Suquamish Tribe settles oil spill claim

SEATTLE – Foss Maritime Co. will pay the Suquamish Tribe $1.1 million for environmental and spiritual damage caused by a 2003 oil spill near Edmonds.

Nearly 4,700 gallons of heavy oil polluted a section of the tribe’s shellfish beds at Indianola when a Foss barge was overfilled at a fueling station at Point Wells on Dec. 30, 2003.

Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman said he remembered seeing the oil coat the beach and reservation marsh at Doe-Kag-Wats, near Point Jefferson on the Kitsap Peninsula, a sacred place for traditional healing and worship.

“It was just painful, to know that you have a place that is part of you, part of your childhood, part of your heritage, to see it black and oiled. It was painful and frightening,” Forsman said.

The tribe announced Monday that it had reached a settlement with Foss on Feb. 9. It plans to use the money to help build a $20 million cultural and economic revitalization project on the reservation.

The proposal includes a dock and museum, a story pole and a traditional community house for gatherings and ceremonial use. It also would include making renovations to Chief Seattle’s grave.

Foss, which took responsibility for the accident, previously paid the tribe $126,000, and $265,000 to a federal fund for environmental cleanup projects.

In 2005, the state Department of Ecology fined the Seattle-based company $577,000 after determining a barge worker had underestimated how fast the fuel tanks were filling.

Investigators also found that an alarm meant to signal when the tank was almost full had been shut off, and a second alarm also wasn’t working.

Last October, the state adopted new rules requiring containment booms be in place before a fuel transfer and six additional inspection workers were hired to monitor fuel transfers to commercial vessels.