For Immediate Release
Contact: Carl Weimer (360) 543-5686
Pipeline Safety Advocates From Across the Nation Gather
From January 21-23 pipeline safety advocates from across the nation will gather in Bellingham Washington for a summit to discuss what actions are still needed to enhance pipeline safety, and to formulate an agenda for moving those actions forward. The summit, Beyond Talk – Making Pipeline Safety Happen, is being hosted by the Pipeline Safety Trust, and will include representatives from nine states and two countries.
The Pipeline Safety Trust’s executive director Carl Weimer explained, “As the Pipeline Safety Trust moves into its second year of operation we thought it was important to gather with other citizens who have been affected by pipelines to ensure that our initiatives, partnerships, and focus aligns well with what other independent pipeline safety advocates believe needs to be done.”
The group gathering will include diverse backgrounds and pipeline interests, who will help provide an energetic and well-rounded discussion to all pipeline safety issues. Weimer explains “To name just a few, there will be a County Commissioner from Florida who used to be a presidential speech writer, a resident from Missouri who has four large pipelines in her backyard, a mother who lost her son to a pipeline explosion, two engineers, four attorneys, four members of federal pipeline safety standard committees, and a rancher who has been battling for pipeline safety in the courts for years.”
Major issues to be covered at the summit include:
- Land use issues around pipelines such as zoning, setbacks, right-of-way maintenance, property owner notification, etc.
- What pipeline information a community should have access to
- What regulations, legislation, and rules need to be changed to improve pipeline safety
- How to include more people in discussions of pipeline safety issues
Participants of the summit will be available for interviews in the afternoon of the 23rd, and a written statement from the group may be available the following week upon request.
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The Pipeline Safety Trust promotes fuel transportation safety through education and advocacy, by increasing access to information, and by building partnerships with residents, safety advocates, government, and industry, that result in safer communities and a healthier environment. The Pipeline Safety Trust came into being based on the efforts and recommendations of Bellingham citizens and the families of Liam Wood and Stephen Tsiorvas who were killed in the 1999 Olympic Pipeline explosion.