Oregon company pays fines for oil spill

ALBANY, Ore. – A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency release states an Oregon company has agreed to pay fines totaling about $23,000 regarding a 900-gallon diesel spill that contaminated an area creek.

The Albany Democrat-Herald reported Monday Jerry Brown Co. Inc., a Eugene-based petroleum distribution company, paid a $9,900 penalty to the EPA and a $13,200 penalty to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for a spill in February 2016.

The company also paid for cleanup at Spoon Creek, which took more than a month. The release states it paid an estimated $100,000 to remove and dispose about 2,141 cubic meters of diesel-saturated soil.

The release says about 900 gallons of diesel had leaked from a 1,000-gallon above-ground storage tank, contaminating a farmer’s soil surrounding the tank, his nearby field and the creek.