The city of Spokane has approved a State Environmental Policy Act checklist for a chemical storage site for Custom Spray Service Inc., of Spokane. The approval clears the way for the company, which earlier was cited for continuance of a hazard, to apply for a permit to store about 80,000 gallons of magnesium chloride and calcium chloride in that same industrial area north of Trent Avenue.


Custom Spray was fined $513 in August after erecting the tanks without a permit, says David Kokot, a Spokane Fire Department fire-protection engineer. He says the business still will have to answer questions before it is allowed to use the site, at 902 N. Nelson, for chemical storage.


Custom Spray wants to construct a 580-foot rail spur line to the tank farm for delivery of chemicals it buys in bulk and sprays with its trucks to provide road dust control and deicing services. The company currently has several above-ground steel and polyvinyl tanks at the site, but says it also leases storage space from Union Pacific Railway Co. at its Sprague and Havana rail yard for its chemicals.


Kokot says the Fire Department noticed two 25,000-gallon tanks, which appeared to be improperly constructed, and several other 1,500-gallon translucent tanks sitting directly on the ground when it responded to the big Whitley Fuel LLC tank fire nearby in August. Liquid could be seen in those tanks, Kokot says. The department subsequently told Custom Spray owner John McIntyre to remove them. A permit he had sought had been on hold and eventually expired as the department awaited more information about how the company would construct a containment area and what type of tanks it would be using.


McIntyre says he ultimately wants to have two 21,000-gallon tanks and two 25,000-gallon tanks there. The company uses magnesium chloride for dust control and calcium chloride for street deicing and also sells them to others.


Kokot says he sent a letter to Custom Spray Service Aug. 27, notifying the company of the citation and instructing it to empty the tanks by Sept. 7 and remove them from the site by Sept. 14. Kokot says the tanks have not been removed.


I moved my tanks down there in February or March when they were empty, McIntyre says. He says that though they arent being used, he does have a liner in place beneath them.


McIntyre says he hopes to construct the containment area and erect the tanks in a permanent fashion this fall and that the $500,000 project already has cost about $200,000. He says the rail spur probably wouldnt be built until next year.


McIntyre started Custom Spray in 1980. It employs three people, plus several family members, and anticipates sales of nearly $1 million this year, he says.


Though the liquids that would be stored at the tank farm are nonflammable, storage of more than 60 gallons of them must be monitored and requires a permit, Kokot says.


Kris Eastman, an assistant fire marshal, says in order to meet city requirements, the site needs a secondary containment system, either with a double-walled tank or a single-walled tank in a concrete-vaulted, bermed containment area that also meets building codes. His were just sitting in gravel, she says.


McIntyre says he first applied for a temporary permit for three tanks there last November.


Kokot says the environmental application, initially filed in January, had been on hold and the temporary building permit had expired because the environmental paperwork was incomplete.


City building and code enforcement clerk Pamella Piro says now that the environmental checklist is approved, McIntyre must resubmit his plans for the tank farm for review by interested agencies.


McIntyre says his company will build the tank farm itself.


What we want is to get people into compliance, not shut them down, says Kokot.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.