Trying to mop up on dirty business.

• Position: Cleanup of polluted North Carolina island begins - Brief Article

When a deal to lease part of an island near Morehead City as the site of an ethanol factory fell through, the N.C. Ports Authority got stuck with a big cleaning bill. But the authority knew it had a mess on its hands when it bought the 48-acre tract last year from Goldsboro-based Aviation Fuel Terminals Inc.

AFT had stored jet fuel, brought in by tankers and shipped out by train to military bases, there since before the Vietnam War. The authority, which has owned 56.5 adjoining acres since 1969, had long eyed the site as part of a plan to expand its Morehead City port.

When negotiations began last year, they focused on AFT's 16 storage tanks. For years, AFT had buried residue from them on the property. Leaks and spills had added to the contamination. In October, the authority struck a deal for $7.75 million -- $670,000 less than AFT's asking price. The discount was the cost of the cleanup.

That cost almost shifted to Raleigh-based DFI Group Inc., which wanted to lease part of the site and some adjoining land to build a plant to convert sweet potatoes and corn into ethanol. As part of negotiations, DFI offered to take on the...