Charges dropped in diesel spillage

Renner, driver cleared as river cleanup closes

Nearly a year after 4,000 gallons of diesel spilled onto the banks of the Smith River from U.S. Highway 199, the owner of the company and the driver of the truck that spilled the fuel were cleared of misdemeanor charges.

The dismissals came Friday after more than three months of court appearances for Chris Renner, the owner of Renner Petroleum, and his driver, Richard Patrick.

“That was wonderful — I felt pretty elated,” said Renner.

The misdemeanor pollution charges, which carried a maximum potential fines of  $25,000 fine, stemmed from a February 2008 diesel spill that occurred on U.S. Highway 199 between Hiouchi and Gasquet when a truck driven by Patrick overturned.

“In a review of his actions, it appears he (Renner) was a very good steward to the environment,” Del Norte County District Attorney Mike Riese said of Renner. “How he treated the event factored into my decisions.”

He said Renner’s cleanup efforts and expenditures were the underlying reasons for the dismissal.

Last November, Renner received an “Engineering Achievement Award” from the North Coast California Water Environment Association lauding his cleanup efforts.

Renner said his insurance company burned through its $2 million policy in a matter of months and all other costs for the cleanup are coming out of his pocket.

Renner said he has spent upwards of $70,000, and bills are still coming in. The good news, he said, was that the California Regional Water Quality Control Board was doing a final walk-through and testing of the spill site Friday.

Renner said board officials have been detecting no signs of contaminants up and down river of the spill sight. He said he will know by Monday if the testing and clean-up is buttoned up.

Riese said he originally charged Renner and Patrick because the DA was coming up on the deadline to do so, and if he didn’t, he wouldn’t legally be able to.

“I tried it because I was one month out from losing any jurisdiction over the matter,” Riese said.

He also said he charged Renner to make sure he went through with the cleanup and when he felt Renner’s efforts were satisfactory, he moved to drop the charges.

“The only reason of going forward was to assure this would happen — I wanted to make sure that we had clean drinking water,” Riese said.