U.S. may limit pipeline data
Bellingham Herald
2 January 2003


HOMELAND SECURITY: Fear of terrorism may restrict access to fuel-line routes, other information.

A federal agency is developing ways to inform the public about fuel pipelines at the same time that government and industry concerns about terrorism could limit the flow of information.

Information that could be shielded from public view includes detailed maps of pipeline routes, the location of pipeline dents and gouges, and places where a spill could cause the most damage.

Most of the information people want has nothing to do with national security, Carl Weimer, executive director of pipeline safety organization SAFE Bellingham, said at a meeting on the topic Thursday in Bellevue. A lack of pipeline information will haunt some of those terrified by the black mushroom cloud and fiery explosion that shook Bellingham on June 10, 1999, he said.

Some people in Bellingham now see two kinds of terrorists in the world, he said: Terrorists from other countries, and "terrorists who don't pay much attention to their pipelines."

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