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Department of Ecology News Release - January 11, 2008
08-008
OLYMPIA – In October 2006, Polar Tankers, Inc. paid the Department of Ecology (Ecology) $540,000 after one of its oil tankers, the Polar Texas, spilled at least 7,200 gallons of crude oil in Puget Sound’s Dalco Passage in October 2004 without ever reporting or taking responsibility for the spill.
The $540,000 remains the largest fine Ecology has ever issued for an oil spill to marine waters. At the time, the fine was also the maximum possible penalty under state law.
As a result of a new law, if the incident were to occur today, Polar Tankers, a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips Co., could face a state penalty of more than $1.6 million.
Money from oil spill penalties goes into an account that helps protect Washington waters and reduces the need for public dollars.
“The Polar Texas spill was an egregious incident that people who care about Puget Sound will never forget,” said state Sen. Phil Rockefeller, who sponsored SB 5552 that made the change in state law.
“It had been 15 years since the penalty amounts were established and I wanted our state to have the ability to assess penalties that would prevent this kind of behavior,” Rockefeller said. “By raising the penalty amounts, hopefully this change will deter companies doing business in Washington from considering spill penalties as just ‘the price of doing business.’”
Under the new law that took effect in July 2007, anyone who intentionally or recklessly spills or permits oil to spill to state waters could face a penalty up to $500,000 a day for each violation and day the spill poses a risk to the environment.
The previous limit for intentional or reckless oil spills, set by lawmakers in 1992, was $100,000 a day.
Ecology will determine the penalty amount for an intentional spill or a spill caused by reckless behavior based on the size of the violator’s business, the seriousness of the spill, a spiller’s previous compliance record, and the speed and thoroughness of the cleanup.
The same 2007 law also increases the maximum amount for anyone who negligently spills or permits oil to spill to state waters up to $100,000 a day for each violation and day the spill threatens the environment.
A negligent spill could be caused by not maintaining equipment properly, failing to oversee an oil transfer or running a vessel aground.
The previous limit for negligent spills was $20,000 a day.
The increases in the penalty amounts for intentional and negligent oil spills is in addition to fines that can be imposed by Ecology for other actions – all of which can bring an additional $10,000 per violation. These include:
State waters include creeks, streams, ponds, wetlands, lakes, rivers, marine waters, storm drains, and ditches.
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Media Contact: Curt Hart, 360-407-6990; cell, 360-480-7908 (char461@ecy.wa.gov)
For more oil spill information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/spills.html
For more information about the Polar Texas spill: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0608032.pdf
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
