Leaking barge owner has history of violations

KGW dot Com ^ | 2/8/2011 | Abbey Gibb

[Bean Counter]

CAMAS, WA--New details show the owner of a barge leaking oil into the Columbia River near Camas has had a history of being cited for violations dating back to 1998.

Currently, the U.S. Coast Guard and the EPA have launched two separate federal investigations into Brett Simpson.

The Coast Guard has paid $2.1 million so far in the cleanup effort of the barge spill. A bill they say they were forced to pay ever since Simpson disappeared.

"For the past 13 days he's not been part of this removal effort," said Capt. Danny LeBlanc from the Coast Guard. "We've not been able to make contact with Mr. Simpson."

LeBlanc went on to say he had no idea where Simpson is. NewsChannel 8 has discovered this isn't the first time Simpson has had problems.

In 1998, he pleaded guilty to illegally burying drums of waste oil and solvents into a pit in Kittitas, WA. The DEQ fined him $20,000.

Last September, he had a run in with the Army Corps of Engineers. They issued him a stop-work order along the Columbia River in Dallesport after he allegedly pushed debris off a boat he was dismantling.

The Corps said he continued to dismantle the boat and they are still trying to resolve the issue.

[Bean Counter]

Credit: Casey Gregg

This photo was shot while on a kayak trip from Camas to Vancouver

[GeronL]

That looks totally well maintained.

heh

[Bean Counter]

Oregon and Washington *ping*

We are going into week three and they still have not found the source of the leaking oil.

It’s hard to appreciate what a mess this is without seeing it from the air (video at the link), and then you appreciate that the idiots who were trying to demolish this thing while afloat, literally gutted the center structure of the vessel. Fhere is absolutely no way to refloat this thing, even if they could find where it’s leaking. Someone is going to have to scrap it in place, but that is an extremely tall order.

They are over $2 Million and three weeks into this, and there is no end in sight.

[Red Badger]

He couldnt use a toilet like everybody else?....

[Darksheare]

And here I thought I was going to see an image of the barge owner.
I had a mental image of Pizza the Hutt, “Leaking barge owner.”

What happened to the thing anyway, Godzilla stomp on it?

[Bean Counter]

Three weeks ago, it started leaking oil after it broke loose from its illegal mooring and grounded the aft end. When the river level fell, the hull collapsed and flooded, and lifted the back end some 20 feet into the air. The starboard side of the hull caved in because there is nothing left to hold it.



That picture was sent to the local paper by one of the people who was trying to scrap it. They took $80,000 worth of metal off last fall. They had no permits whatsoever, and you can see there was minimal safety equipment onboard during this effort. It's a wonder they didn't set it on fire.

[Darksheare]

Yikes, just yikes.

[Robert A Cook PE]

I wonder if he is a dumpocrat donor?

[Darksheare]

Here in New York they were trying to clean up PCB’s from teh Hudson River.
What they found was an old ship that had burned, been filled with stones, and sunk at river edge.
So they spent the better part of a month trying too dredge the thing up.
Didn’t work, all they got was the rudder.
They also accidentally destroyed part of a historic wooden fort.
“We didn’t know it went that far out into the water.”

Heading out for the night, delayed that as long as I could.
*sigh*

[jazusamo]

This is outrageous. When this turkey Simpson is apprehended he should be frog marched before a judge and ordered to pay all costs. If he can’t he should be put into protective custody in the County jail to work in the kitchen, payed $100 a day to work off the costs.

It wouldn’t help the devastation but he would get what’s coming to him for the rest of his life.

[jazusamo]

That was supposed to be $10 a day.

[Past Your Eyes]

I hear public urination is pretty well accepted in France. Maybe he could move there.

[Iron Munro]

New details show the owner of a barge leaking oil into the Columbia River near Camas has had a history of being cited for violations dating back to 1998.

It's highly irregular for the owner of a barge to be leaking oil, no matter what his history.

[sionnsar]

Thanks to Bean Counter for the ping.

Say WA? Evergreen State ping

Quick link: WA State Board

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.
Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.

[sionnsar]

If he can’t he should be put into protective custody in the County jail to work in the kitchen

Ummm... I believe "protective custody" and "work in the kitchen" are mutually exclusive conditions.

[sionnsar]

Barge? I saw something a few days back about the remains of Liberty ship...?

[Bean Counter]

yah...believe it or not, that barge once was the SS Davy Crockett, a former Liberty ship that was built in Texas in 1942, and subsequently converted into a barge after the war.