Safe Shippers gather with fellow warriors to make a pod of hundreds as Salish Sea Stands against Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion and for Safe Shipping and for the orcas. We rallied on our islands on January 16 and again on the Capitol steps in Olympia on February 13 to let our legislators know that we are serious about protecting the Salish Sea — and we want them to be, too!

The Stand Up action we took in Olympia is in support of House Bill 1611, aka the Oil Transportation Safety Bill. This bill was introduced in January, passed through the House Environment Committee, and is now in the House Finance Committee.

We like this bill because it includes many Salish Sea safeguards we have been advocating:

• Ensuring the oil industry pays in the case of a spill or other disaster
• Updating the funding for prevention, preparedness and response to an oil spill
• Protecting the Salish Sea from increased oil barges and other vessels from the Kinder Morgan Pipeline
• Protecting against refineries turning into transshipment terminals

If you’d like to join in the action, please call or write to the chair of the House Finance Committee (our islands’ own Representative Kristine Lytton) to encourage her support of this bill:

(360) 786-7800;  Kristine.Lytton@leg.wa.gov

Keep tabs on the bill here: http://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1611&Year=2017