With more than 150 attendees, the annual 2009 FEPA Summer Conference was a success.   "We really enjoyed the FEPA annual conference," said Nick Bowman, Vice President of Florida Acquisition and Appraisal, Inc.  "The speakers were first-rate as usual, as was the venue."

All networking and business sessions were well attended and the exhibitors enjoyed heavy traffic flow through the exhibit areas. As FEPA continues to grow stronger, we anticipate 100 total members by the end of the year.

This event was made possible in large part by the support of our sponsors:

Platinum
Florida Gas Transmission Company
Gulfstream Natural Gas System
Harris Harris Bauerle Sharma
NGS Energy
Southern Natural Gas

Gold
Calhoun, Collister & Parham
PBS&J Progressive Pipeline
Southern Pines Energy Center

Silver
Buckeye Partners
Phillips & Jordan
Willbros

Bronze
AECOM
Akerman Senterfitt
Capitol Energy
Eagle
SWS
Heidt & Associates
Minnesota Limited

If you are interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at the 2010 conference please let us know.  

The FEPA standing committees are also experiencing growing participation as operators and pipeline services members continue to utilize these small groups to discuss issues and remedies on topics of mutual concern. 

"The 2009 FEPA meeting was a great event," said D. Keith Morris, Sr., Safety Representative for Florida Gas Transmission.  "In the Safety Committee meeting, we had a very good presentation by Mark Milliken, Director of Safety & Security with Panhandle Energy, on developing a safety culture and building safety relations with the contractor companies.  The open discussion with the group on what was working well at their locations is always informative and helpful.  Joan Spencer, Compliance Assistance Officer with OSHA, spoke about the future of OSHA and upcoming programs and changes with the new administration," Morris said.  "Finally, I had the privilege of presenting on Ergonomic and Hazard Recognition in the workplace.  I can't wait until next year."

In addition, thanks to the wonderful speakers at this year’s conference:
E. Russell Braziel, Vice President, Marketing and Sales Chief Technology Officer for BENTEK Energy;
Sarah Rogers, President and CEO of the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council (FRCC);
Christina Johnson, President of On 3 Public Relations, LLC; and
Joseph Mataich, Community Assistance and Technical Services (CATS) Program Manager with the U.S DOT/PHMSA Southern Region office.

The sessions were packed with timely and important information.  FEPA members can access some of the presentations online.