Firms Cited as Polluters Name Seller of Fuel Oil

Three companies accused of burning fuel oil with an excessive sulfur content have identified a Santa Clarita Valley refinery as the source of the fuel.

The three firms, which were issued violation notices by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said they purchased the oil from Newhall Refining Co. Inc. on Clampitt Road in Newhall, according to records and interviews with officials of the air-quality agency.

Two of the customers, Stroh Brewery Co. in Van Nuys and P. W. Gillibrand Co. near Canyon Country, specifically ordered fuel with less than 0.5% sulfur, the maximum allowed by the air-quality district, Stroh and Gillibrand spokesmen said.

A Newhall Refining official said the fuel supplied to the two firms met the sulfur standard. Hans Mangold, senior vice president for manufacturing at the refinery, said each batch of fuel oil is tested for sulfur. He speculated that, after leaving the refinery, the oil may have been tainted by residues in a fuel truck or from some other source.

Lung Irritant, Acid Rain

Sulfur, when burned, creates sulfur dioxide, which can irritate the lungs. Sulfur dioxide also can be converted in the atmosphere into acid rain.

Gillibrand, without admitting guilt, paid a $500 settlement in June to the air district after an analysis of its oil showed a sulfur content of 0.72%. According to a report by the inspector who took the sample, Gillibrand had ordered low-sulfur fuel and “had acted in good faith to comply with our rules.”

Stroh was issued a violation notice in March, after its fuel oil was found to have a sulfur content of 0.54%. Air-district officials have not sought penalties from Stroh on the ground that a violation that slight can result from a lab error.

A third customer, Blacktop Materials Co. in Sun Valley, paid $950 to the air district in January, 1984, after lab tests on two occasions showed sulfur levels of 0.75% and 0.73%.

Newhall Refining, which has a refining capacity of 23,000 barrels of oil a day, and Blacktop Materials are both subsidiaries of Pauley Petroleum Inc. of Los Angeles.

Mangold said his firm was unaware of the sulfur rule at the time Blacktop was cited. He said he knows of no other case in which a refinery customer has been flagged for sulfur violations.

No Investigation

Air-quality district officials said that discovery of the sulfur violations did not trigger an investigation of Newhall Refining because regulations at the time addressed only the use and not the sale of high-sulfur fuel.

In a separate case, the refinery paid $75,000 in penalties and investigative expenses last December to settle a lawsuit accusing it of selling automotive diesel fuel that did not meet the state’s minimum quality specification. That standard concerns automobile performance and not air quality.

The specification requires that a certain percentage of diesel fuel evaporate when heated to a specific temperature. Although agreeing to the payments, Newhall Refinery did not admit guilt.

The lawsuit, filed by the state attorney general’s office, was based on an investigation by the state Division of Measurement Standards. According to an investigator’s report, a refinery official claimed that he was unaware of the specifications.

Change of Rules

Air-quality district officials said their regulations until recently allowed them to penalize only the users of high-sulfur oil but a recent rule change closed the loophole. The change makes suppliers of diesel fuel accountable for excessive sulfur content but does not affect suppliers of other grades of industrial fuel oil.

Ed Camarena, chief of enforcement for the four-county air district, said that, when an industry is found to be using high-sulfur fuel, it is hard to prove that a specific supplier is responsible because the oil may be a blend from several sources.

But holding suppliers equally liable would provide a deterrent, he said.