Another chapter closes in Bellingham’s deadly Whatcom Falls Park pipeline disaster
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Bellingham pipeline explosion
The June 10, 1999, Olympic pipeline explosion killed three people in Whatcom Falls Park. The tragedy scarred Bellingham, but increased pipeline safety nationwide. Here’s a look back at The Bellingham Herald’s coverage.
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Bellingham City Council members closed the Olympic Pipeline Incident Fund, one of several established in the wake of the deadly June 1999 explosion and fire in Whatcom Falls Park.
It ended without ceremony or comment on a unanimous council vote Monday, Dec. 7, except to note that all funds have been spent on Whatcom Creek restoration and monitoring.
A total of five funds were created with settlement money related to the disaster, said Forrest Longman, deputy budget director.
“After closing this fund, only one will remain, the Natural Resource Protection and Restoration Fund which is an endowment fund seeded with $4 million,” Longman said. “The interest revenue from that fund is used for restoration projects (not limited to the Whatcom Creek area).”
Bellingham received $835,073 in the now-closed fund for park recovery efforts as part of a 2005 bankruptcy settlement from Olympic Pipe Line Co. The company’s 16-inch fuel pipeline ruptured and spilled more than 200,000 gallons of gasoline into Hannah and Whatcom creeks on June 10, 1999.
When the fuel ignited in a massive explosion, a fireball incinerated 1. 5 miles of the creek and damaged 26 acres of the park.
An 18-year-old fisherman drowned after he was overcome by fumes and two 10-year-old boys were fatally burned.
Some 100,000 fish died and 3,000 other animals were killed, according to earlier Bellingham Herald reporting.
Property damages totaled $58.4 million and settlements topped $187 million.
