Reports in three cases were each more than 200 days late
Sacramento— The Air Resources Board has announced nearly $1
million in penalties against 3 companies for late or inaccurate
reporting of their greenhouse gas emissions for 2011. This action
marks the second time the Air Resources Board has issued fines
for violations of California’s Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Reporting regulation.
Utilities and industrial facilities emitting more than 10,000
metric tons of carbon dioxide annually are required to report
their greenhouse gas emissions. Those emitting 25,000 metric tons
or more are covered by California’s cap-and-trade program. The
reported emissions are independently verified by Air Resources
Board staff, and provide the inventory of emissions critical to
monitor the success of the state’s landmark AB 32 greenhouse gas
emission reduction programs.
The assessed penalties are as follows:
• Chevron U.S.A. Inc. will pay $364,500 for reporting incorrect
information regarding operations at its El Segundo Refinery. In
this case the data remained uncorrected for 243 days.
• In a separate matter, Chevron North America Exploration &
Production Company of Houston, TX has agreed to pay $328,500 for
late reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from its San Joaquin
Valley oil fields. That data was late or incorrect for 219 days.
• Southwest Gas Corporation of Las Vegas, NV has agreed to pay
$300,000 to resolve its late report regarding natural gas
supplied to California for the year 2011. Southwest’s data was
reported 320 days late.
“Most California businesses are working hard to comply with new
rules aimed at climate change. Unfortunately, due to mistakes or
inattention some companies failed to meet the standards,” said
ARB’s manager of climate programs, Steven Cliff, PhD.
The companies in all three cases have cooperated with the Air
Resources Board to correct inaccurate data and to file missing
reports. In each case, these are first violations and
investigators have determined they were inadvertent. The
companies involved brought the missing reports to ARB’s
attention.
These are the largest penalties assessed for violations of the
Mandatory Reporting regulation. In July, the Air Resources Board
penalized 9 other companies smaller amounts for late or
inaccurate reporting.
