Port Orchard Marina's diesel fuel tank still out of commission

The Port of Bremerton Board of Commissioners approved paying another $15,000 to replace a fuel tank at the Port Orchard Marina that has been on the disabled list for more than a year.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted unanimously to pay the URS corporation the additional amount at the request of Steve Slaton, the port’s director of marine facilities.

Slaton said the additional amount was necessary to pay penalty fees and increased labor costs incurred as the contractor completed a lengthy permitting process.

Last August, the board first approved hiring URS to replace the tank, accepting the company’s bid of $47,600.

Now that the proper permits have been acquired, Slaton said the work is scheduled to begin Aug. 11.

“If everything goes well, it will be a month-long repair,” Slaton, said, explaining that the port has been waiting to begin the work to accommodate businesses that had scheduled events during the summer.

The marina’s 12,000-gallon, diesel fuel tank has been out of commission since June of 2007 after an inspection revealed it had sprung a leak.

Slaton said an alarm set between the tank’s inner and outer walls alerted his staff to the leak, and at the time he said there was no sign any of the fuel had leaked into the ground.

In the meantime, he said the marina’s gasoline tank is fine, but the marina has been losing out on diesel sales.

“We sell quite a lot of diesel,” he said, explaining that the marina was serving both commercial and pleasure boats.

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