News from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s Pipeline Safety Department will present seminars on natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline safety at the Doubletree Downtown Hotel in Tulsa May 3-7.

The presentations and panel discussions are designed to help operators of pipeline systems understand federal Department of Transportation safety regulations and compliance requirements.

The natural gas seminar will be on Monday and Tuesday, May 3-4, and the hazardous liquid seminar will be on Thursday and Friday, May 6-7. A day-long session on pipeline accident investigations on Wednesday, May 5, is a part of both seminars. The cost for each seminar is $100 in advance or $125 at the door.

Transportation Safety Institute (TSI) officials will make the primary seminar presentations.

DeWitt Burdeaux will conduct the gas pipeline seminar. He joined TSI as a pipeline safety specialist in 1994 after working five years as a pipeline specialist with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. From 1978 to 1989 he worked in pipeline operations for the Trans Louisiana Gas Co.

Thomas M. Lael will present the hazardous liquid pipeline seminar. Before joining the Transportation Safety Institute in 1993, Lael worked with the California fire marshal’s office and was a pipeline safety engineer for the Illinois Commerce Commission for 14 years.

Sammy Russo, an independent consultant, will conduct the accident investigation session. He conducts risk management audits for pipeline operators and provides TSI accident investigation training for federal and state pipeline safety inspectors.

Registration forms and additional information about the seminars are available from the Corporation Commission’s Pipeline Safety Department at (405) 521-2258.

-occ-