BillHustonBlog: All Otsego: Misquote and Title

Hi Parker and Jim,

Regarding this article:

http://www.allotsego.com/it-sounded-like-5-freight-trains/

I have the following issues:

According to Binghamton-area activist Bill Huston,

Often when I am interviewed by the press, I am asked for my title.

You have not done this, and chosen a title for me.

In multiple articles I have been referred to as an "activist".

I am not happy with your using this title for me, and Jim, I've mentioned

to you this before (Feb 10).

An "activist" is a person with an agenda. That word is used

as a pejorative and a slur to discredit people.

Please ASK ME for my title.

I am an independent safety investigator.

I am a blogger and citizen journalist.

I am a public service researcher with a focus

on how science and law intersect with energy and the environment.

I would appreciate very much if you could

please stop referring me as an "activist".

Also, this is not an accurate quote:

"From what I gathered, the driver started to go off the side of the road, and tried to correct himself back onto the road, but by that point, the trailer was already starting to tip over," said Huston.

This is not information that I "gathered". This was pure speculation on my part, based on my examination of terrain from Google Earth, and with one low quality photograph.

I listened to my own recorded copy of the interview, and I clearly answered, "who knows what happened", and followed it with what was clearly speculation. My speculation was reported as if it were fact.

"Those trailers are known to have a very high center of gravity, so they're well known to be a sever [sic] roll-over risk."

Minor typo: "severe"

I am also a little unhappy with the tone of this:

Huston has campaigned heavily against the natural gas trucks since as many as 80 trips a day began last February, carrying fracked natural gas in Northeast Pennsylvania the Town of Manheim, near Little Falls, where it is injected into the Iroquois pipeline.

I'm not sure what is meant by "campaigned heavily". Again, this sounds like I have some kind of an agenda.

While I do have a personal opinion these trucks are unsafe and should not be on the road before certain conditions are met.

If you state that I have an agenda, but do not explain the facts behind my informed opinion, then it looks like I'm just some kind of crackpot.

Here is what is true:

I have spent DOZENS of hours researching the history and safety record of these new experimental vehicles.
I am curator of a documents collection about "Virtual Pipelines" which I make freely available to journalists and researchers. (Link in my signature block below every email). TinyURL.com/VirtualPipelines
I maintain a TIMELINE of accidents and other milestones here:
TinyURL.com/BombTrucksIncidents
I maintain a table of data about these trailers here:
TinyURL.com/Type4Trailers
I have reported FACTUALLY about the near complete lack of regulation of these new, experimental vehicles. In fact, they have been granted an EXEMPTION from regulation through the issuance of a US DOT Special Permit.
I have reported FACTUALLY that there has NEVER been an Environmental Impact Statement under either SEQRA or NEPA, which have never done a fair study of end-to-end impacts
I have reported FACTUALLY that there has never been a Quantitative Risk Assessment
I have reported FACTUALLY that there is NO INFORMATION about destructive testing under real-world conditions or BASIC safety information (such as the Potential Impact Radius for either an explosion or fire scenario) released to the public.
After examining the data, I have expressed my PERSONAL OPINION that these vehicle are UNSAFE, and should not be on the road.

In summary, I am happy to give you information, but I would appreciate

Allowing me the right to choose my title (activist)
Quoting me accurately (opinion as fact)
Portraying me as having an agenda without explaining the rational process behind this.

Thank you,

Bill Huston

--
William Huston: WilliamAHuston@gmail.com
Binghamton NY