The owner of a Chevron gas station in Walla Walla, Washington, is on the hook to pay more than $4.1 million in cost recovery for a 2023 gasoline spill.
The Washington Department of Ecology issued a $738,000 penalty to Stillwater Holdings LLC, Wine Country Store LLC and Ben Kleban for the 2023 spill. The gas station owners have now been ordered to pay an additional $4.1 million in cost recovery for the spill response and pollution mitigation expenses, the department said in a Sept. 4 news release.
The spill caused nearly 2,500 gallons of fuel to contaminate groundwater and led to an emergency evacuation for parts of the city’s downtown business district, the Department of Ecology said. On Sept. 14, 2023, the Marcus Whitman Hotel in downtown Walla Walla was evacuated due to gasoline odors. Air quality testing identified possibly harmful vapors and gasoline in the basement of the hotel and two nearby buildings.
An investigation concluded that gasoline pooling in sumps of adjacent buildings matched the fuel from Chevron’s underground storage tank, the department said.
The Department of Ecology took over the cleanup after the Chevron owner’s insurance was exhausted, and the state spent more than $4.1 million treating and removing contaminated water from basement sumps and operator vapor mitigation systems to ensure the safety of the community, it said.
“For nearly two years, our focus has been on protecting people, preventing fuel from migrating to Mill Creek and getting nearby businesses safely back in operation,” said Brook Beeler, Ecology’s Eastern Region director. “This was a major spill that will take years to fully clean up. This is a necessary step for the state to hold those responsible for the spill accountable and try to recover costs spent on the response.”
The station’s routine inventory checks showed fuel shortages, the department said. Because leak detection alarms did not trigger and follow-up testing didn’t confirm a release, the spill was not identified until gasoline was discovered in nearby buildings, it said.
Under federal and state laws, polluters are responsible for responding to and cleaning up a spill, including reimbursing state agencies for any of their costs incurred in responding to a spill. Stillwater Holdings LLC, Wine and Country Store LLC and Ben Kleban have 30 days to pay the penalty or appeal to the Pollution Control hearings Board, according to the Sept. 4 news release.
The Chevron is located at 7 E. Rose St., Walla Walla, according to the Department of Ecology’s website page detailing the spill response and cleanup activities. In a June 3 update, the department shared that Stillwater Holdings has been “cooperative and communicative,” and was working toward complying with the enforcement order that the Washington Department of Ecology had issued in June 2024 to Stillwater Holdings to continue to reduce harmful vapors and remove contaminated water from nearby buildings.
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