GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES

摘要

Hearings in Washington State in March plus release of a Department of Transportation Inspector General report have given Sen. Patty Murray's (D-WA) pipeline safety bill (S. 2004) some momentum. The March 13 hearings were held in Bellingham, WA, scene of the 1999 Olympic Pipe Line hazardous liquid pipeline spill which killed three. Murray made it clear how near and dear pipeline reform is to her heart by telling the hearing that her twin sister is a teacher in Bellingham and worked one block from the site of the eruption. Murray said she has been visiting Senate colleagues and toting photographs of the Bellingham accident as a way of enlisting support. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA), a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over pipeline safety, was responsible for scheduling the hearing. He supports the Murray bill. So does Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HA), the top Democrat on the subcommittee with direct jurisdiction.