The California Air Resources Board recently fined three companies more than $330,000 total for violating the state’s air quality laws.
The issue was brought to the attention of CARB enforcement personnel during a routine inspection of New Bern’s smoke testing records, which brought to light the extent of the violations. As part of the settlement, the responsible New Bern employees will attend a mandatory diesel education and technology class and provide certificates of completion within one year, place emissions control labels on all of their heavy-duty vehicles and bring them up to federal emissions standards, and provide documentation for the next four years that smoke inspections are being carried out on schedule.
CARB will place $210,094 into the California Air Pollution Control Fund; this fund uses settlement fines to conduct air pollution research and fund several programs aimed at reducing emissions, while also educating the public on pollution prevention. The remaining $70,031 will go to the Peralta Community College District to fund diesel education classes.
Under the terms of the settlement, Mex-Cal has agreed to pay $33,750 to the California Air Pollution Control Fund. In addition, $5,000 will be paid to the Office of the California Attorney General for legal fees and $11,250 to the Peralta Community College District. Mex-Cal Truckline also agreed to comply with all of CARB’s current and future applicable regulations.
As part of the settlement, Service Rock employees responsible for the inspections must attend a mandatory class on diesel emissions within the next year. The company also must provide documentation to CARB that the inspections are being carried out for the next four years. Lastly, Service Rock must ensure all its diesel trucks are up to federal emissions standards for the vehicle model year and are labeled properly with an emissions control label.
Per the terms of the settlement, Service Rock will pay $42,000 in penalties; $31,500 will go to the California Air Pollution Control Fund, with the remaining $10,500 to Peralta Community College District.
