April 16 - 22, 2015
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Semiahmoo Bay Regatta returns, page 3
NTSB calls for better fire protection in oil trains The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for increased safety enhancements to reduce the dangers of fires in oil transport train cars. On April 6, the NTSB issued four urgent recommendations to the national Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), calling for more “robust and fire-resistant” transports for cars carrying flammable or caustic materials, such as crude oil or ethanol. The board is calling for an aggressive schedule to retrofit existing rail cars with better thermal protection and improved pressure relief devices. The NTSB found that the current fleet of DOT-111 rail cars, which are most commonly used to transport crude oil, rupture too easily when exposed to fire. The new CPC-1232, which is a retrofitted DOT-111 with a thicker shell, was also found to have unsatisfactory fire safety measures, according to the NTSB. The board’s recommendations were the end result of an investigation into a train derailment in Mount Carbon, West Virginia on February 16. A 109-car CSX Corp transport train carrying over three million gallons of crude oil derailed and exploded, burning down a house and spurring the evacuation of two nearby towns. Three other accidents this year, two in Gogoma, Ontario and one in Galena, Illinois, have added urgency to the need for increased safety measures. In 2013, a runaway oil train derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killing 47 people and destroying half the downtown. “We can’t wait a decade for safer rail cars,” said NTSB chairman Christopher Hart. “Crude oil rail traffic is increasing exponentially. The industry needs to make this issue a priority and expedite the safety enhancements, otherwise we continue to put our communities at risk.” The NTSB is recommending all DOT-111 transport cars be replaced or updated to include thermal protection systems, such as ceramic thermal blankets and increased capacity pressure release valves. Under current regulations, neither the DOT-111s nor (See NTSB, page 2)
Protect your pets from fleas this summer, page 8
Border guard killed in 1936 honored, page 15
Gliding over Semiahmoo
s A paraglider takes flight over Semiahmoo Bay in his powered rig. See more photos on page 10, and visit thenorthernlight.com to see a video of the power paraglider in action.
When Tom and Janet Boyhan decided to ride the Tour de Whatcom, a 105-mile community bike ride around the county, they sent letters to their friends seeking donations to the Helping Hand grant program. The program is run by the Whatcom County Parks and Recreation Foundation (WCPRF) and funds parks and recreation projects in Whatcom County. Nearly everyone responded to the request, raising a total of $2,600.
Photo by Ruth Lauman
Parks district gives $30k to keep pavilion project afloat By Ian Ferguson In an emergency action, Blaine Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 (BBBPRD2) commissioners agreed to give $30,000 to keep the dream of an enclosed recreation pavilion at the Blaine Community Center alive. The pavilion is a longstanding project of the Boys & Girls Club of Whatcom County, the Whatcom Community Foundation, the city of Blaine and other community stakeholders who envision a recreation building on the land next to the Blaine Senior Center on H Street. The building would add programming space for the Blaine Boys
& Girls Club and be available for other recreational uses. The $30,000 commitment from the park district came at their monthly meeting April 14 when pavilion stakeholders submitted a last-minute plea for the funds. They said if they did not raise the money by this Friday, April 17, stakeholders would lose a crucial partnership with a foundation that has given $90,000 to the project and agreed to take a lead role in organizing its construction. Last summer, professional basketball player and Blaine native Luke Ridnour gave $60,000 to the project and connected its stakeholders to the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, which specializes in build-
Whatcom couple offer grants for parks projects By Ian Ferguson
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
The money is now available in the form of grants of up to $1,000 for organizations working on recreation, parks and trail projects in Whatcom County. According to a press release, grant-eligible projects “should make a positive improvement to a park, trail or recreational opportunity and provide for community member involvement as volunteers. Projects could provide elements our cities and county parks departments might not be able to prioritize in their budgets.” The Boyhans live near Everson, but the
grants can be used anywhere in Whatcom County. Janet Boyhan said the Birch Bay and Blaine communities have numerous planned and ongoing projects that would make excellent candidates for a grant. “There are so many great parks and trail projects going on in Blaine and Birch Bay, and we’d love to support recreation in that area,” she said. “We ride our bikes there all the time.” Boyhan is on the WCPRF board, and (See Grants, page 2)
ing recreational facilities for under-served youth across the country. The pavilion is a smaller project than the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation is used to building (they typically build baseball parks), so the contract stipulated that the construction timeline had to coincide with another project the foundation is building in Washington. The contract also stipulated that a certain percentage of the project’s total budget had to be in hand before breaking ground. At the time of the April 14 meeting, project supporters had raised $444,051, 72 percent of the project’s total budget of (See Pavilion, page 3)
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Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Coming Up . . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14