Air Polluter Fines Called Too Small
Oil refineries, power plants and other large industrial operations in California typically pay fines of a few thousand dollars for exceeding air pollution standards, not enough to deter them from repeated violations, according to an environmental group’s review of enforcement penalties around the state.
The analysis set to be released today by the Environmental Working Group found that half the fines levied against large polluters during the last five years by local air regulators -- including the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the authority for the Los Angeles region -- were $2,000 or less.
That, the Washington-based group noted, is less than the $2,500 maximum fine that an owner of a large sport utility vehicle can be assessed for failing to meet state smog standards.
The Environmental Working Group’s analysis -- strongly disputed by some regional pollution officials -- mirrors similar studies over the last decade, including a 1997 audit by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Although the group said that fines have increased slightly since it conducted a similar review in 1999, it concluded that they are still too small to force industries to change. In the last five years, eight major industrial sites have been penalized more than 50 times. Two of those, a Shell refinery in Martinez and a Chevron refinery in Richmond, were each cited more than 120 times, according to the report.
“These large polluters have been able to incorporate these small fines into the cost of doing business. Nothing is changing as a result of these fines,” said Bill Walker, vice president of the Environmental Working Group’s Oakland office.
Jeff Wilson, a spokesman for the industry trade group Western States Petroleum Assn., said oil refineries have made strides in reducing their contributions to air pollution and no longer accounted for a large share.
“The Environmental Working Group’s targeting of refineries is misdirected,” Wilson said. “The low-hanging fruit, factories and refineries, were long ago cleaned up. Our refineries now comprise less than 1% of all stationary source emissions in the South Coast basin.”
Wilson added that while violations sometimes occur, “our refineries do everything possible to communicate with their neighbors and provide a safe workplace.”
Emissions from heavy industry have declined, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Carol Coy, deputy executive officer for the AQMD, defended the agency’s enforcement record Wednesday and sharply questioned how the Environmental Working Group arrived at its conclusions.
The air quality agency, which is charged with reducing air pollution in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, has issued many large fines against repeat offenders in the last five years, including more than $2 million in penalties against a Mobil oil refinery in Torrance. But many of its fines stem from record-keeping violations and other relatively minor pollution rules that do not and should not carry major financial penalties, Coy said.
Last year alone, the AQMD’s 90 inspectors conducted 49,700 checks of the roughly 26,000 sites the agency regulates, and issued 2,700 violation notices carrying potential fines. Moreover, the inspectors issued 6,545 “fix-it notices,” compelling polluters to take care of problems or face financial penalties. By the district’s own accounting, its overall enforcement actions totaled more than $7 million in penalties last year -- more than the Environmental Working Group study had credited them for levying over the past five years.
“They are rightly concerned about how environmental laws are being enforced. But penalties are only one small aspect of our enforcement program,” Coy said. “When you look at the whole number of facilities that need to comply with our regulations, ... there is around 95% compliance. When you are talking about the type of complex rules and regulations that we have, we think that’s pretty good.”
The report’s median figure of $2,000 excluded two multimillion-dollar fines levied by the South Coast district, one of which was a $17-million civil penalty against power producer AES Corp. stemming from violations at its Alamitos facility in Long Beach. The Environmental group said it left those fines out because it felt they were not indicative of the typical pattern and would skew the numbers.
The report also fails to mention a civil lawsuit filed by the air quality agency that is seeking $414 million in damages from BP-Arco on allegations of repeated pollution violations, said AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood.
Cars, trucks, airplanes, ships and other so-called mobile sources are the biggest contributors to air pollution in California. But factory smokestacks and other so-called stationary sources are major contributors to the state’s air quality problem. Those sources account for 512 tons a day of nitrogen oxides, which are key components of smog. A total of about 3,333 tons of nitrogen oxides are released into the state’s air every day from all sources, according to data from the California Air Resources Board.
