Western Front - 1999 July 8

              THURSDAY, July 8,1999
The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 109 Issue 3 Bellingham, Washington
Town meeting discusses pipeline explosion damage
By Jaime Martin
THE WESTERN FRONT
An environmental update of
the Whatcom Creek burned area
was provided, as well as detailed
information explaining the differ­ences
between the pipeline fire
and a wildfire at the Alabama
Hill town meeting at 7:30 pm
Tuesday.
The park is not in as much
environmental danger as first
was thought, said Clare
Fogelsong of the Bellingham
Public Works Department.
Erosion will not be as big of a
problem as thought, Fogelsong
said. After consulting with
experts, they realized the burnt
gorge is rocky and full of tree
roots holding the soil in place.
Because the soil is showing sta­bility
on its own, the ground will
not be spread with straw or
hydro-seeded, both common prac­tices
in preventing soil erosion
following a fire. Fogelsong urged
citizens to stay out of the area
~ See MEETING, page 3
Downtown jolted by G-P blast
By Matt Anderson
THE WESTERN FRONT
Explosions at the Georgia-
Pacific plant rocked downtown
Bellingham at approximately
1:30 p.m Friday.
The first of two blasts was only
heard near the facility but the
second was felt as far away as
Viking Union, said Andrew Cull,
an employee at the Outdoor
Center.
The second, more powerful
blast caused storefront damage
to several businesses on Holly
Street.
Three hundred and fifty G-P
employees were in the mill at the
time of the blasts, five of whom
were working in the vicinity of
the explosion, said Orman
Darby, pubic relations director
for G-P.
An overheated air compressor
caused the explosions, Darby
said.
"A cooling water pipe was sup­posed
to be flowing and it was
not on," Darby said. "That was
an integral part of the overheat­ing.
We're getting rid of all of (the
compressors) — dismantling and
removing all of them from our
facility and never running them
again. This (accident) causes us
to re-double our efforts in process
safety management. We were
very lucky that no one was
injured."
A minor amount of environ­mental
impact resulted from
Friday's blasts, he said. An
organic by-product material
called lignin overflowed a reser­voir
and spilled into Whatcom
waterway. Lignin is waste mate-
Matt Anderson/The Western Front
Friday's blasts at G-P ripped an enormous hole through the wall of a steam plant located
just west of West Laurel and Chestnut streets.
rial produced when trees are
boiled in water. The amount-of
lignin spilled would only con­tribute
to short-term growth in
the number of micro-organisms
present in the waterway, Darby
said.
This is the first explosion of its
type to occur at the mill, Darby
said.
"The steam plant contains
water and sawdust," he added.
"We have no chemical activities
or processes or manufacture in
the vicinity of the steam plant."
Friday's explosions marked
the third industrial disaster to
strike Whatcom County in 22
days. On June 10, three lives
were lost and one-and-one-half
miles of creek were destroyed by
a devastating gasoline fire in
Whatcom Creek. Last Sunday,
an estimated 1,000 gallons of
Alaskan crude oil were dumped
into the Strait of Georgia as an
ARCO tanker broke away from
the Tosco refinery dock near
Ferndale while it was unloading.
Bellingham resident Ken
Speer, who owns a gift shop
called Speerit Works located
directly across Chestnut Street
from G-P, was in his shop at the
time of the blast.
"This thing made me feel
frightened and vulnerable," he
said.
Speer said he believes hasty
development of industrial sites
like G-P coupled with a need for
See G-P, page 3
Asbestos removal in progress
By Jennifer Sutton
THE WESTERN FRONT
"Asbestos is a concern only if
there is a possibility of release,"
Director of Environmental
Health and Safety Gayle Shipley
said.
Western is removing asbestos
from .several stacks in Birnam
Wood.
Birnam Wood's ceilings have a
popcorn look because of the
asbestos. The ceilings can send
asbestos airborne when dis­turbed.
Residents are warned
that tacking up posters, hanging
plants and stacking bunk beds
increases the risk of exposure by
a small percentage.
"Knowing that it's there is kind
of frightening," said Mary Jo
Fairburn, previous Birnam Wood
resident.
The excavation in Birnam
Wood began June 14 and will end
the first week of August. An esti­mation
of the total amount spent
on two Birnam Wood buildings
is $400,000.
Removed asbestos is tagged
and taken to one of three certi­fied
landfills in the Northwest.
As part of a nationwide stan­dard
practice, Western conducted
an abatement survey in 1991.
Many residence halls, such as
Birnam Wood, have soft, easily
crumbled material containing
asbestos.
"Asbestos was a widely used
product for a number of years
and most of Western's buildings
were built between the 1950s to
mid-1970s," said Willy Hart,
associate director of University
Residences.
See ASBESTOS, page 3
Dan Petersfthe Western Front
Matt Brewer wears a respira­tor
in preparation to remove
Birnam Wood's asbestos.
Oil splashes
Ferndale
By Alex P. Hennesy
THE WESTERN FRONT
Cleanup efforts have ended at
the site of an 800 - to 1,000-gal-lon
oil spill near Ferndale.
The spill occurred at about 1
p.m., June 27 when a single-hull
tanker, the ARCO Texas, was
unloading its 620,000-barrel
payload. The ship was docked at
the Tosco pier just south of
Cherry Point that it began to
swing free of its moorings, dam­aging
the two metal arms which
were transporting the oil off the
vessel. One of the metal arms
was completely severed and
sank into the water near the
pier, leaking the majority of the
See SPILL, page 3
Citizens
question
new pipeline
By Jaime Martin
THE WESTERN FRONT
Frank King, father of 10-year-old
Wade King who died as a
result of burns from the Olympic
Pipeline explosion, spoke
Tuesday night at the town hall
meeting at the Alabama Street
Baptist Church to review the
ecological situation, the city's
cleanup efforts and discuss
Olympic's proposal to rebuild
the pipeline.
"The environment will come
back," King said after hearing
from City Arborist James Luce
and Clare Fogelsong • of
Bellingham Public Works
Department. _ : _-; .. .,
King spoke as a father who
"had lost a son.
"He was so badly burned that
he had no skin above his ankles
and he still managed to walk out
of the park,". King said.
In his short statement, King
said he is not anti-pipeline
because society is dependent on
fuel. Olympic's proposal, howev­er,
offended King, he said.
"They will not tell us what
happened," King said. "They do
not want to tell us what hap­pened.
How do we know it will
not happen again if we do not
know what happened to begin
See CITIZEN, page '3
IN THIS ISSUE
Boards fly in
competition
Local teens
and adults
competed in a
skateboard
competition,
co-sponsored
by Alliance
S k a t e b o a rd
Shop and the City of
Bellingham.
See story page 4.
Western joins j
Hoopfest j
Western students make
impressive showings at
Spokane's world-class bas­ketball
tournament.
See story page 8.
FROM OM IM