AnonymousSource: Santa Barbara County District Attorney
District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced today that her Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit, as part of a team with seven other district attorneys, settled a civil action against Builder Services Group, Inc., dba TruTeam of California.
TruTeam is an insulation contractor that operates throughout California, including in Santa Maria and previously in Goleta. In February 2017, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department responded to a fire at TruTeam’s Goleta facility. The fire was caused by the unlawful treatment of hazardous waste, when TruTeam employees combined two different hazardous wastes—liquid resins that are used in tandem to create solid foam insulation. This combination of wastes started an exothermic chemical reaction igniting nearby materials. In May 2017, the Santa Barbara County Certified Unified Program Agency (“CUPA”)—a division of Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Services—issued a Notice of Violation directing TruTeam to properly manage its hazardous waste and to implement a Hazardous Materials Business Plan (“HMBP”). HMBPs inform first responders about which hazardous materials are at a business, which in turn is necessary to know what could be burning and how to safely extinguish it. In August 2018, another fire occurred at the Goleta facility due to unlawful treatment of hazardous waste. Further investigation led the People to allege violations relating to TruTeam facilities in Santa Barbara County and seven other counties.
TruTeam and the District Attorneys of Santa Barbara, Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego and Stanislaus Counties stipulated to the entry of final judgment in this case. TruTeam neither admitted nor denied the alleged violations.
The Final Judgment includes the following provisions:
- $279,500 in civil penalties.
- $68,446 to Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
- $16,250 to Santa Barbara CUPA.
- $17,500 to State of California General Fund, Toxic Substances Control Account.
- $177,304 among the other District Attorney’s Offices on the prosecution team.
- $80,000 as Supplemental Environmental Projects.
- $20,000 to Craig Thompson Environmental Protection Prosecution Fund.
- $20,000 to CUPA Forum Environmental Protection Trust Fund.
- $40,000 to California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (“CalRecycle”), Farm and Ranch Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Grant Program.
- $50,000 in cost reimbursement.
- $11,375 to Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
- $5,654 to Santa Barbara CUPA.
- $32,971 among the other District Attorney’s Offices on the prosecution team and the other environmental health inspection agencies who contributed to the case.
District Attorney Dudley said, “These violations threatened the safety of the public, employees and first responders, thus my office takes very seriously the failure to comply with hazardous-waste and hazardous-materials laws.”
