Bellingham says "Never again"

HEALING SMILES: Peggy Lohse (left) shares a laugh with longtime friend Mary King at Bellingham City Hall on Thursday afternoon. King, whose son died in the 1999 Whatcom Falls Park disaster, said support from the community helped bring joy back into her life. PETE KENDALL HERALD PHOTO

Ericka Pizzillo
The Bellingham Herald

Officials praised Bellingham residents Thursday for being the catalyst for better oversight of the nation's pipelines in the aftermath of the Olympic pipeline explosion five years ago.

"Your involvement makes it far less likely that this event will ever be repeated," said Alan Rathburn, pipeline safety director at the state Utilities and Transportation Commission.

Rathburn and others came to Bellingham City Hall for a public remembrance of the deadly June 10, 1999, disaster when the underground line operated by Olympic Pipe Line Co. ruptured in Whatcom Falls Park, spilling 237,000 gallons of gasoline.

The rupture and resulting explosion killed Wade King and Stephen Tsiorvas, both 10, and Liam Wood, 18, and charred 1Þ miles along Whatcom Creek.

After the explosion, people simply could have trusted Olympic and the federal government to make repairs and restart the line, said Carl Weimer, director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a Bellingham-based group created to lobby for pipeline safety across the country. But the community and the families of the three victims didn't sit back.

"We said 'no,' " Weimer said.

People demanded to know not only why the line burst, but how similar disasters could be prevented in other parts of the country, Weimer said. As a result of the public pressure, a 37-mile section of Olympic's pipeline was closed for inspections and repairs for 1Þ years, longer than any other pipeline in the country after a rupture.

Communities throughout the country, including many in Washington, are now aware of the pipeline companies that operate around them, Weimer said.

And changes in federal laws have increased public safety, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. said at the event.

"Children in every corner of America are safer today because this community stood up and said 'We can't ever let this happen again,'" she said.

Murray sponsored federal legislation that increased inspections, required new safety plans for pipelines and raised penalties for safety violations and fuel spills. After three years of effort, the bill was signed into law in December 2002.

Murray said the new law and other federal changes have improved safety several ways, including:

• Pipeline inspections are tougher and more frequent. Before the new law, one federal employee would spend about 20 hours inspecting a single pipeline. Now, six inspectors spend about 240 hours on each line.

• Pipeline defects are being repaired at twice the rate as before the law.

• Fewer pipeline incidents, including spills, are occurring. The average number of incidents for every one million miles of pipeline has dropped from 12 to seven since the new law.

The Bellingham disaster emphasized how laws and the federal government failed to protect the public, said Chris Hoidal, western regional director for the federal Office of Pipeline Safety.

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about what happened on June 10, 1999," he said.

Mary King, whose son Wade died in the disaster, said the people of Bellingham helped her through the five longest years of her life.

"There isn't a day that someone doesn't smile at me," she said. "It lets me know we're all in this together."

Although King said people often see her crying at events connected to the disaster, she wanted to let people know that "I do have joy again. I thank all of you for giving me my joy back."

Murray said her sister, Peggy Zehnder, a teacher at Kulshan Middle School, recently asked her eighth-grade class to write about their remembrances. Many noted the day the pipeline exploded.

"For me, this five-year anniversary is a reminder of a very dark day for our state, a day of pain and a day that we must never forget," Murray said. "And it's also a reminder that we can't just assume someone else is taking care of things."

PIPELINE TRUST

The Bellingham pipeline memorial event was sponsored by the Pipeline Safety Trust, created by the families of pipeline explosion victims Liam Wood and Stephen Tsiorvas to increase awareness and safety on pipelines throughout the country. The trust was created with $4 million in criminal fines paid by Shell Oil Co. last year in connection with the 1999 Bellingham disaster. To reach the trust, call 676-4600.

Reach Ericka Pizzillo at ericka.pizzillo@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2266.