There’s little joy to be taken in an indictment of companies and individuals for the 1999 Bellingham pipeline blast that killed three young people.
The criminal action may well be appropriate, since investigators apparently believe that the accident could have been prevented with minimally responsible conduct on the part of two companies and their employees. The indictment names Olympic Pipe Line Co., Equilon Pipeline Co. and three of their officers or employees.
The indictment is the first under the federal Pipeline Safety Act, indicating that criminal action is certainly not the preferred or normal way to protect public safety. The indictment may have real value if it motivates pipeline company employees to operate more responsibly. A jury, however, is the only group with the right to make a judgment on whether there were criminal acts by the companies or any of the workers.
Let’s also be clear that most people in work places everywhere do their jobs with dedication. And criminalizing routine mistakes or misjudgments would not be an appropriate policy, even if it were to serve as a way for society to focus anger over accidents.
Whatever the ultimate legal judgments in this case, court action must not be the main way that society addresses the pipeline safety concerns raised by the Bellingham tragedy. The real focus for change must remain with the federal government. Part of the potential for improvement lies with the federal Office of Pipeline Safety, which has improved its operations and moved to strengthen some regulations.
But the larger opportunity for reform continues to lie with Congress. The Senate has acted, but the House of Representatives continues to be stalled, more than two years after the accident. An excellent bipartisan bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Jennifer Dunn of Bellevue and Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen of Lake Stevens, ought to be moved to a floor vote.
BP Pipelines, the new operators of the Olympic line, has provided a fine example of how most companies and workers care deeply about safety. But the industry’s overall record has not been good. Congress must impose new rules for operator training and requires regular pipeline inspections, as the Dunn-Larsen bill would do. In the long run, strong rules and consistent enforcement will do much more for pipeline safety than any prosecutions.
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