CARB issues emissions fines

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The California Air Resources Board recently fined seven companies $208,050 total for violating the state’s air quality laws by failing to conduct certain fleet inspections:

  • Clougherty Packing/Farmer John of Los Angeles, a Hormel Foods subsidiary, was fined $63,300 for failure to file a one-time report for its Vernon, Calif., distribution facility, violating the Transport Refrigeration Unit facilities regulation. Further, the company failed to inspect its diesel truck fleet for excess emissions in 2006 and 2007.
  • DS Waters of America Inc., an Atlanta-based bottled water company, was fined $74,250 for violations that occurred in facilities located in Irvine, Lakeside, Orange, Riverside, Santa Ana, Temecula, Chico, Fresno, Manteca, Milpitas, Sacramento, Salinas, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Bakersfield, Covina, Gardena, Lancaster, Los Angeles, Oxnard and Van Nuys.
  • The City of Pasadena was fined $23,250 for diesel emissions violations that occurred in 2005.
  • Baja Motorsports — a Tempe, Ariz.-based importer of off-road recreational vehicles from China — was fined $14,000 for improperly labeling its Blitz mini-bikes without California emissions certification labels. The mini-bikes were missing the labels on bikes sold at Kragen Auto Parts stores statewide. Although the bikes are within California emissions standards, they were improperly labeled as being only federally certified. The fine is $50 per vehicle.
  • Universal Waste Systems Inc. of Santa Fe Springs was fined $13,500 for failing to inspect its diesel fleet for excess emissions and complying with state regulations for trash trucks. Universal Waste Systems also failed to retrofit its vehicles to meet the state’s Solid Waste Collection Vehicle rule, adopted in September 2003 to reduce emissions of diesel soot by .3 tons per day once it is fully implemented in 2010.
  • Henkels & McCoy Inc., a construction firm based in Blue Bell, Penn., was fined $10,000 for diesel emission violations that occurred in 2006 and 2007 throughout California.
  • Don E. Keith Transportation was fined $9,750 for not conducting annual inspections of its heavy-duty diesel vehicles at its Bakersfield fleet center.