GAIN Tele-Town Hall: Bayou Bridge Pipeline Safety

At the end of March GAIN held two tele-town halls to discuss the Bayou Bridge Pipeline project. Communities along the path of the pipeline were invited to join in the conversation with industry experts, ETP officials, and GAIN advisers.

During the informative session, we learned more about the safety of the project.

One of the expert speakers was Brigham McCown, who formerly headed up the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The federal agency is responsible for the safe and secure oversight of nearly 2 million shipments of energy products that happen every day in the U.S. by air, land, and sea, including nearly 2.6 million miles of pipeline.

Pipelines transport nearly 2/3 of all energy products, and the state of Louisiana already relies heavily on pipeline energy infrastructure. As Brigham had to say, of all methods available to transport products, he believes pipelines are the safest option.

“Because I was also responsible for shipments through truck, rail, and vessel I can say that these products will get to market and it’s our obligation to ensure that they get there the safest way possible and that in my opinion is by pipeline. There’s a reason that pipelines have been the preferred choice of transporting the lion’s share of our energy products and I think that’s because they are the safest and most ecologically sound way to do so.”

The United States relies heavily on hydrocarbon products. Throughout the country they are used to heat homes and power factories. Pipelines also deliver almost 100% of the gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel used each and every day. Brigham says we’re still going to be very dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come, and pipelines are the best way to make sure we do so while protecting the environment.

“When it comes to new pipelines opposing these new state of the art infrastructure projects does not help the environment, it actually undermines our environmental stewardship and simultaneously increase the cost we pay for this fuel.”

It is time for Louisiana to support this crucial infrastructure development.

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