Washington's Department of Ecology has slapped the American Lake VA Medical Center in Lakewood with a $130,000 fine after state inspectors determined the hospital installed an underground fuel tank without following required regulations, in a case officials say could have led to a dangerous leak. The tank, installed in 2024 to store fuel for a backup generator, was put in the ground without notifying the state agency, and the hospital hired an uncertified contractor to do the work.
According to the News Tribune, the Washington State Department of Ecology — the agency responsible for regulating the more than 8,500 underground fuel tanks spread across over 3,400 facilities statewide — found that the Lakewood hospital never received the compliance tag required to legally accept fuel deliveries. Department spokesperson Cheryl Ann Bishop said inspectors suspected the tank held petroleum but could not confirm the exact type of fuel involved, per the same report.
The violations extend well beyond the missing tag. The hospital also failed to install a fuel monitoring system meant to alert operators to a release or a tank overfill, and it failed to monitor fuel and equipment after deliveries were made, according to the news outlet's reporting.
A Pattern Regulators Say Stretches Back Years
This is not an isolated incident for the medical center. The hospital has racked up more than 18 other violations across two separate storage tanks on-site since 2019, the outlet reports, and Ecology inspectors say they continued finding violations even after providing years of education and training to hospital staff.
Erik Snyder, cited in the News Tribune's report, said the VA's failure to follow procedures and regulations could have resulted in a dangerous fuel leak. That risk carries particular weight given the surrounding terrain: environmental planning studies have identified local water features around the campus — including American Lake, Sears Lake, and Sequalitchew Creek — that connect to shallow aquifers vulnerable to fuel contamination, according to a U.S. Army Environmental Command study. Improper installation or neglected maintenance of underground tanks can cause persistent fuel releases that contaminate soil and groundwater.
Fuel Suppliers and Installer Also Penalized
The hospital wasn't the only party to face consequences. Ecology fined two fuel companies $500 each for delivering fuel without the required registration and compliance tags, and separately fined the tank installer $500 for failing to hold proper certification. Under Washington Administrative Code 173-360A-0400 and RCW 90.76.050, fuel suppliers are legally barred from delivering fuel into any underground tank system lacking a valid, displayed compliance tag, a rule established after 2007 legislative updates to RCW 90.76 that let Ecology block deliveries to noncompliant tanks before a leak can occur.
Separately, state rules under WAC 173-360A-0920 require that underground tank installations and major repairs be directly supervised by a service provider certified through the International Code Council or another state-approved authority — the exact standard the hospital's contractor did not meet. Ecology's routine enforcement against private commercial gas stations in mid-2025 for testing and maintenance failures typically resulted in fines of just $1,000 to $1,500, underscoring how far the VA hospital's $130,000 penalty exceeds standard commercial enforcement.
What Happens Next
The VA Puget Sound Healthcare System declined to comment on the pending state administrative matter, the News Tribune reported. The hospital can file an appeal within 30 days to the Pollution Control Hearings Board, which will issue hearing letters to both parties once an appeal is submitted. Because state rules under WAC 371-08-305 cap single-member “short-board” hearings at fines of $15,000 or less, a challenge to the VA's $130,000 penalty would require review by the full board rather than a single hearing officer.
The American Lake campus itself carries deep institutional history in Lakewood, having been established in 1923 on 377 acres leased from Fort Lewis and opening in 1924 as a 50-bed neuropsychiatric facility for World War I veterans before expanding into the multi-care medical center it is today, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It now operates alongside its sister division in Seattle as part of the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System, which serves more than 80,000 veterans across the Pacific Northwest. Whether the hospital will contest the fine or move to close its ongoing compliance gaps remains an open question.
-4.webp?w=160&h=400&fit=crop&crop=edges)
