2021
- Permafrost melt threatens Alaska’s largest oil pipeline by Heather Richards, E&E News (July 14, 2021) “Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, said the pipeline does not appear to be in immediate danger of a severe failure, such as a collapse that could lead to an oil spill. But he said this finding, and the necessary remediation, could be a “harbinger” of things to come as temperatures rise. ‘The pipeline was designed to handle the dynamic nature of permafrost, but not in a rapid climate change environment,’ he said.”
- Thawing Permafrost has Damaged the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and Poses an Ongoing Threat by David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News (Jul 11, 2021) “‘This is a wake-up call,’ said Carl Weimer, a special projects advisor for Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit watchdog organization based in Bellingham, Washington. ‘The implications of this speak to the pipeline’s integrity and the effect climate change is having on pipeline safety in general.'”
- Pipeline giant sues feds to block release of ‘bias zone’ info by Mike Soraghan, E&E News (Jul 2, 2021) “‘Given the importance of allowing the public to know the quality of the assessments of pipeline operators and the plausibility of their operational response claims, we think these are situations where the communities’ right to know should prevail,’ said Rebecca Craven of the Pipeline Safety Trust.”
- The Keystone XL Pipeline Is Dead, but TC Energy Still Owns Hundreds of Miles of Rights of Way by Nicholas Kusnetz, Inside Climate News (Jun 30, 2021) “Bill Caram, executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit watchdog, said similar problems are beginning to emerge around the country. In some cases, he said, landowners who hired lawyers have negotiated terms in their easements to return the land in the event a pipeline isn’t built. But most people have no recourse. Companies have even felled trees to make way for pipelines that ultimately were not built, and there’s no clear guidance on the degree to which developers are responsible for compensating landowners in those cases.”
- Big Oil lobby fought cybersecurity regulations for years, making pipeline attack easier by Igor Derysh, Salon (June 2, 2021). “‘Over the years, control of Colonial Pipeline has moved away from oil and gas companies towards private equity firms and institutional investors,’ Bill Caram, the executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, a public interest nonprofit, said in an email. ‘These types of investors have a history of wringing every dollar of revenue out of an asset while spending as little as possible on things like safety.'”
- After Colonial Pipeline Hack, U.S. to Require Operators to Report Cyberattacks by Rebecca Smith, Wall Street Journal (May 25, 2021) “Both the power and pipeline industries have had detailed state and federal safety standards for decades. But a separate, and uneven, system of oversight has sprung up to protect against malicious acts and it has resulted in a somewhat artificial distinction between safety and security, said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit advocacy organization in Bellingham, Wash.”
- Pipeline cyberattack raises concerns about leak safety, federal oversight by John Ruch, Reporter Newspapers (May 13, 2021) “The Pipeline Safety Trust, a watchdog group based in Washington state, has no information that the Colonial hackers caused any leak, according to Rebecca Craven, the group’s program director… ‘The lack of mandatory requirements [for pipelines] is an issue. There are that kind of mandatory cybersecurity requirements in the electric grid world,’ said Craven. ‘It’s way past time that there was a uniform standard of security that these operators need to meet.'”
- Tech audit of Colonial Pipeline found ‘glaring’ problems by Frank Bajak, Associated Press (May 12, 2021) “Bill Caram, executive director of the nonprofit watchdog Pipeline Safety Trust, called worrisome the allegations of deficient IT management, piecemeal spill reporting and pipeline integrity issues. ‘I think all these things just could paint a picture of the culture at Colonial maybe not taking risks seriously enough,’ he said.”
- The U.S. Has Ignored Pipeline Cybersecurity and Now You’re Paying the Price by Molly Taft, Gizmodo (May 11, 2021) “Bill Caram, the executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, said in an email that ‘the lack of any kind of reporting requirement around these cyber security events’ is ‘troubling.’ He added that ‘we really have no idea how widespread they are.'”
- Old pipelines become new flashpoints for U.S., Canada environmental clashes by Lauren Gardner, Politico (May 5, 2021) “About 43 percent of hazardous liquids pipelines in the U.S. are more than 50 years old, and federal decommissioning rules are vague and don’t require much of the operators, said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, an advocacy group formed after a fatal pipeline explosion in Washington state in 1999.”
- Texas seeks $1.6 million from Atmos after fatal Dallas gas explosion by Holly K. Hacker, Dallas Morning News (Apr 1, 2021) “‘In the context of pipeline safety violations, it’s a pretty high fine. In the context of pipeline operators, it’s a slap on the wrist in terms of their net worth and annual profit,’ said Rebecca Craven, program director for Pipeline Safety Trust, a national watchdog group. ‘Enforcement penalties are not typically ever big enough to make a dent financially.'”
- Giant N.C. spill shows gaps in pipeline safety by Mike Soraghan, E&E News (Feb 25, 2021) “‘It’s a very large gasoline spill no matter how you cut it,’ said Bill Caram, executive director of the advocacy group Pipeline Safety Trust. ‘This is different than a tank farm. This is out in a community.'”
2020
- Trump signs long-delayed pipeline safety legislation into law by Tom DiChristopher, S&P Global (Dec 28, 2020) “‘Along with providing more funding for PHMSA, we are happy to see progress being made on public transparency,’ Pipeline Safety Trust Executive Director Bill Caram said in an email. ‘We are also pleased that for the first time, operators will need to address the serious environmental effects from pipelines that, up until now, have been allowed to leak methane as a regular course of business.'”
- Too Much Sun Degrades Coatings That Keep Pipes From Corroding, Risking Leaks, Spills and Explosions by Phil McKenna, Inside Climate News (Oct 11, 2020) “Significant failures in pipelines transporting gas, oil and other hazardous liquids are increasing, with one fifth of all failures due to corrosion, according to a recent assessment of government data by the Pipeline Safety Trust, a watchdog group.”
- The Growing Danger From Gas Pipelines by Jeremy Deaton, Nexus Media (Sep 24, 2020) “‘We haven’t made big advances in making us safer from pipeline accidents,’ said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, which was created by order of a federal judge after a 1999 pipeline explosion killed two 10-year-olds in Bellingham, Washington. Over the last decade, firms have built new pipelines while continuing to make use of older ones. This added infrastructure creates more opportunities for accidents, and aging pipes are at greater risk of failure. At the same time, pipeline operators, regulators and lawmakers have failed to apply lessons from past mistakes, Caram said.”
- “I can sum it up in one word, and that is: nightmare.” 10 years after massive oil spill in Michigan by Rebecca Williams, Michigan Radio (Jul 24, 2020) “‘One of the things I’m surprised about that didn’t come out of Michigan is that the state still hasn’t stepped up and taken any regulatory authority over these types of pipelines. I’m surprised the state of Michigan hasn’t done that,’ he said.”
- Industry seeks flexibility in federal pipeline safety rules for rupture response by Tom DiChristopher, S&P Global (Jul 23, 2020) “The final rule should reflect that venting methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is not ideal, said Sara Gosman, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law. ‘I think it’s important to point out that there are environmental consequences to continuing to release gas that we need to take into account here and balance against the safety set of issues,’ said Gosman, who sits on the board of directors of the Pipeline Safety Trust, which represents the public on the GPAC.”
- Trail of spills haunts Dakota Access Developer by Mike Soraghan, E&E News (May 27, 2020) “They’re never the worst one,” said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, which worked with PHMSA and industry groups to develop performance rankings. “But they’re always in the top 10.”
- Pipeline accidents, spills down 17% – report by Mike Soraghan, E&E News (May 14, 2020) “But a pipeline safety group says the industry’s report doesn’t tell the whole story. Bill Caram, deputy director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a Bellingham, Wash., advocacy organization, said the industry groups are measuring improvement from a year that had a lot of accidents to paint a happier picture. ‘Let’s not celebrate a reduction from an unusually awful period of pipeline safety to one that remains unacceptable,’ Caram said. Measured against 2010, he said, the ‘trend line’ points upward for both total incidents and incidents harming people and the environment.”
- Trump rule rollback to save pipeline industry $270K yearly by Mike Soraghan, E&E News (Apr 21, 2020) “‘PHMSA and the industry have all committed to pursuing a goal of zero incidents,’ she said. ‘We should not seek to reach that goal by defining our way out of reporting incidents.’ Said Rebecca Craven of the Pipeline Safety Trust.”
- His hometown ‘blew up.” Then he got involved by Mike Lee, E&E News (Feb 3, 2020). “Weimer has gone on to lead the Pipeline Safety Trust, one of the nation’s most vocal nonprofits dedicated to educating the public about pipeline safety, emerging as a critical voice on the issue and a regular face on Capitol Hill.”
- LNG plant explosion raises concerns about federal oversight by Mike Soraghan, E&E News (Jan 21, 2020) “‘Kinder Morgan took over 2 ½ months to adequately investigate a leak and ‘detonation’ within an LNG facility,’ said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust. The incident also reveals a gap in federal reporting requirements for LNG, Weimer said. PHMSA rules require oil and hazardous liquids pipeline operators to report fires and explosions, he said, but there’s no specific requirement for natural gas pipelines or LNG facilities to do so.”
2019
- Decade that opened with pipeline disasters closes with mixed progress on safety by Tom DiChristopher, S&P Global (Dec 30, 2019) Democrats have also recently sought to tackle climate change through more stringent rules on methane emissions from pipelines, arguing that PHMSA’s mandate includes protecting the environment. Republicans pushed back on that view, but stakeholders said overlap between pipeline safety and climate policy appears inevitable given the rise of global warming as a top Democratic issue. “I think that that will continue to be a push in the next decade — maybe the highest push,” Weimer said.
- A Pipeline Runs Through It by Lyndsey Gilpin, Grist (Dec 3, 2019) “‘It’s cheaper to build in rural areas — they don’t have to worry about added regulations when they do that,’ Weimer said. ‘But if there’s a pipe next to your house that blows up, you’re gonna be just as dead as someone in a populated area.'”
- Keystone Pipeline Spills 383,000 Gallons of Oil into North Dakota Wetlands by Phil McKenna, Inside Climate News (Nov 1, 2019) “‘It’s a lot for a new pipe,’ said Rebecca Craven, program director for the non-profit Pipeline Safety Trust. The 2017 spill had shut the pipeline down for two weeks.”
- Keystone pipeline shut after spilling 9,000 barrels of oil in North Dakota by Devika Krishna Kumar, Reuters (Oct 31, 2019) “’They’ve had a few spills … more than you would hope to have on a line that’s still fairly new,’ said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust in Bellingham, Washington, a nonprofit promoting pipeline safety.”
- 6 Years After Exxon’s Oil Pipeline Burst in an Arkansas Town, a Final Accounting by David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News (Oct 24, 2019) “The Pipeline Safety Trust, a non-profit watchdog group, began the five-year fight for information in 2014 about the Pegasus pipeline spill after PHMSA denied a reporter from InsideClimate News access to disciplinary hearings on the incident. The trust ultimately obtained a transcript of the hearing and some regulatory documents, but it was denied many others on grounds that they involved Exxon trade secrets and were not subject to release. ‘The lack of transparency creates distrust in the system on the part of the public,’ the trust’s Rebecca Craven said in an interview, ‘whether that distrust is warranted or not.'”
- New Mexico oil and gas boom heightens pipeline safety by Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus (Oct 23, 2019) “’The uncertainty surrounding the safety of new pipelines underscores the need to push for pipelines to be sited, installed, tested and inspected in the best way possible, and for the regulators to ensure that is the case through strong and enforced regulations,’ read the report [by the Pipeline Safety Trust]. ‘And all of this only works well when the public has the ability to be involved in the process and has access to the information needed to understand and review all aspects of pipeline safety. We still have a long way to go.'”
- Enbridge pipeline rupture causes explosion in Kentucky by Caroline Llanes, Michigan Radio (Aug 2, 2019) “Carl Weimer is the executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust. He says Enbridge’s number of incidents per mile of pipeline has gone up over the past five years, particularly in regard to the Texas Eastern pipeline. ‘We have looked at the instant trends for that company, for those natural gas lines, and they have had a number of failures in the past few years. So that’s kind of concerning that their incident rate seems to be increasing,’ says Weimer. He says that’s not the only thing his group is concerned about. ‘The causes are kind of concerning too, because about 70% of those significant incidents are from things that the pipeline companies say that they ought to be able to control, things like corrosion, bad welds, and bad equipment, and incorrect operation of the pipeline,’ he says.”
- Safety, Competition Concerns Raised Over Proposed Sale of Major California Oil Pipeline by Ted Goldberg, KQED (Jun 24, 2019) “One of the nation’s top pipeline safety experts said he’s concerned about the deal. Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, an independent advocacy group based in Bellingham, Washington, said the CPUC should carefully review Crimson’s recent safety history. ‘I think the regulators would want to get some assurance that Crimson has the ability to operate and maintain a pipeline that’s already been somewhat problematic,’ Weimer said.”
- The lessons of Bellingham’s Olympic Pipeline explosion by Derek Moscato, Special to the Seattle Times, (Jun 4, 2019) “One positive legacy of the 1999 tragedy was the establishment of the Pipeline Safety Trust, which came into being thanks to a grassroots watchdog group called SAFE Bellingham and the families of the deceased, who demanded improved oversight and accident prevention planning. Inspired by a similar organization set up in the wake of Alaska’s 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Bellingham-based organization has a mandate to advocate for safer pipelines not only in the Northwest but, indeed, nationally.”
- Midwest Flooding Exposes Another Oil Pipeline Risk — on Keystone XL’s Route by Neela Banerjee, Inside Climate News (May 16, 2019) “Pipeline companies bury their pipelines at prescribed depths, based on their permits. But there is no requirement that they maintain over time those original depths or amount of soil cover, said Rebecca Craven, program director at the Pipeline Safety Trust, a watchdog group based in Bellingham, Washington.’So what can happen is that as rivers flood and scour their beds, or as stream channels migrate, a lot of sediment can get moved,’ Craven wrote in an email, ‘and pipelines can be exposed alongside rivers, or the forces of the water (or ice) can cause a failure of the pipeline.'”
- Explosions from unregulated pipelines can kill in Texas while energy companies go unpunished by Mike Lee and Mike Soraghan, E&E News (Mar 7, 2019) “‘The longer they stall, the longer they can put pipelines in the ground without worrying about construction standards and such,’ said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust.”
- How safe are Utah’s gas pipelines? One is at center of sickening smell investigation by Michael Locklear, KUTV (Feb 28, 2019) “’If I was buying a new house, I’d like to know if there’s one of these big pipelines nearby,’ said Carl Weimer, executive director of the watchdog nonprofit Pipeline Safety Trust.”
- Fire fuels concerns over Consumers’ natural gas system by Mike Martindale, The Detroit News (Feb 6, 2019) “’I think this same issue could happen in many areas, since natural gas is moved mainly through linear pipelines, so if anything happens along that line, such as a pipeline failure or a fire in a compressor station, supplies can be severely impacted,’ said Carl Weimer, the executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust in Bellingham, Washington.”