Template revised January 10, 2019.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No. 8g
ACTION ITEM Date of Meeting May 13, 2025
DATE : May 6, 2025
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: Elizabeth Black, Deputy General Counsel
SUBJECT: Authorization to Execute Settlement Agreement for Recovery of Cleanups Costs at
Terminal 91
Amount of this request: N/A
Total estimated project cost:
N/A
ACTION REQUESTED
Request Commission authorization for the Executive Director to execute a settlement agreement to
recover approximately $495,000 in costs associated with the Port’s cleanup of the Terminal 91
uplands.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Over several decades, the Port has spent more than $28.5 million on the environmental cleanup of
Terminal 91. The Port is working to recover these costs, as well as estimated future costs, from
other responsible parties who caused or contributed to contamination at the site.
Contamination at Terminal 91 resulted from a variety of sources. From the late 1800s through 1920,
owners of the area included various railroads, land development companies, and private
individuals. The Great Northern Railroad began to develop the area in the early 1900s by filling in
the area between the Magnolia Bluff and Queen Anne Hill. Philip Services constructed a tank farm
in the 1920s and operated it as a fuel storage facility in the late 1920s and 1930s. The U.S. Navy
acquired the entire facility in 1942 and operated the tank farm primarily as a fuel and lubricating oil
transfer station until 1972, when the Port leased back the consolidated facility and subleased the
tank farm to Philip Services. Philip Services conducted waste oil recovery and wastewater treatment
until 1995 when they ceased operation and performed above-ground closure activities. The tank
farm was subsequently used for fuel storage and blending until 2003 and was demolished in 2005.
Under the proposed settlement agreement, Oil Re-Refining Company and Fuel Processing, Inc.
(“ORRCO”) and Merit Oil Company will pay the Port $495,000 for their shares of cleanup costs
associated with their contribution of contamination to the site. This matter was further discussed in
privileged attorney-client communications.
There are no attachments to this memo.
