline development has attracted increasing scrutiny from the public and politicians.

The campaign, “America’s Energy Link,” highlights the role that pipelines play in getting natural gas to market.

“America’s Energy Link will provide valuable information about pipelines and natural gas, including materials about safety and the environment,” said INGAA CEO Don Santa. “We hope to educate Americans about the tangible benefits natural gas brings to their quality of life every day.”

The campaign features a television commercial. Safety, the economy and the environment would be the major points of focus of the campaign, Santa said.

Santa said during a press briefing that pipelines have come under increasing scrutiny by the public and their elected representatives largely because so much of the construction is taking place in the East, a part of the country that tends to be densely populated with citizens who are not accustomed to seeing pipeline development.

Back in January, Santa told NGI that the Northeast can be a tough region in which to lay a pipeline. He also said pipelines have been made a target by environmentalists who have a broader aim of stopping fossil fuel development.

“…[N]atural gas and natural gas infrastructure, I think, have become the focal point for a lot of environmental groups in terms of a broader agenda that is largely anti-fossil fuel,” Santa said in January (see Daily GPI, Jan. 23). Rolled into that are fears about hydraulic fracturing and other industry practices that happen upstream of the pipeline.

“The goal of this campaign is to spark a conversation about the benefits of natural gas pipelines,” Santa said Monday.

The campaign website makes the case for the value of pipelines and provides tools for users to learn more, including the ability to find out what pipelines are near where they live.