Local News in Brief : Unocal Cited for Pollution

The Unocal oil refinery in Wilmington has been charged with knowingly polluting the atmosphere and could be fined up to $125,000 in the Los Angeles city attorney’s first prosecution under a stringent state anti-pollution law.

The refinery faces a fine of up to $25,000 for each of five violations of the state Health and Safety Code, contrasted with a maximum fine of $1,000 per incident before the law took effect on Jan. 1, 1987, City Atty. James K. Hahn said.

The city alleges that a smokestack at the refinery was responsible for excessive particle pollution between June 3 and Oct. 14 of last year. The emissions were “particularly irresponsible,” Hahn said, because Unocal supervisors continued to operate a refinery unit after they realized that its pollution filter was broken.

But Unocal spokesman Barry Lane denied that the refinery released excessive pollutants. Unocal was granted variances by air quality officials to operate with only one pollution filter while a second filter was being cleaned, he said, but the refinery still operated within pollution standards.