Whether in the field assessing the flow of a river, or in an office leading a complex tabletop exercise, you’ll often find Jake Hover surrounded by a diverse crew of team members and community partners.
As an environmental engineer, Hover works to ensure Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ teams are prepared to act quickly and efficiently in the event of an emergency, facilitating emergency response training, coordination and implementation for Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ pipelines and terminals.
He also shares those tools and training content collaboratively with community organizations and industry partners.
“At Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, we have our own thorough incident response protocols and procedures, but we don’t want to keep those siloed within our own operations. Effective, proactive emergency response is a team effort,” says Hover.
“Investing time to build relationships, collaborate and train together keeps us prepared to work quickly and efficiently as a team and helps keep the communities we operate in prepared.”
Throughout the year, the pipelines and terminals team invites local emergency planning committees, fire departments, law enforcement units and state regulatory agencies to attend trainings, drills, tabletop exercises and the deployment of specialized emergency response equipment.
“The goal is to get all of these subject matter experts in one place to share insights and keep an open line of dialogue,” says Hover. “Continuous collaboration helps ensure we’re reaching the right community responders.”
The pipelines and terminals team also participates in local industry working groups, which include local refineries, railroads and other pipeline operators, to share resources and practice emergency response drills as a unified team.
“We come together regularly to run drills like deployment of containment boom and share resources when a fellow member experiences an incident,” says Hover. “It takes collaboration, when a member is facing an issue. We may not be on site to assist in the response, but we can help send transport or materials to assist.”
Helping community partners access funding and resources for emergency preparedness training is another area of focus for Hover’s team. The team recently helped the Montana Department of Environmental Quality acquire grant funding to send emergency response staff to local training programs.
“It's an investment, and an investment in preparedness is always well-spent. When we find opportunities to close gaps and proactively prepare our partners, we’re helping our communities prepare to respond quickly and safely, should a situation arise.”
