AQMD Accuses Hughes Plant in El Segundo of Releasing Pollutants
Hughes Aircraft has been accused of releasing an unknown amount of polluting thinners and solvents into the atmosphere from a manufacturing plant in El Segundo.
In a lawsuit filed last week in Torrance Superior Court, the South Coast Air Quality Management District asks for penalties of up to $25,000 a day for alleged violations of district rules over an 8-month period from July 6, 1987, to March 4, 1988.
Hughes spokesman Mike Murphy declined to comment.
The agency alleges that the chemicals came from spray booths at the plant, at 2000 E. El Segundo Blvd., where Hughes makes weapon guidance systems and other military equipment.
The booths are used to spray solvents and thinners on electronic circuit boards and aerospace components, said air quality district spokeswoman Jacqueline Switzer. When combined with sunlight, the organic compounds create ozone pollution, Switzer said.
The lawsuit alleges that Hughes released quantities of so-called “photochemically reactive” solvents in excess of the amounts permitted in air quality district regulations.
It also claims that during the 8-month period, Hughes failed to obey a district rule requiring a daily record of solvent use. Hughes failed to keep such records even after the district ordered the company to do so in February, 1988, the suit alleges.
Without such records, the district cannot determine the extent of the pollution, but routine inspections of equipment confirmed that the pollutants were released, Switzer said.
The lawsuit also charges that Hughes violated its operating permit from the air district by failing to properly label the solvents used in the spray booths.
The state Health and Safety Code permits penalties of up to $10,000 a day if the violations were simply negligent and up to $25,000 a day if they were “knowing.”
