SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- State and local prosecutors in California have filed a complaint against Martinez, Calif.-based Golden Gate Petroleum, Bay Area Diablo Petroleum, Westgate Petroleum and Northgate Petroleum (all affiliated companies) for mismanaging their underground storage tanks (USTs). The complaint was filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court in response to numerous UST violations observed by state and local inspectors. The prosecutors seek a permanent injunction, civil penalties, and other equitable relief.
Over the past several years, investigators [image-nocss] have observed numerous violations that directly threatened the environment under and around the gas stations, they contend. These violations allegedly included tampering with safety monitoring sensors, inoperable or missing line leak detectors, liquid and debris in the secondary containment, failure to perform monitoring within the required time period, failure of visual and/or audible alarms, operating without a permit and other statutory and regulatory offenses, including unfair business practices.
The lawsuit involves more than 30 stations located throughout California owned or operated by the defendants. The lawsuit also seeks civil penalties for the hundreds of violations that the state and local agencies have documented. There is a minimum penalty of $500 per day for each of the violations alleged. Thus, the ultimate penalties could be in the multi-millions of dollars.
Reed Sato, director of the State Water Board's Office of Enforcement, said, "Our investigation found that these companies' USTs have been systematically operated with little regard for the safety requirements which protect the communities and their water quality from the potential dangers of a gasoline release to the environment."
A two-year investigation and joint enforcement action by the State Water Resources Control Board's Office of Enforcement and the California Attorney General's Office preceded this lawsuit.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of major enforcement actions that the AG's office and local prosecutors have jointly brought against violators of California UST laws. To date, these actions have resulted in numerous multi-million dollar penalties and extensive corrective action by the violators.
The stations "did not have a spill or leak. There was no pollution that resulted from any of this," Mark S. Pollock, environmental counsel for Golden Gate Petroleum, told The Tri-Valley Herald.
Golden Gate, founded in 1946, is a family-owned company that employs more than 75 people in Contra Costa County, according to Lori O'Keefe, the company's risk manager. The company supplies fuel to the county and the state, O'Keefe said. Golden Gate is owned by Dennis O'Keefe, her father-in- law.
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