BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A Bellingham-based pipeline safety watchdog is getting a big federal grant to support its work.

Concerned citizens founded the Pipeline Safety Trust in Bellingham in the wake of the deadly 1999 Olympic Pipeline rupture, explosion and fire.

The Biden administration is awarding $1 million to the trust to continue its efforts to educate property owners and the public on pipeline safety and damage prevention.

Pipeline Safety Trust executive director Bill Caram spoke with KGMI on the 25th anniversary of the Bellingham tragedy earlier this year.

Caram says it was a watershed event in pipeline regulation.

“There were many fatal pipeline tragedies before Bellingham and there have been many since,” Caram said. “There was something about Bellingham that has really stuck with people and continues to influence how pipelines are regulated today.”

Other money from the total $41 million grant will go to Washington state to help formulate emergency response plans and train first responders.