[R]owley Fuels agreed to pay a $11,250 penalty Tuesday, after spilling 222 gallons of kerosene into Lake Champlain last year.
The settlement has now been approved by Environmental Court for the Oct. 17, 2014 kerosene spill that took five days to clean up, Randy Miller, environmental enforcement attorney in the state Attorney General’s office, said.
According to an Aug. 18 press release, the spill occurred when a Rowley Fuels employee delivered 222 gallons of kerosene to an improperly installed tank on Lake Champlain’s shore in South Hero. Because the tank was not installed correctly, the kerosene left the tank and migrated under the building’s foundation and into Lake Champlain.
The five-day cleanup included the demolition of a new bunkhouse, the removal of 425 tons of contaminated soils and the foundation, according to the press release.
Absorbent pads were placed leading up to the lake and absorbent booms were installed into Lake Champlain to help capture the kerosene. The combination of the two collected 140 gallons of free product, according to the press release.
Miller said that the penalty was carefully calculated with a program staff assistant, noting that the penalty calculation form they use is based on a number of criteria.
“The penalty came out to what it was minus the 25% settlement discount,” Miller said.
The order was issued on July 7, Miller said. After it was issued, there was a 30-day public input period, during which people could comment on the situation and after that, anyone who commented was free to file an intervene with the process, he said. Miller said that no interveners were filed.
