Company fined $21,000 for oil spill

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The Department of Ecology (DOE) has fined Seattle-based K-Sea Transportation $21,000 for an oil spill last year. According to the DOE, ten gallons of diesel fuel spilled into Salmon Bay on March 31, 2009. The DOE says the diesel fuel overflowed during fuel transfer between two tanks on board the K-Sea tug Tiger and the company responded immediately and conducted an effective cleanup. Investigators determined that the chief engineer did not follow the company’s policies for planning and supervising tank-to-tank fuel transfers, a release from the DOE states.

“Our emergency response procedures and drills enabled us to conduct an effective cleanup and remove all visible oil from the environment,” John Lawrence, K-Sea’s Vice President of Health, Safety, Quality and Environment says. “We conducted a full investigation of the incident which led us to take additional actions, including engineering modifications and revision of certain operating procedures, in order to prevent future occurrences.”

This is the third fine for K-Sea. In 2008, the company was fined $2,000 after the Tiger lost 120 gallons at a dock in Ferndale. That same year, a different tug spilled 25 gallons into Bellingham Bay, leading to a fine of $500.

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6 thoughts to “Company fined $21,000 for oil spill”

  2. I find this HIGHLY hypocritical of the DOE since Exxon STILL hasn't been fined or held responsible for the Valdez Oil Spill in Alaska, but they sure can fine a small company for spilling 10 gallons of Diesel fuel… makes you wonder who ELSE is on their payroll, or is getting FAT pockets doesn't it??

  3. Hey Jackass, I don't really see how the Washington State Department of Ecology would have any jurisdiction over an Alaskan spill.

  4. GEE I don't recall ANYWHERE in the article where it said it was WASHINGTON STATE… so WHO'S the jackass jizzball??? All the article said was Department of Ecology, and that is kind of a FEDERAL Department.. besides Washington SHOULD be concerned, since we are down the coast..

  5. DOE means Washington State Department of Ecology, not “kind of a federal department”. The federal equivalent would be the EPA. See how those two sets of letters are different? The editors at MyBallard assume that readers have a basic knowledge of the world in which they live in.

    And Valdez, Alaska is not “down the coast” any more than Sarah Palin lives close to Russia. Almost all of the oil from the Exxon spill sank to the bottom of the inlet or washed up on the beach.

  6. well apparently you aren't the intelligent one either since oil FLOATS!! AND
    so take your ELECTRIC car and toodle on down the road.. Yes the sludge that
    coated the beaches and the animals had to be cleaned up.. and unless you are
    looking at a different map than the one I looked at … yes.. Washington
    state is DOWN THE COAST… I bet you think that the bridge Ms. Palin
    squashed the construction of was a bridge to nowhere as well… we are ALL
    entitled to our opinion, I was expressing mine.. GET OVER IT!

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