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SAN FRANCISCO —Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board announced that the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) and six East Bay cities will be assessed $372,876 in penalties for violating settlement terms designed to prevent untreated sewage from entering San Francisco Bay.

Under a 2014 Clean Water Act settlement, EBMUD and seven East Bay cities paid a $1.5 million civil penalty for past sewage discharges. They agreed to assess and upgrade their 1,600-mile-long sewer system infrastructure over 21 years. Since then, over 114 miles of sewer main pipe have been rehabilitated or replaced and over 650 miles of private sewer laterals have been certified as leak-free.

“These East Bay cities and utilities made commitments to upgrade aging sewer infrastructure, which is a necessary step for protecting the waters of San Francisco Bay and surrounding communities,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “We’re taking this action to ensure they live up to those commitments and undertake the efforts needed to renew wastewater infrastructure.”

The parties are being assessed the following penalties for violations of the settlement that occurred between July 2021 and June 2023: 

• City of Oakland - $278,200 - Failure to prevent 67 sanitary sewer overflows from reaching waters.
• EBMUD - $28,000 - Failure to prevent a sanitary sewer overflow from reaching waters and failure to meet effluent limitations for coliform.
• Stege Sanitary District (serving El Cerrito, Kensington, and a portion of Richmond) - $25,000 - Failure to prevent a sanitary sewer overflow from reaching waters.
• City of Piedmont - $15,876 - Failure to timely rehabilitate the required footage of sewer mains.
• City of Alameda - $200 - Failure to prevent a sanitary sewer overflow from reaching waters.
• City of Albany - $25,000 - Failure to prevent a sanitary sewer overflow from reaching waters.
• City of Berkeley - $600 - Failure to prevent three sanitary sewer overflows from reaching waters.

When wastewater infrastructure is not properly maintained, untreated sewage can escape and be discharged to the bay. Older sewer systems in particular can be overwhelmed during rainstorms, releasing untreated sewage. In addition to polluting waterways, untreated sewage can spread disease-causing organisms, metals and nutrients that threaten public health. Sewage can also deplete oxygen in the bay, threatening fish, seals and other wildlife.

Read the settlement on EPA’s website.  

Learn more about efforts to protect San Francisco Bay.

Learn about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and X. 

Lexington, Kentucky (April 10, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Commonwealth of Kentucky are working with the City of Lexington, Kentucky to extend the compliance deadline of an existing consent decree to resolve issues related to the city’s sanitary sewer systems. The amended consent decree, which will be lodged with the Court and subject to a public comment period before it is entered by the Court, will extend the current compliance deadline for the city to complete sewer system improvements from December 2026 to December 2030.

Since the original consent decree was signed, the City of Lexington has completed 75 remedial projects focused on improvements to the sewer system, but the City needs additional time to complete the remaining projects. In addition to addressing supply chain delays and workforce disruptions, the extension of the deadline will allow for timely completion of an expanded scope of projects that was not contemplated at the time the existing compliance schedule was established, including a 50 percent increase in the flow capacity of the East Hickman Force Main, a 2-million gallons per day upgrade to the East Hickman Pump Station, and a nearly 50 percent increase to the East Hickman wet weather storage facility.

The original consent decree, which was finalized in January 2011, resolved a lawsuit that the EPA and the Commonwealth of Kentucky filed against the City of Lexington for violations of the Clean Water Act related to sanitary sewer overflows. The consent decree required the study, design, and implementation of numerous construction projects to repair and upgrade sewer system infrastructure to prevent the discharge of sewage into surface water streams during periods of heavy rainfall. Improvement projects already implemented by the city have abated 85 recurring sanitary sewer overflows. These results have contributed to the reduction of pollutants to waters that can cause water quality problems and human health impacts due to exposure to raw sewage. Furthermore, the proposed schedule of the amended consent decree also anticipates having 90% of the listed recurring sanitary sewer overflows abated by December 2026.

The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court. The consent decree can be viewed on the Department of Justice website.

For more information, please visit the website for this consent decree.

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WASHINGTON – Today, April 10, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement with Colonial Oil Industries Inc., that will require the company to pay a civil penalty of more than $2.8 million and spend an estimated $12.2 million to offset the detrimental human health and environmental impacts of Colonial’s alleged failure to meet obligations under the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program and gasoline volatility standards.

“Renewable fuels play a critical role in diversifying our country’s energy mix and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, all while providing good paying jobs and economic benefits to communities across the country,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This settlement once more puts gasoline and diesel refiners and importers on notice that they must meet their obligations to reduce climate- and health-harming pollution and that there will be consequences if they do not.”

Between 2013 and 2019, Colonial excluded certain fuel it supplied to marine vessels from its renewable volume obligations calculations in violation of the RFS regulations. Fuel intended for use only in ocean-going vessels is not required to be included in renewable volume obligation calculations. But not all marine vessels are ocean-going vessels, and volumes supplied to non-oceangoing vessels must be included in such calculations. Colonial’s actions resulted in less renewable fuel being used in lieu of gasoline and diesel fuel, causing increased greenhouse gas emissions.

“The creation and use of renewable fuels reduces overall greenhouse gas emissions,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This proposed settlement will hold Colonial to the same renewable fuel requirements that all importers and producers must adhere to.”

Under the RFS program, refiners or importers of gasoline or diesel fuel are required to either blend renewable fuels into transportation fuel or purchase credits known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) to meet their renewable volume obligations. Between 2013 and 2019, Colonial failed to purchase and retire enough RINs. The settlement requires Colonial to purchase and retire over 9 million RINs within two years at an estimated cost of approximately $12.2 million. The RIN purchase and retirements is estimated to result in over 18,300 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent reductions which equates to powering 2,386 homes’ energy use or 4,355 gasoline cars for a year.

Colonial also sold over a million gallons of gasoline that failed to meet the applicable volatility standard which is intended to reduce evaporative emissions during the summer season from gasoline that contributes to smog and to reduce the effects of ozone-related health problems such as asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

The proposed settlement, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

Additional Information

For more information about today’s settlement, please visit the Colonial Oil Clean Air Act Settlement webpage.

Information on submitting comments is available on the Justice Department’s website.  

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a proposed settlement with Shasta-Siskiyou Transport of Redding, Calif. to resolve claims of Clean Water Act (CWA) violations after one of the company’s trucks overturned and a fuel product spilled into storm drains in downtown Redding. The fuel reached the Sacramento River. The proposed settlement requires Shasta-Siskiyou Transport to pay a civil penalty of $208,840.

“Fuel products can cause severe harm to our waters, wildlife and ecosystems, so it’s imperative that they be transported in a safe manner,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “This proposed settlement shows EPA’s commitment to holding accountable entities that pollute waterways in the San Francisco Bay watershed.”

On Jan. 21, 2022, one of Shasta-Siskiyou Transport’s trucks was transporting transmix, a mixture of gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum distillates, when the truck overturned in downtown Redding, releasing transmix into nearby storm drains, which led directly to Calaboose Creek and subsequently into the Sacramento River. The Sacramento River flows into the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, and EPA alleges that Shasta-Siskiyou Transport’s truck released transmix in such quantities that may be harmful.

The proposed settlement is subject to public notice and comment. Members of the public can comment on the proposed settlement on EPA’s website.

Additional Information:

For more information on reporting possible violations of environmental laws and regulations visit EPA’s enforcement reporting website.

Learn about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and X. 

WASHINGTON – Today, April 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), filed a complaint against USA Wholesale, Inc. (“USA Wholesale”), a San Jose corporation which sells engine lubricants, for unlawfully importing hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) through a port of the United States in 2022. 1 This is the first time EPA has used its authority under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (“AIM Act”), to file an administrative complaint for illegally importing HFCs. The AIM Act, which implements the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, by 2036 requires the United States to phase down HFC production and consumption by 85%. 

 EPA designated climate change mitigation as a National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative (pdf), which includes addressing the illegal import of HFCs under the current phasedown. Over the last several months, the agency has taken several enforcement actions against companies for their illegal import of HFCs.
 
“EPA is using every enforcement tool available to hold companies accountable for the illegal importation of refrigerants that damage our climate and imperil future generations,” said David M. Uhlmann, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This first-ever administrative complaint for the unlawful import of super-polluting HFCs advances EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative on Mitigating Climate Change and demonstrates how EPA is intensifying its efforts to prevent the illegal importation of HFCs.” 2

USA Wholesale attempted to illegally import 34,480.3 pounds of HFC-134a, which is a potent greenhouse gas with a 100-year global warming potential of 1,430. EPA issued a letter recommending that Customs and Border Protection 3 deny the shipment entry into the U.S., and the HFCs were subsequently exported. If released into the atmosphere, these HFCs are the equivalent of 22,365 metric tons of carbon dioxide (“CO2”) or the same amount of CO2 produced from powering 4,414 homes with electricity for a year. 

 The complaint seeks a ruling by the administrative law court that USA Wholesale’s importation and failure to submit required reports to EPA constitutes violations of the AIM Act and seeks civil penalties.

HFCs are a super climate pollutant with global warming potentials hundreds to thousands of times higher than CO2. The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, adopted in 2016, is expected to avoid up to 0.5°C of global warming by 2100. 

 Since January 2022, EPA and CBP have denied entry to over 80 shipments of illegal HFCs. Under EPA’s HFC phasedown regulations, importers must expend allowances to import HFCs. Illegal imports of HFCs undermine the phasedown, disadvantage companies who follow the rules, and contribute to global warming.  

 Achieving the goals of the HFC phasedown also requires accurate data. Thus, in addition to preventing illegal imports of HFCs, EPA is also using its enforcement authorities to target HFC importers that fail to accurately report their import quantities to EPA. The agency will continue to scrutinize the reporting data to ensure that it and the public have the best data available to make informed decisions on fighting climate change.  

Background Information 

More information related to HFCs, greenhouse gases, the AIM Act, and the climate change National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative are available on EPA’s website:  

• Addressing Climate Change in Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
• Enforcement of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program: HFC Importers
• Enforcement of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020
• Fiscal Years 2024 – 2027 National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECIs)  
• Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP)
• Information on Global Warming Potential

 If you suspect someone is illegally importing HFCs, tell EPA at its Report Environmental Violations website. Information you submit will be forwarded to EPA environmental enforcement personnel or to the appropriate regulatory authority. 

1 port updated 

2 quote updated for clarity

3 correction to Customs and Border Protection

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced a settlement with the Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki Indians in Glenn County, Calif., that requires the Tribe to take immediate action to address issues with its drinking water system and comply with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The Tribe owns and operates the Grindstone Rancheria public water system, which is designed to serve treated surface water from Stony Creek to 150 residents.

“This settlement is critical to protecting public health at the Grindstone Indian Rancheria, so people there have access to clean and safe drinking water,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “Ensuring that small community water systems like this one provide safe drinking water is a national priority for EPA, especially in communities that face environmental justice concerns.”

Under today’s settlement, the Tribe must:

• Develop and issue a boil water notice as needed to address certain contaminants in residents’ drinking water.
• Achieve and demonstrate compliance with federal standards to treat surface water for the Tribe’s water tanks and distribution lines.
• Provide an alternative supply of clean drinking water as needed to affected residents.
• Develop an operation and maintenance plan for the Tribal drinking water system and hire two operators to run the system.
• Meet annual reporting requirements and approve an annual budget for the drinking water system’s operation.
• Pay a $8,963 penalty.

EPA and the Tribe entered into an administrative order on consent in December 2017 for violations of the SDWA at the drinking water system, and EPA issued an emergency administrative order in June 2019 after finding the Tribe failed to adequately disinfect drinking water at the system, posing an imminent and substantial threat to human health. To date, the Tribe has failed to comply with the requirements for both EPA orders. The Tribe has incurred numerous violations of the SDWA, including failing to ensure adequate disinfection, exceeding standards for E. coli, failing to collect routine samples for contaminants, failing to ensure the system is operated by a qualified operator, and failing to comply with public notification requirements.

Since 2020, one of EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives has focused on ensuring delivery of safe drinking water to communities by improving compliance with the SDWA and fostering greater collaboration between EPA and states, tribes, and territories to create a more effective national program. An additional focus of this national initiative is to increase EPA’s enforcement and compliance assurance capacity in order to work more effectively with states, tribes, and territories to meet our shared goal of addressing drinking water violations and risks to public health.

Today’s settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period. Visit DOJ’s website to read the proposed settlement and for information on how to submit a comment.

Read more about this National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative on EPA’s website.

For more information on reporting possible violations of environmental laws and regulations, visit EPA’s enforcement reporting website.

Learn about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and X. 

DALLAS, TEXAS (April 8, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized a settlement with Sasol Chemicals (Sasol) over alleged violations of the chemical accident prevention provisions of the Clean Air Act at the company’s facility in Westlake, Louisiana. Under the settlement, Sasol will pay more than $1.4 million in civil penalties and correct violations related to an October 2022 fire at the facility, as well as those found during a compliance evaluation in 2021. The facility is adjacent to the Mossville community, which Administrator Michael Regan visited on his Journey to Justice tour.

“The Mossville community has organized and fought for generations to protect their families from environmental impacts to people’s health and EPA is ready to build on that work by holding companies like Sasol accountable,” said Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “Sasol and other industrial polluters must prioritize the safety of the fenceline community and their workers by following all chemical accident-prevention laws.”

Residents of the historic community of Mossville, founded by formerly enslaved people in the 1790s, live on the fence line of Sasol Chemicals and close to many other industrial facilities. Families here experience a daily pollution burden from these facilities, and many have been affected by cancer and other serious diseases. Administrator Michael Regan visited Mossville and other environmental justice communities on his Journey to Justice tour to listen to their stories and concerns. Through the resolution of this case, EPA is furthering the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice by enforcing stronger safety requirements for industrial facilities and requiring new measures to protect communities.

From January through July 2021, EPA conducted a Virtual Partial Compliance Evaluation (VPCE) of the Sasol facility under chemical accident prevention requirements of the Clean Air Act, including Section 112(r) and the General Duty Clause. On October 15, 2022—during the process to settle alleged violations found during the evaluation—a fire occurred at Sasol that resulted in a shelter-in-place order for the Westlake area. The settlement announced today addresses violations from the evaluation and the fire.

Under the settlement, Sasol will pay a civil penalty of $1,441,712.00. Sasol will also undertake several actions to resolve alleged violations, such as improving systems and procedures to assure timely completion of the Process Hazardous Analysis recommendations, improving inspections and procedures to maintain mechanical integrity of process equipment, addressing and resolving overdue compliance audits findings, improving safety systems designed to detect potential hazards, updating written and operating procedures to ensure the safe conducting of work activities, and improving implementation practices of operating procedures at the facility.

The injunctive relief in the settlement aligns with new amendments to the Risk Management Program announced on  March 1, 2024, that require stronger measures for prevention, preparedness, and public transparency. The “Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention Rule” protects the health and safety of all communities by requiring industry to prevent accidental releases of dangerous chemicals that could cause deaths and injuries, damage property and the environment, or require surrounding communities to evacuate or shelter-in-place. The rule requires regulated facilities to perform a safer technologies and alternatives analysis, and in some cases, facilities will be required to implement reliable safeguard measures. Under this settlement, Sasol will develop and implement safe work practices for the pressure testing of related process equipment to avoid further chemical accidental releases like the fire and shelter-in-place that occurred on October 15, 2022.

Improving compliance with Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act Amendments is part of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative of chemical accident risk reduction. Under Section 112(r), EPA publishes regulations and guidance for chemical accident prevention at facilities that use certain hazardous substances. These regulations and guidance are contained in the Risk Management Program rule, which requires facilities that use extremely hazardous substances to develop a Risk Management Plan which:

• identifies the potential effects of a chemical accident,
• identifies steps the facility is taking to prevent an accident, and
• spells out emergency response procedures should an accident occur.

To learn more about the Clean Air Act’s accident prevention provisions, see https://www.epa.gov/rmp.

Connect with the Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), or visit our homepage.

Atlanta (April 8, 2024) – D.R. Horton, Inc., the nation’s largest homebuilder, and its subsidiary, D.R. Horton, Inc. – Birmingham (collectively “Horton”), have resolved allegations that they violated requirements of the Clean Water Act (CWA) relating to stormwater discharges associated with construction activity at 16 locations in Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Under the proposed consent decree, Horton will implement a comprehensive stormwater compliance program at the many hundreds of home construction sites they operate within EPA Region 4 and will pay a civil penalty of $400,000, a portion of which will be directed to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the State of South Carolina, who joined this settlement. Horton will also commit to spend at least $400,000 on a Supplemental Environmental Project to improve water quality by decreasing pollutant loads in stormwater runoff through increases in stormwater infiltration.

“All homebuilders, including Horton, must comply with Clean Water Act provisions to prevent waterways from being contaminated by sediment discharges and other pollutants from stormwater runoff,” said Acting EPA Region 4 Administrator Jeaneanne Gettle. “This consent decree was developed with Horton, along with the cooperation of state agencies, to ensure that Horton implements a comprehensive stormwater management program at the many hundreds of home construction sites they operate across the Southeast to protect nearby waterways and the communities that live along them.”

The injunctive relief measures set forth in the proposed consent decree are designed to result in effective stormwater runoff management at Horton’s construction sites and will result in an estimated annual reduction of 45.5 million pounds of total suspended solids in affected waters.

The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court. The consent decree can be viewed on the Department of Justice website.

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