Hero 2020 Carl Weimer: The Right Man at the Right Time in the Right Place

The Healthy Kids Hero Award

Every year, to mark the anniversary of the March 18, 1937 Texas School Explosion, I salute someone who demonstrates an extraordinary sense of responsibility and commitment to the safety of children and their communities. 

The Healthy Kids Hero Award is an annual opportunity to remember the 1937 TX tragedy and to inspire others to take leadership for public safety, especially where gas pipelines, compressor stations, and other hazardous fossil fuel projects contaminate air and drinking water and put schools, families, and whole communities at risk for deadly explosions and fires. (Heroes 2004 - 2019)

Carl Weimer, Executive Director of the Pipeline Safety Trust (PST), is the 2020 Hero.

Over his long career Weimer has earned multiple awards from colleagues, community leaders, government officials, and other admirers including the 2015 White House for being the most effective advocate for improving the safety of nation’s vast network of gas and oil pipelines.

Courage, Credibility, Community

As important as all his accolades are, Weimer deserves the highest recognition and gratitude of the public and local governments for legitimizing the role of communities in the regulatory process. And, in his role as public interest watchdog, he achieves a high level of trust and credibility as he continuously champions a high standard for transparency in the pipeline industry and the regulatory agencies.

One reason for Weimer’s effectiveness is his remarkable ability to humanize the deadly consequences of the pipeline industry’s ugly history, especially its repeated incidents of criminal negligence and poor management. He firmly believes that citizens should be able to trust that their government is pro-actively working to prevent pipeline hazards.

Read the full article...

Every Town Needs A Squeaky Leak Project

Healthy Kids Hero 2017 Audrey Schulman, Cambridge MA

For Release February 2, 2017

Contact: Ellie Goldberg, ellie.goldberg@healthy-kids.info
Blog: ​LESSONS OF THE 1937 TX SCHOOL EXPLOSION​ 

Every year, to mark the anniversary of the March 18, 1937 Texas School Explosion, I salute a hero for inspirational leadership and a commitment to the safety of children and their communities.

The Hero Award was created as an annual opportunity to remember the 1937 tragedy — a gas explosion that killed more than 300 people, mostly students, in their new state-of-the-art public school where no expense had been spared except when it came to safety.

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One lesson the 1937 tragedy is that a safe quality environment depends on champions with an extraordinary sense of responsibility. We can't take it for granted that elected officials make community safety or health a priority.

Audrey Schulman is the 2017 Hero because of her strategic advocacy and creative leadership confronting the threat of Climate Change. She is raising awareness of methane leaks from old pipelines, engaging ever widening circles of allies and partners, and achieving major advances in utility company cooperation and infrastructure best practices.

“​The federal government won’t take action 

on a clean energy future, but we can.“

​Creating a Culture of Responsibility. 

Schulman is a master at connecting the dots from data to public policy. Policy makers, advocates and utility companies who share her sense of urgency about reducing methane emissions rely on Schulman for accurate data, beautifully designed resources, and trusted relationships.

“Audrey took the results from our 2013 Boston gas study to the next level by meticulously mapping leaks from hard-to-access records in over 200 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. Along the way she has engaged and activated communities to create a groundswell of public support to save ratepayer money, our urban trees, air quality and our climate. Audrey is a hero for all these reasons but most of all for our children's health and their future.” — Boston University Professor Nathan Phillips. 

"Audrey Schulman has diligently worked to reduce energy bills in houses of worship, plug holes in leaking gas lines and make our state's government work better. She's incredibly thorough, creative, persistent and a great contributor to the environmental movement.” — Joel Wool, Advocate for Energy and Environment at Clean Water Action/MA

​... Schulman's efforts will have implications for the efficient and quality management of gas pipelines nationwide and for shaping legislation for regulating utilities. The results will save municipalities, utilities and ratepayers the huge cost of lost gas, avoid disruptive and duplicative road work, lower the health and life-threatening safety risks of neighborhood gas leaks, and reduce the threat of climate change.

Read full ​story: Every Town Needs A Squeaky Leak Project

Contact: Ellie Goldberg, ellie.goldberg@healthy-kids.info

​Blog: ​LESSONS OF THE 1937 TX SCHOOL EXPLOSION​

Heroes 2004 - 2016  |  Who Is Your 2018 Hero?

Early Warnings, Late Lessons 

One lesson of the 1937 School Explosion story is that we can’t take it for granted that local officials and elected representatives make community safety or health a priority.

Lessons Lost, Cutting Costs. 
Flint, Michigan 2016

The poisoning of Flint’s water supply is another sad illustration of what happens when cutting costs comes before protecting the public. 

To save money, the Governor's appointed city manager switched the public water supply to the long-polluted Flint River rather than from Detroit’s system. But the river’s water was high in salt, which helped corrode Flint’s aging pipes, leaching high amounts of lead into the water supply. Months of a poisoned water supply has caused serious acute, ongoing and long term damage to the residents, especially brain damage to the lead poisoned children. 

To make matters worse, officials knew that the water was bad but there was denial and dismissal of residents concerns for over a year. More:  What Did the Governor Know About Flint's Water, and When Did He Know It? The Atlantic, January 9, 2016
  
Bad Decisions, Broken Promises: A Timeline of the Flint Water Crisis
ABC News, Timeline of the Water Crisis

Failures to follow law caused Flint water crisis by Nicholas Schroeck, Great Lakes Echo

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Lessons Lost, Cutting Costs.  
New London TX 1937

March 18, 1937, a gas explosion killed more than 300 students, teachers and visitors while they were in the supposed safe haven of a new state-of-the-art public school. 

To save money the school board substituted a gas system for the steam system. They had ignored the architects' warnings that the building had not been designed to vent gas fumes. Then, the school board decided to hook-up to a free residue gas line while school and oil company officials agreed to look the other way.

An inquiry into the disaster reported other design, building and operations problems and unheeded warnings. Even though the gas had no odor, there were reports that students had headaches and burning eyes from gas fumes in their classrooms. One account describes students sitting in a classroom with jackets on and windows open to vent the fumes.

On March 18, thirteen minutes before school dismissal, a shop teacher flipped a switch to turn on a power sander and a spark set off a gas explosion.

Following the disaster, a law was passed required an odor in natural gas. Other recommended school safety measures have yet to be implemented in most communities.

Read more: The Unfinished Legacy: What was the 1937 Texas School Explosion?

Nominate your 2016 Hero

Attention:  Science educators, STEM advocates, professionals in a public health, school health, environmental health, facilities management, IAQ, IPM, health and safety, lab safety, school security, emergency and risk management, asthma educators, first responders, school administrators, nurses, advocates, parents and students.


Do you know someone whose sense of responsibility, inspirational leadership, and exemplary persistence and courage protects children from school hazards and unhealthy school conditions?

Send your hero's story, name, and email/phone # by January 10 to ellie.goldberg@healthy-kids.info
 
The annual Healthy Kids Hero Award was created as an annual opportunity to tell the story of the 1937 Texas School Explosion and to inspire leadership to protect children from chemical hazards and unhealthy conditions in today's schools.

Read more: Who Is Your 2016 Hero? 
Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion
Heroes 2004 - 2015

Set aside a special day  

...let us suggest the legislature of Texas set aside a special day each year to be observed as a memorial day on which tribute will be paid to the children and teachers who died in this catastrophe...and to make laws of safety... Our daddies and mothers, as well as the teachers, want to know that when we leave our homes in the morning to go to school, that we will come out safe when our lessons are over.“ Read the complete speech by Carolyn Jones Frei, March 25, 1937 to the Texas Legislature after the 1937 March 18 Texas School Explosion.

Let’s make March 18 an annual day to Bring the Lessons of 1937 to Your School.  Tell the story of the 1937 TX School Explosion, study its lessons, and celebrate the leadership and partnerships that can save lives. Update your school's values and technical skills to live safely with 21st century chemicals and technology. Read about inspiring heroes at http://tinyurl.com/HealthyKidsHeroes2015.  

As a result of the New London tragedy, the 45th TX Legislature enacted House Bill 1017 which amended Article 6053, Texas Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, giving the Railroad Commission the authority to adopt rules and regulations pertaining to the odorization of natural gas or liquefied petroleum gases. On July 27, 1937, Gas Utilities Docket 122 was adopted and the Commission began enforcement of odorization requirements for natural gas.

"My sister Helen Jones, an honor student and member of the high school champion debate team, was not so fortunate. She and my uncle, Paul Grier, a senior who planned to study medicine, were both taken from us in this awful explosion that killed so many of the future generation of East Texas."-- Carolyn Jones Frei, 1937