Firm Fined $10,000 for Hazardous Spill
The operator of a Newhall power plant was fined $10,000 Tuesday for failing to notify authorities last September after several hundred pounds of corrosive lime accidentally spilled from a silo and onto private property near three houses.
The company, AES Placerita, pleaded no contest in Newhall Municipal Court to one misdemeanor count of failing to report a hazardous materials spill. The company could have been fined up to $25,000, Deputy Dist. Atty. William Carter said.
AES is apparently the first company to be convicted under a 1986 state law that requires industries to report spills of hazardous materials to authorities, Carter said.
The law was prompted by a fire that gutted a Sylmar chemical plant in 1985, Carter said. The AES spill occurred Sept. 2 after a panel in a silo gave way. Lime is classified as a hazardous substance that is more corrosive than toxic, Carter said.
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