Walla Walla gas station owner settles penalty for 2023 gasoline leak, agrees to remove old tanks

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include additional information and comments from the Department of Ecology and gas station owner Ben Kleban.

The owner of the downtown Walla Walla Chevron station has agreed to pay $275,000 within 30 days to settle a multi-million dollar fine from the Washington State Department of Ecology over a massive 2023 underground gasoline leak that state officials said originated from the gas station.

The agreement, which also has other stipulations, settles a $738,000 penalty and a $4.1 million cost recovery order for the leak from the downtown station, according to a Department of Ecology news release.

A 40-year-old underground storage tank leaked about 2,500 gallons of fuel into groundwater that led to an emergency evacuation for parts of the city's downtown business district, including the Marcus Whitman Hotel and the nearby U.S. Post Office.

The two businesses at the gas station location - Stillwater Holdings LLC and Wine and Country Store LLC - are owned by Ben Kleban and have merged and filed for bankruptcy as Wine and Country Store LLC.

"We are a local family-owned business and are trying desperately to survive the aftermath of this gas release," station owner Ben Kleban said in a written statement. "We remain passionate about serving our community with homemade focaccia sandwiches, gourmet foods and the best wines Walla Walla has to offer. We are grateful for the support of our loyal customers who have been our lifeforce to survive this tragedy as long as we have."

Ecology's Eastern Region Director Brook Beeler said the settlement agreement paves the way to remove all of the old fuel tanks at the site.

"This is the best path to protecting the environment, protecting people, and supporting the local economy," Beeler said.

Kleban and Ecology officials agreed to a settlement to avoid additional environmental risk, delays and the cost of further litigation, according to the release.

In addition to the $275,000 payment, Kleban also agreed to comply with a contaminated site cleanup enforcement order and withdraw the penalty appeal from the Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board, according to the release. The agreement also expands environmental protections through increased oversight and reporting requirements for the Chevron's two remaining operational underground storage tanks.

Beeler said the settlement was reached after several months of negotiations. Ecology had three priorities for the settlement agreement, she said, which all factored into the amount that was agreed upon.

"What was most important to us is to ensure that people in the environment were protected, so we wanted to make sure that the ongoing cleanup activities and then the future cleanup activities were completed," Beeler said. "And we also wanted to make sure that the responsible party did have some sort of financial accountability to help support the cleanup activity. And third, we wanted to ensure that the site was cleaned up and that there wasn't an abandoned unowned site going into the future in the middle of downtown Walla Walla."

Ecology officials said the department has funding for the cleanup and is prepared to move quickly on the remediation process. The settlement includes an agreement that Ecology's time spent overseeing and completing the final cleanup will be reflected in a lien on the property, allowing Ecology the tools to recover taxpayer funds used in the cleanup.

The cost of the final cleanup is not yet known, Beeler said, but is expected to be completed by fall 2027. The first step will be to put in a permanent water treatment system at the Marcus Whitman Hotel, which will happen this summer. The tanks at the gas station are expected to be pulled out next summer.

The full penalty and cost recovery amount will be held in suspension to ensure Wine and Country Store LLC complies with the terms of the agreement. If Kleban does not fulfill the requirements of the settlement, the remaining amount of the penalty and cost reimbursement order will be due.

"They'll pay us the cash payment, but whatever is remaining - the $4.1 million cost recovery and the original $738,000 penalty minus $275,000 - is still on the books until all of the obligations in the settlement agreement are met," Beeler said. "So if something happens where Wine Country Store isn't complying with our settlement agreement, we have the ability to go back to them and say, ‘Well, you're not complying with your settlement agreement, so you now owe us the remainder of that money.'"

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