Airport Gets New Storage System For Jet Fuel $6.5 Million Facility Designed To Halt Long History Of Spills
A $6.5 million jet fuel storage facility is set to begin operating next month at Spokane International Airport.
The new facility holds 806,400 gallons of fuel at a busy airport where jets will use 24 million gallons this year.
Computerized, with state-of-theart environmental safeguards, the storage center is designed to minimize the chance of fuel spills.
Seven bids, ranging from $4.2 million to $4.6 million, were submitted for the project. Garco Construction of Spokane was the low bidder, and began work early this year.
Construction was completed last month, but equipment and computer checks are continuing before operations begin in January, said airport Director John Morrison.
The county sold $6.5 million worth of municipal bonds to finance the project over 15 years.
The additional $2.3 million from the bonds was used for permits, sales tax, a reserve fund and related construction costs, Morrison said. The first $200,000 bond payment has been made.
The airlines - not taxpayers - will pay for the improvement.
In addition to landing fees, airlines now will pay a 4-cent-a-gallon “flowage fee” on fuel pumped from the new storage facility, Morrison said.
It replaces a 33-year-old tank farm where thousands of gallons of jet fuel have spilled over the years, causing ground-water contamination.
For six years, the state Department of Ecology urged the airport to clean up the fuel mess.
State records show there were 72 significant jet fuel spills at the airport between 1980 and 1989, when ecology officials first cited the airport for the contamination.
The following year, seven spills occurred, including a 600-gallon spill of jet fuel onto the ground.
In 1991, while there was still no movement toward cleaning up the contamination, three more spills were reported, including one involving 110 gallons.
Underground tanks have been removed from the airport fuel site, but 10 above-ground tanks remain. They are to be dismantled and removed by July 1.
Airport officials will then hire a consultant to analyze the scope of the contamination and recommend cleanup.
Northwest, United and Delta airlines and Spokane Airways will be responsible for the cleanup costs, which Morrison said “will be considerable.”
The old tank farm is close to the proposed site of a $3 million airport hotel.
Construction of the Phoenix Inn was to begin a year ago, but has been delayed because of necessary zoning changes.
Morrison said the fuel contamination has no bearing on the project delay.
The airlines and Spokane Airways own the existing tanks on land leased from the airport, which is jointly operated by the county and city.
Spokane Airways also owns three underground tanks and one above-ground fuel tank at its facility across the field from the airport terminal.
The County-City Airport Board could force Spokane Airways to abandon its fuel tanks and require the company to use the airpor-towned fuel center.
Those tanks must be removed or upgraded by 1999.
The airport will hire five people to staff the new storage facility.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo Map of Airport