This episode of the Pipeliners Podcast celebrates the holiday season and reflects on the journey of the podcast since its inception in 2017. Host Russel Treat shares insights about the mission of the podcast—educating through conversation—and discusses the importance of the pipeliner’s role in maintaining critical infrastructure safely and responsibly.
Happy New Year Show Notes, Links, and Insider Terms
- Russel Treat is the CEO of EnerACT Energy Services, as well as the host of the Pipeliners Podcast and the founder of the Pipeline Podcast Network. Connect with Russel on LinkedIn.
- EnerACT Energy Services is a holding company of oil and gas technology and service companies. EnerSys Corporation is a frequent sponsor of the Pipeliners Podcast. Find out more about how EnerSys supports the pipeline control room through compliance, audit readiness, and control room management through the POEMS Control Room Management (CRM Suite) software suite.
- The Bellingham Pipeline Incident (Olympic Pipeline explosion) occurred on June 10, 1999, when a gas pipeline ruptured near Whatcom Creek in Bellingham, Wash., causing deaths and injuries. Three deaths included 18-year-old Liam Wood and 10-year-olds Stephen Tsiorvas and Wade King.
- The NTSB accident report attributed the cause of the rupture and subsequent fire to a lack of employee training, a faulty SCADA system, and damaged pipeline equipment. [Read the NTSB Pipeline Accident Report]
- Larry Shelton spoke on the importance of Integrity Management at the 2012 Pipeline Safety Trust Conference. [Video: Watch His Presentation]
- Listen to the Bellingham Incident Episode
- Register to Enter the Weekly Yeti Drawing
Happy New Year Full Episode Transcript
Russel Treat: Welcome to the “Pipeliners Podcast,” episode 369, sponsored by EnerSys Corporation, providers of POEMS, the Pipeline Operations Excellence Management System, operations and compliance software for the pipeline operator to address safety program management, control room management, and field operations. Find out more about POEMS at enersyscorp.com.
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Announcer: The Pipeliners Podcast, where professionals, bubba geeks, and industry insiders share their knowledge and experience about technology, projects, and pipeline operations.
Now your host, Russel Treat.
Russel: Thanks for listening to the Pipeliners Podcast. I appreciate you taking the time. To show that appreciation, we give away a customized YETI tumbler to one listener every episode.
This week, our winner is Ivan Riagusoff, with Rosen. Ivan, I hope I pronounced that last name correctly. I got to admit, I’m guessing a bit. Anyways, your YETI is on its way, Ivan. To learn how you can win this prize, stick around till the end of the episode.
This week, it’s just me. This episode is going to be kind of brief. Basically, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to the listeners and talk a little bit about the journey we’ve been on with this podcast.
I started the podcast in November of 2017. That was before COVID, before everybody was doing podcasts. Now, we’ve been doing seven years of weekly episodes. We’re rapidly approaching the 400 mark. We’ll be there before the end of next year.
I just want to thank those of you that have listened. More so, I really appreciate those of you that have left reviews and have also reached out to me through LinkedIn or reached out to me through the Pipeline Podcast Network website and given me ideas about topics or made comments about episodes you’ve listened to. It really does help me.
I very much appreciate when you, as a listener, spend a little extra effort and provide me some feedback. It helps me to get better. It also helps me to create more content and to fulfill the mission of this podcast.
I started the whole podcast with the idea of education through conversation. I think we’ve accomplished that. We’ve had many, many guests on, experts in multiple fields. We’ve talked about new technologies.
I am consistently hungry for new content and new people to talk to. For those of you that I talked to two or three or four years ago and you haven’t been on in a while, reach back out. We do this thing every week. I’m sure there’s more we could talk about.
A couple things. I want to talk a little bit about what it means to be a pipeliner. In particular, I want to talk about a gentleman by the name of Larry Shelton and his willingness to provide an episode sharing his personal experience with Bellingham. It’s an excellent episode.
It really helps me — and I’ve gotten this feedback from many others — connect to just how important being a pipeliner is, what it means to run critical infrastructure through neighborhoods and environmentally sensitive areas, which is what we do as pipeliners.
We do a pretty good job, but we’re not perfect. Certainly, one of the things that I try to do with this podcast is help people learn so we can all get better. Ultimately, people rely on us to get gas in their cars, to heat their homes, to live the life they live. They rely on us to do that in a way that it’s safe. We don’t damage property. We don’t hurt people. We don’t damage the environment.
That’s what it’s all about. That’s what it means to be a pipeliner, is to carry that responsibility with due care and diligence. That’s what we try to do here. Hopefully, that’s what we’re helping you do as a pipeliner.
One last thing before I leave. We give out a really nice YETI tumbler. It’s a 42-ounce YETI with a Pipeliners Podcast logo on it. We give that out every week. We’ve been doing that since inception. We’re going to continue. The only way you can get that really cool YETI is to go to the website, go and click on the win button, and put in a submission to win the YETI.
I’m going to do something special. This is a little bit of an Easter egg. The music that we use on the opening and closing of each episode is a song called “Pipeliner’s Blues.” It’s done by Johnny Bush, a great country artist, real popular in the ’60s. In the ’70s, I used to go to the dance halls and put holes in my boots dancing to his music.
What we’re going to do is, for the first 10 people that put in a “Win a YETI” form, we’re going to give you a free Johnny Bush CD that includes the Pipeliner’s Blues song. Register and win a YETI.
Just a reminder before you go as well. We are always looking for guests. We’re looking for ideas for the podcast. If you have something you’d like to learn about or somebody who you think would make an excellent guest, please let me know by going to the website, filling out the Contact Us form, or you can go and find me on LinkedIn. Just search for Russel Treat. I’ll pop right up.
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Russel: Connect with me through LinkedIn. Either way. Thanks for listening. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. I’ll talk to you next week.
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