Experts on pipelines are coming to Nebraska in August to hold a training for county officials. The training is intended for county commissioners, zoning board members, county attorneys, emergency management staff and other interested local officials, but also will be open to the public.
We are proud to announce Carl Weimer with the Pipeline Safety Trust, pipeline consultant Paul Blackburn and legal expert Brian Jorde with the Domina Law Group are the trainers that will bring respected knowledge to help our county leaders know what they can and can not do when it comes to oil and tarsands pipelines. View the agenda here: https://boldnebraska.org/county-training
Since federal and state regulations often leave local communities without proper training and information on pipeline safety, it’s critical that we prepare ourselves and do everything we can to put every protection in place. But this won’t happen unless the relevant officials attend this crucial training.
We need your help in reaching out to your local elected officials to attend the pipeline training. These folks will be more inclined to come if they are encouraged to attend by concerned citizens like you. We’ve created a sample email and script to use if you call these officials, but also encourage you to add your own concerns about the pipeline and personal reasons why officials should attend the training.
PRESENTERS:
Carl Weimer, Pipeline Safety Trust
Carl Weimer is the Executive Director ofthe national Pipeline Safety Trust. He also serves on the Governor appointed Washington State Citizens Committee on Pipeline Safety, as a member ofthe U.S. Department of Transportation’s Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, and the steering committee for the Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance. Mr. Weimer hastestified to both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on pipeline safety issues, organized four national pipeline safety conferences, pushed for stronger pipeline safety legislation on the national and state level, runsthe national Safe Pipelines and LNG Safety listservesthat include over 700 people from around the country, and regularly serves as an independent source of pipeline safety information for news media, local government, and citizens around the country. Mr. Weimer wasre-elected in 2009 to his second four-year term on the Whatcom County Council. He has a degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Education from the University of Michigan, as well a degree in Industrial Electronics Technology from Peninsula College.
Paul Blackburn, pipeline consultant
Paul Blackburn has worked in energy and environmental law and policy for twenty-five years. Currently, he is based in Minneapolis and provides legal and consulting services on electric utility, pipeline, and mining matters. He is the only attorney to represent landowner clients through a complete formal evidentiary hearing on the Keystone XL Pipeline. He also has authored a number of detailed technical and policy reports on pipeline safety and spill cleanup preparedness. Paul started his legal career in Washington, DC, where he worked for the law firm of Van Ness Feldman, which specialized in energy law in such areas as:
- clean coal project development, financing, and contracting;
- financing and regulatory work related to solar and small hydro project;
- development of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990; and
- a variety of litigation matters related to offshore oil exploration in the arctic ocean, federal constitutional takings, and Native American self-determination and business litigation.
After leaving private practice, Paul worked for a number of national and state-based non-profit organizations. He also has experience working in community wind energy development, both as a senior policy analyst for Windustry and as the Executive Director of the Community-Based Energy Development Initiative. Paul’s broad legal, policy, technical and campaign experience in both the nonprofit and for profit sectors provide him with a unique perspective on energy and environmental matters.
Brian Jorde, attorney, Domina Law Group
Brian E. Jorde brings extensive business experience in real estate development, and personal entrepreneurship, to Domina Law Group. Mr. Jorde is active in the firm’s Michigan and Nebraska practices. Mr. Jorde was raised in Wayne and Omaha, NE. His undergraduate degree in Philosophy is from Vanderbilt University, and his law school education was at the Thomas M Cooley College of Law, Lansing, MI. He worked for several years in complex commercial real estate areas. His work included notable projects, including negotiations for sale of property now used at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock AR. Other major projects included acquisitions complimentary to the Ambassador Bridge, providing the official NAFTA connection between the U S and Canada. He is also involved in environmental issues affecting real estate, and successfully completed a rare orphan oil well clean up project in Michigan without costs to his clients. Mr. Jorde also worked for nearly two (2) years in logistics and transportation with a major trucking firm. He negotiated contracts, and arranged transport for truckload, and less than truckload (LTL) cargo movements from Canada to Mexico and all across the United States. He spent a year in the real estate business in Western Australia, too. Mr. Jorde’s pre-law school work also included time with Domina Law Group pc llo as a paraprofessional working in the trial practice section. He provided courtroom support for a jury case lasting more than three (3) months in Oakland County, MI, and several other cases of significant complexity. Jorde was present in Court when David Domina presented closing argument to a federal jury that returned a $1.3 billion verdict for the firm’s clients.
