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Department of Ecology News Release - October 27, 2009
09-256
OLYMPIA – Under a settlement agreement between Seattle Biodiesel LLC and the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), Seattle Biodiesel will pay $12,000 to settle a total of $20,000 in penalties Ecology levied against the company for spilling a mixture of biodiesel, methanol, sodium hydroxide and other processing chemicals near the Duwamish River in July 2007.
In March 2009, after considering additional factual information about the spill submitted by Seattle Biodiesel, Ecology agreed to reduce the penalty to $16,000.
Seattle Biodiesel appealed the department’s decision to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board. This month, both parties agreed to settle the spill violation for $12,000.
The spill occurred July 27, 2007, at the company’s facility, 6333 1st Ave. S., located on the east shore of the Duwamish.
An employee was pumping a processing-chemical mixture of vegetable oil, biodiesel, sodium hydroxide, methanol and glycerin from a large tank to a small portable tank. The transfer was left unattended, however, and the small tank overflowed and the mixture ran across a driveway into a small inlet along the Duwamish River.
Between 391 and 620 gallons of the mixture reached the waterway. All but 23 gallons were recovered.
“While biodiesel and other alternative fuels offer significant environmental benefits, plant-based oils, biodiesel and related processing chemicals all cause environmental harm if they spill to our waters,” said Ecology Spills Program Manager Dale Jensen.
Jensen said Seattle Biodiesel responded promptly to and cleaned up most of the spill. The firm has since sold its facility to General Biodiesel, a different company.
“We take safety and accident prevention very seriously,” said John Plaza, president of Seattle Biodiesel. “Because we implemented our incident response plan immediately, we were able to minimize the environmental impacts of this accident.”
Seattle Biodiesel will make its settlement payment within 30 days.
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Media Contact: Curt Hart, 360-407-6990; cell, 360-480-7908 (char461@ecy.wa.gov)
Ecology Spill Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Program: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/spills.html
Ecology news release on original penalty: www.ecy.wa.gov/news/2008news/2008-321.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
