Department of Ecology fines Treoil $900,000

The Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) issued a $900,000 fine on December 5 against the owners of Treoil Industries, a defunct 34-acre industrial site east of the bp Cherry Point refinery, for decades of improperly storing hazardous materials and environmental damage.

Jagroop S. Gill and Campbell Land Corporation, owners of the site, did not show good faith efforts to bring the site into compliance after numerous investigations and cleanups by state and federal agencies, according to DOE.

The former tall oil processing plant is no longer in use, and underwent extensive cleanup efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2017 and 2022, costing roughly $2 million for each of those cleanups, according to Brooks Stanfield, on-scene coordinator for the EPA. The site is near wetlands and a creek leading to the Strait of Georgia. 

In 2017, the EPA removed 93,000 gallons of tall oil waste, 275 tons of contaminated soil and 8 cubic yards of material containing asbestos. In 2022, it removed more than 100,000 gallons of hazardous liquid material and 3,316 tons of contaminated solids.

DOE spokesperson Scarlet Tang said the site owner had ample opportunity to continue cleanup work to bring the site into compliance.

“[2017] was a really good opportunity for the owner to come in and finish the cleanup to show that good faith effort towards compliance,” Tang said. “But unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

Gill has until early next month to either pay the nearly $1 million fine, or issue an appeal to Ecology. The EPA also put a lien on the property as a way to guarantee repayment for the millions spent cleaning up the site.

Under the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the EPA can impose a property lien if a hazardous waste site is determined to be immediately dangerous to the environment and the site owner refuses to remedy the problems. According to Stanfield, Treoil Industries and Gill are now liable for a hefty cleanup bill.

Stanfield said data is still being collected on the site’s soil and groundwater, but efforts by the EPA and DOE have greatly reduced the current danger of the site.

“It will probably be determined that it doesn’t currently pose the same kind of immediate threat to the surrounding aquatic environment as it did before,”Stanfield said.