California IN BRIEF : FULLERTON : Paint Maker Fined $1.11 Million

A federal judge has ordered a Fullerton paint manufacturer to pay $1.11 million in civil penalties for violating antipollution laws with paint it sold in the 1980s. Federal regulators had charged Vista Paint Corp. with selling thousands of gallons of paint that released chemicals at levels violating the Clean Air Act. Vista countered during the long-running case that it believed it had complied with local rules. The penalty announced is one-third of the record-setting $3.3 million that Vista was ordered to pay in the same case in 1991. Vista appealed that order, and a new trial followed last year. An attorney for Vista criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of the case and suggested the firm may appeal. The order by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin stems from the EPA’s charge that Vista sold gloss and semi-gloss paint and architectural coatings that, when applied, released an estimated 13 tons of volatile organic compounds per month into the air, exacerbating Southern California’s air pollution.