Congratulations to Shawn Lyon, the president of Marathon Pipe Line LLC, who received the 2019 Pipeline Leadership Award at the Pipeline Leadership Conference, November 6-7, in Houston.
Immediately following American Petroleum Institute’s publication of the Pipeline Safety Management Systems Recommended Practice (RP) 1173 in 2015, Lyon agreed to chair a liquid pipeline industry team to encourage and assist operators in developing pipeline safety management systems. Based on his leadership and advocacy on SMS and implementing API RP 1173, Lyon was also asked to represent the liquids industry on the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Pipeline Advisory Committee group focused on SMS, created in 2016.
Lyon serves on the Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, an advisory body to the U.S. Department of Transportation that evaluates proposed pipeline safety and environmental protection standards and informs policy initiatives. He also serves on the board of directors of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL), is vice chairman of API’s pipeline subcommittee steering group, serves on the API-AOPL pipeline safety excellence steering committee and is on the AOPL Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Policy Committee. Lastly, Lyon serves on the board of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) and as an owner representative for Marathon Petroleum’s interest in Capline, both of which are significant entities for U.S. crude oil infrastructure. Previously, Lyon served on the Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, by appointment of Gov. Rick Snyder, from 2017 to 2018.
Shawn is widely considered a champion for safety management systems (SMS) in the pipeline industry and a proponent of building safety culture. “We have a responsibility to protect the public,” Lyon says. “We have to be safe today, tomorrow and in the future. There are families that are counting on us.”