Bay Area refinery fined $3.25 million for air quality violations
Published in Business News
SAN FRANCISCO — The Benicia-based Valero Refining Company been fined $3.25 million after authorities said the company committed more than 100 air-quality violations spread out over “multiple incidents” and “several years.”
The Bay Area Air District announced the penalties in a statement Tuesday.
According to the air district, Valero’s violations spanned several years, and the penalties include implementations that Valero must take to improve the transparency of its air-monitoring data.
Messages left with Valero officials were not returned immediately Tuesday.
Air District Executive Officer Dr. Philip Fine in the statement said the penalty “makes clear that noncompliance has consequences. In addition to the financial penalty, this action strengthens the air monitoring and public access to essential data so the Benicia community can see what is happening at the refinery through the idling of operations.”
To improve transparency, the district is requiring Valero to provide public access to real-time historical data that can be downloaded easily as well as quarterly reports summarizing measured pollutant concentrations. The results of air-quality assurance checks and quality-control checks also must be detailed.
The district also will require Valero to follow an approved “Fenceline Air Monitoring Plan.” That plan must include requirements for operating, maintaining and assessing the performance of air-monitoring equipment for all pollutants in a way that’s easier for the public to understand than was done previously.
Valero already has made some of the required improvements to its equipment and to its monitoring and operational practices, the district said.
The $3.25 million in penalties will be allocated to support local and regional projects that improve air quality and public health, the district said.
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