ILTA Holds Spring EHSS Meeting in Savannah, Georgia
ILTA’s annual spring Environment, Health, Safety & Security Committee meeting was held in Savannah, Georgia over March 13-15. The three-day event began with a tour of the local Colonial Terminals facility on Monday, hosted by ILTA Vice Chairman Pratt Summers of the same company.
On Tuesday, attendees convened for an opening discussion lead by Thomas Balazik with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) on its missions related to cybersecurity and what resources it provides for terminal owners and operators. Afterwards, the Security Subcommittee co-chairs Jerry Jerdine of Ergon, Inc. and Andrea Simonin of Vopak lead an interactive discussion on physical and cybersecurity best practices. The morning was capped with a presentation from Lieutenant Bill Gasperetti, USCG on the TWIC reader rule extension, next steps, and how ILTA members can look to partner with USCG on the rule’s implementation going forward.
The Environmental Subcommittee, headed by Jay Leduc of Sprague Energy and Keith Ocheski of Buckeye Partners, led the afternoon discussion that centered on critical legislative and regulatory developments from the last year and those on the horizon. Port of Savannah representative Joanne Caldwell joined the meeting later to discuss the role of terminal operators in the Port’s day-to-day operations and how it is looking to expand into the near future. Finally, the day was capped with a discussion led by James Ray and Earl Phillips of the law firm Robinson+Cole on the impacts of climate change on the terminal industry.
Wednesday featured Health & Safety Subcommittee co-chair Byrne Evans of IMTT leading a conversation on the subcommittee’s regulatory tracker, which focuses on both federal and state health and safety reporting, compliance changes and trends, confined entry, and topics involving job-site safety and other current and timely topics. The day also featured two guest presentations, the first of which was from former Chief Counsel of California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Toxic Substances Control under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tim Swickard of Nossaman LLP on his perspective on the path forward for the RMP and PSM rulemakings and potential impact on the terminal industry. Julie Raulerson of Colonial Terminals and Federal Rail Inspector David Robinson provided the second presentation on the importance of both rail inspections and maintenance, as well as how to foster a productive relationship with inspectors.