Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
The Stop & Shop gas station on S. Milpas Street was ordered to pay $25,000 in environmental fines.
District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced today that her Environmental Protection Unit has obtained a $25,000 stipulated final judgment against Mr. Aied M. Abdullatif, the owner of the gas station.
The settlement resolves allegations that Stop & Shop violated the law by failing to maintain their leak-detection sensors, such that they could detect leaks at the earliest possible opportunity, at their Valero gas station at 134 South Milpas Street in Santa Barbara.
“Leaks of underground gas tanks are difficult to detect, one pin-prick-sized hole can leak 400 gallons per year, and 12 ounces of gasoline can contaminate 40,000 gallons of groundwater. Leaks are costly to remedy, and these costs often fall on taxpayers. It is thus vital that laws governing leak-detection systems be enforced and violators be held accountable,” said Dudley.
Abdullatif reportedly cooperated with the District Attorney’s Office and negotiated a resolution to the lawsuit. The Final Judgment includes $20,000 in civil penalties to the Santa Barbara County Certified Unified Program Agency, $3,500 as a Supplemental Environmental Project to the Craig Thompson Environmental Protection Prosecution Fund, $1,500 as a Supplemental Environmental Project to the Certified Unified Program Agency
Forum, Training Fund, and an injunction mandating compliance with applicable Underground Storage Tank laws.
the business makes way more than $25k per year ( same for the “other guys” they make way more than that ), hell probably more per month. Fines against a business, and environmental fines are almost ALWAYS high. As they are trying to take away your revenue to make it sting more. Most of the time its negligence, and oversight. Something that any business that is decent, would be on top of. More than likely the “other guys” actually leaked bad stuff into our environment. Where the gas station only “missed” the faulty leak detection sensor. They may have found that no leak actually occurred at the station. Once again its all about the details we dont hear or read. no one can make a judgement on an edhat article or post. there is way more information needed to quantify that statement and judgment.
Sometimes these fines seem out of whack. This guy gets fined $25K. Three large SoCal manufacturers get fined $170K. Fair? ” Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it has levied fines totaling $170,000 against Dura Coat Products, Inc., International Aerospace Coatings, Inc. and Goodwest Rubber Linings, Inc. for alleged violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which oversees the proper management of hazardous waste. ”
Films, my point was that these large manufacturers got fined a very small percent of their revenue, while the gas station got fined a large percent of his revenue. Unless you think his violation was more egregious than the others, it seems unfair.
There is no equity in these fines. For a current bad scenario that is typical of the genre look at what Exide has been able to get away with for decades. They intentionally did not do what was necessary to protect the community from their battery recycling operations in East LA, when caught they were fined small amounts which they stalled and while they continued to mess up the neighborhoods. When finally cornered they decided to declare bankruptcy and leave the mess to the people of the State of California while their owners and creditors get first shot at the proceeds of their sale. And this was upheld by the bankruptcy judge! Why should anyone who loans money to a business not have to take the risk of that business being unable to pay them back? This is the state of capitalism in the US.