CAMAS, Wash. -- The owner of a barge leaking oil into the Columbia River near Camas has had a history of being cited for violations dating back to 1998.
Currently, the U.S. Coast Guard and the EPA have two separate federal investigations into Brett Simpson.
The Coast Guard has paid $2.1 million so far in the cleanup effort of the barge spill, a bill they say they were forced to pay ever since Simpson disappeared.
"For the past 13 days he's not been part of this removal effort," said Capt. Danny LeBlanc from the Coast Guard. "We've not been able to make contact with Mr. Simpson."
LeBlanc went on to say he had no idea where Simpson is. KGW has discovered this isn't the first time Simpson has had problems.
In 1998, he pleaded guilty to illegally burying drums of waste oil and solvents in a pit in Kittitas, Wash. The DEQ fined him $20,000.
Last September, he had a run-in with the Army Corps of Engineers. They issued him a stop-work order along the Columbia River in Dallesport after he allegedly pushed debris off a boat he was dismantling.
The Corps said he continued to dismantle the boat and they are still trying to resolve the issue.
Search continues for leak source
Dive crews continued Tuesday to search for the barge's oil leak source.
"It's a slow, methodical process," said Ron Holcomb of the Washington State Department of Ecology.
The DEQ confirms not only did Simpson improperly scrap the ship, leading to continuous PCB-laden oil leaks, but that he didn't even have a permit to scrap in the first place.
"It's a major undertaking with dive operations, a crane," Holcumb said. "It's out in a river, it's not tied at a dock. It can be very dangerous."
Now it could be another two weeks before dive crews can begin to solve this problem.
"It's a concern because we don't have the situation completely under control," Holcumb noted.
