The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has issued a $112,000 penalty to Seattle’s Northlake Shipyard for violations related to water quality protection and chemical management.
The fine stems from findings during a January 2023 site visit, where inspectors identified multiple breaches of the shipyard’s discharge permit. These infractions included allowing polluted water to flow into Lake Union, improper handling of solid waste, and inadequate management, storage, and spill prevention measures for petroleum and other toxic chemicals, the statement noted.
In August 2023, the department issued a legal order directing the shipyard to comply with state and federal regulations. Ecology noted that a key requirement was to demonstrate regular pumping of industrial wastewater tanks to prevent overflow into Lake Union. Despite technical assistance provided by Ecology staff through meetings, phone calls, and emails, compliance remained incomplete, the department said.
A follow-up inspection in April 2024 revealed ongoing violations. While Ecology noted the shipyard had made improvements, the yard has yet to fully meet the conditions outlined in its water quality permit, the statement said. Ensuring that industrial wastewater and stormwater do not pollute Lake Union remains an unresolved issue.
The statement noted that the Northlake Shipyard site has a history of contamination due to prior operations. In 2014, under a legal agreement with Ecology, the current property owners paid $1.5 million for cleanup work, which included dredging, debris removal, and capping the lakebed with clean sand.
The initial citation related to the penalty has since been removed from Ecology’s website.
