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Department of Ecology News Release - Dec. 3, 2003
03-231
BELLINGHAM - People, salmon and wildlife will benefit from an innovative settlement between the state Department of Ecology (Ecology) and Shell Oil Company (Shell) for the 1999 pipeline rupture and fire in Bellingham.
The settlement addresses $5 million of $7.86 million in civil penalties issued by Ecology to Shell's predecessor, Equilon, which operated the pipeline at the time of the incident that killed three Bellingham youths and damaged much of the Whatcom Creek watershed.
As an owner/operator of the pipeline, Shell will pay $4 million to the city of Bellingham and $1 million to the Whatcom Land Trust in lump-sum payments expected by the end of the month. British Petroleum is the other owner of the Olympic pipeline.
Bellingham Mayor Mark Asmundson said that the city recognizes the source of the penalty settlement lies in a tragic community loss.
"We are grateful for the opportunity to devote this money to the natural environment of the community," Asmundson said. "We will maximize this asset for the benefit of the citizens of Bellingham."
Asmundson said the city will invest the settlement money in a trust fund and use the annual interest proceeds for projects to protect and restore the city's streams and shorelines. Initial projects will include enhancing habitat on city property in the area burned by the fire.
Whatcom Land Trust president Wendy Walker said the land trust will use the money to purchase additional salmon, eagle and elk habitat along the Nooksack River, where the organization has already protected more than 10 miles of Nooksack frontage.
"The Whatcom Land Trust is very pleased and appreciative to be a beneficiary of the state's settlement of penalties for the tragic Whatcom Creek explosion and fire. Knowing the circumstances that gave rise to this innovative settlement makes us all the more committed to the wise expenditure of the money we will receive to benefit future generations," Walker said.
"We think the overall settlement package represents the best possible resolution of the state penalty," said Richard Grout, who manages Ecology's Bellingham office.
He explained that, in some circumstances, instead of paying oil spill penalties to a statewide fund, violators can propose innovative settlements that direct penalty money to specific projects, if approved by Ecology.
"That's what Shell did in this case, and we completely support investing this money directly into the Bellingham community," Grout said.
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Media contact: Joan Pelley, Public Information Officer, 360-738-6247
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
