Polar Tankers to pay for Puget spill

Polar Tankers Inc., a ConocoPhillips subsidiary, has agreed to pay a $588,000 settlement in connection with an October 2004 crude oil spill in Puget Sound near Tacoma, the Washington State Department of Ecology announced March 15.

The 2004 incident involved the company’s oil tanker Polar Texas, which spilled between 1,000 and 7,200 gallons of crude, the Ecology Department said.

“The settlement agreement and the restoration projects being proposed are the final chapter for this tragic spill that damaged Puget Sound and had so many economic, environmental, cultural and emotional ramifications,” said Dale Jensen, the department’s spills program manager.

Polar Tankers has agreed to make the $588,000 payment under a consent decree filed in federal court. Parties to the agreement include the tanker company, the U.S. government, the state of Washington, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and Puyallup Tribe of Indians.

The consent decree makes no finding of guilt or innocence, the Ecology Department said.

ConocoPhillips, in October 2006, paid a $540,000 fine for the spill, the largest penalty the Ecology Department ever levied for an oil spill from a vessel to Washington marine waters.

Since the 2004 incident, Polar Tankers has “vastly improved” its operations, Jensen said.

Polar Tankers carries Alaska North Slope crude oil to West Coast refineries for ConocoPhillips.

—Wesley Loy