Western Washington University journalism student and Investigate West intern, Will Graff, recounts in full detail how he was confronted for legally taking pictures from a public street at the Ferndale ConocoPhillips refinery. The pictures were part of a story investigating the potential public safety hazards of a chemical disaster.

The security personnel at ConocoPhillips were doing their job by telling Graff to stop taking photos, and Graff was doing his job by continuing to shoot from a legal location.

It got interesting when ConocoPhillips reported this to the police and the Sherriff’s deputy later flipped a U-turn and pulled over Graff on his way home, indicating that they were on alert for his vehicle.

Was this harassment on the part of CP who would rather not have their plant investigated? What will happen to Graff and the investigation if he tries to make another visit?

Read Graff’s version of the incident here:
http://invw.org/content/refinery/securityincident

and the investigation on the CP refinery which he partook in here:
http://crosscut.com/2011/03/01/bellingham/20676/Refinery-chemical:-Bellingham-s-safety-at-risk-/