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TEXACO CALIFORNIA SUBSIDIARY FINED $4 MILLION
Release Date: 03/16/2001
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2001
TEXACO CALIFORNIA SUBSIDIARY FINED $4 MILLION
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818 / [email protected]
Texaco Refining and Marketing, Inc. (TRMI), a Texaco, Inc., subsidiary based in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty on March 12 to two felony violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA). A fine of $4 million was imposed, $3 million of which will be designated for environmental projects expected to include projects in the Channel Islands National Park, the Santa Monica National Recreational Area, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties, the Wilmington district of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles sanitation districts. TRMI admitted that its employees knowingly discharged wastewaters which contained oil and grease above permitted levels into the Dominquez Channel from a TRMI refinery in Los Angeles. TRMI also admitted that an employee working at a service station in San Luis Obispo, for which there was no discharge permit, directed contractors to discharge 2,000-8,000 gallons of wastewaters into a drain that emptied into Prefumo Creek and then into the Pacific Ocean. The discharge of oil into surface waters can, in sufficient quantities, create a fire hazard and can harm fish and other aquatic life. The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Federal Environmental Task Force and the Santa Barbara/San Luis Obispo Regional Environmental Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
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