TOP AIR POLLUTION PENALTIES

The South Coast Air Quality Management District has responsibility to control air pollution in the area. It has the power to seek court-imposed fines against polluters of from $25 to $25,000 a day based on such factors as the extent that emissions exceed legal limits, the potential danger to the public, whether the violation was intentional, accidental or due to negligence and the company’s history of violations. These are the 10 highest penalties paid in November:

COMPANY TYPE OF BUSINESS PENALTY Mead Packaging Package $25,000 Buena Park manufacturer Fleetwood Motor Motor home $9,000 Homes of California manufacturer Riverside Lawry’s Foods Inc. Food processor $8,500 Los Angeles Shell Oil Co. Oil refinery $7,500 Carson Airesearch Aerospace firm $6,550 Manufacturing Co. Torrance Supreme Corp. Truck painting $6,000 Fontana shop Fleetwood Travel Trailer $5,000 Trailers manufacture Rialto National RV Inc. Recreational $5,000 Perris vehicle manufacturer Orange County Name tag $3,333.33 Nameplate Co. manufacturer Santa Fe Spring Econolite Control Traffic signal $2,725 Products Inc. manufacturer Anaheim

COMPANY VIOLATION Mead Packaging Excessive hydrocarbons Buena Park from printing presses Fleetwood Motor Excessive hydrocarbons Homes of California from paint; installing and Riverside operating equipment without permits Lawry’s Foods Inc. Operating a fryer at an Los Angeles excessive temperature; using too much oil in the fryer Shell Oil Co. Excessive hydrocarbons Carson from a leaking tank and valves; excessive sulfur dioxide emissions from a sulfur recovery unit Airesearch Excessive smoke and Manufacturing Co. hydrocarbon fumes; Torrance excessive hydrocarbons from a degreaser and an inefficient paint sprayer; visible emissions from sand blasting equipment Supreme Corp. Installation and Fontana operation of spray painting equipment without permits; public nuisance due to spray painting in the open; excessive hydrocarbons Fleetwood Travel Excessive hydrocarbons Trailers from painting operations Rialto National RV Inc. Excessive hydrocarbons Perris from spray painting equipment and operating equipment without a permit in 1987; operating contrary to permit conditions in 1988 Orange County Excessive hydrocarbons Nameplate Co. from painting operations Santa Fe Spring and from a degreaser Econolite Control Excessive hydrocarbons Products Inc. from painting operations Anaheim