The Trust as a Facilitator of Partnerships
BY GREG WINTER
A core component of the Pipeline Safety Trust's mission is to build "partnerships with residents, safety advocates, government, and industry." To begin exploring partnership opportunities, the Trust hired Cornerstone Strategies to survey representatives of diverse stakeholder organizations, engaging them in a discussion of pipeline safety goals and objectives.

Partnerships work best when organizations understand and respect each other's responsibilities, and when each has something unique to bring to the process. For these reasons, respondents were asked to describe their organizations' roles and responsibilities as well as their strengths and weaknesses in terms of what they had "done well" to increase pipeline safety, and what they "could do better." Keep in mind that these 20 individuals (8 activists, 7 regulators, and 5 industry reps.) may not be representative of their respective stakeholder groups.

Analysis of respondents' self-assessed strengths and weaknesses reveals several potential opportunities for collaboration between stakeholder groups to increase pipeline safety.

First, regulators are concerned about their ability to attract or sustain public attention to pipeline safety issues, and industry considers itself weak in the area of public education. But activists believe these to be among their strengths. As a network builder and credible source of information the Trust is eager to help regulators and operators disseminate key educational messages to initiate and sustain public interest in pipeline safety.

Second, activists believe they have not done enough to engage other stakeholder groups, especially industry, in policy discussions. Regulators, however, see this as one of their strengths. Increased participation by activists in multi-stakeholder forums convened by regulators is one way for activists to improve on this record. The Trust can help to recruit activist participants in multi-stakeholder forums, thereby contributing to better understanding of each group's pipeline safety perspectives, constraints and opportunities.

Third, activists are proud of their ability to research pipeline safety issues and analyze data from a unique perspective. Industry representatives also believe they have done a good job of research and data analysis. They admit that much more needs to be done in the area of pipeline safety performance data as it relates to the integrity management. Ideally, operators and activists would work together to understand the best ways to analyze and present safety performance findings. The Trust has the resources to retain the necessary expert assistance to participate in these discussions. This could help all stakeholders understand the issues from its unique perspective as a trusted, independent advocate for public safety.

Fourth, regulators at the state and federal levels believe they have been able to achieve positive policy changes and a higher level of resources in recent years, however they worry about the long-term outlook for maintaining this commitment. Activists are similarly concerned about their abilities to achieve policy change and develop the resources needed to conduct their activities effectively. These results emphasize the need for regulators and activists to work together to produce protective regulatory policies and support for adequate resources to ensure their success.