NTSB TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING ON 1999 GASOLINE PIPELINE RUPTURE

Washington, D.C. -The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public Board meeting to discuss the rupture and subsequent fire of a gasoline pipeline in Bellingham, Washington. The meeting will be held Tuesday, October 8, at 9:30 a.m., in its Board Room and Conference Center, 426 L’Enfant Plaza S.W., Washington, D.C.

On June 10, 1999, a 16-inch-diameter steel pipeline owned by Olympic Pipe Line Company ruptured and released about 237,000 gallons of gasoline into a creek that flowed through Whatcom Falls Park in Bellingham, Washington. About 90 minutes after the rupture, the gasoline ignited and burned approximately 1½ miles along the creek. Two 10-year-old boys and an 18-year-old man died as a result of the accident; eight additional injuries were documented. A single-family residence and the city of Bellingham’s water treatment plant were severely damaged.

Directions to Board Room: Front door located on Lower 10th Street, directly below L’Enfant Plaza. From Metro, exit L’Enfant Plaza station at 9th and D Streets escalator, walk through shopping mall, at CVS store take escalator down one level. Board Room will be to your left.