Washington Gas Joins the EPA’s Natural Gas STAR Methane Challenge Program as Founding Partner

Washington Gas, a WGL company (NYSE: WGL), announced today that it has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Natural Gas STAR Methane Challenge Program as a founding partner. This voluntary program provides participating companies with a platform to showcase their efforts to reduce methane emissions and improve air quality.

By joining the EPA’s Methane Challenge Program, Washington Gas demonstrates its ongoing commitment to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. This commitment includes a goal to achieve by 2020 an 18 percent reduction in GHG emissions for every unit of natural gas delivered. Established in 2011 against a 2008 GHG emission baseline, the company is on track to meet this objective.

“WGL has a strong commitment to sustainability as a core company value,” said Terry McCallister, chairman and CEO of WGL Holdings, Inc and Washington Gas. “We demonstrate this commitment by establishing aggressive emission reduction objectives for our own operations and by offering our customers energy answers from a well-balanced portfolio that includes renewable solutions, energy efficiency services and green power.”

Washington Gas has also established a goal to reduce GHG emissions from its fleet and facilities operations by 70 percent by 2020. The company expects to announce achievement of this goal well ahead of schedule based on a number of initiatives. At its Washington Gas LEED Gold-certified facility in Springfield, Virginia, for example, up to 35 percent of the building’s base load power comes from an on-site solid oxide fuel cell that generates electricity through a process with far less emissions than grid-generated electricity. The Washington Gas fleet reduced its carbon footprint by 25 percent, primarily by deploying nearly 200 clean-burning natural gas vehicles.

The EPA Methane Challenge provides a mechanism for natural gas and other energy companies to make and track commitments established in collaboration with the EPA to lower methane emissions that improve air quality. It is a voluntary program designed for participants that submit meaningful and ambitious methane reduction commitments and are prepared to transparently account for progress and demonstrate ongoing improvements.

The Methane Challenge Program and its founding partners will be introduced today at the Global Methane Forum at an event hosted by Janet McCabe, EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, at the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center in Washington, DC.

About Washington Gas

Washington Gas Light Company is a regulated natural gas utility providing safe, reliable natural gas service to more than 1.1 million customers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. A subsidiary of WGL Holdings, Inc., the company has been providing energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers for more than 167 years.

About WGL

WGL (NYSE: WGL), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a leading source for clean, efficient and diverse energy solutions. With activities and assets across the U.S., WGL consists of Washington Gas, WGL Energy, WGL Midstream and Hampshire Gas. WGL provides options for natural gas, electricity, green power and energy services, including generation, storage, transportation, distribution, supply and efficiency. Our calling as a company is to make energy surprisingly easy for our employees, our community and all our customers. Whether you are a homeowner or renter, small business or multinational corporation, state and local or federal agency, WGL is here to provide Energy Answers. Ask Us. For more information, visit us at www.wgl.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160330005985/en/