The California Air Resources Board announced that during the fourth quarter of 2011 it settled 33 cases of air quality violations by trucks and buses, mostly for failure to properly conduct and pass self-inspections aimed at measuring vehicle smoke emissions to ensure state requirements are met.
“The Air Resources Board has a long history of outreach to businesses to keep them informed about how to keep in compliance with state laws,” said Paul Jacobs, chief of CARB’s Mobile Source Enforcement Branch. “When companies fail to make necessary changes or neglect to do what is required of them, we have to take action in order to protect public health.”
Fines totaled $226,950; none from this group exceeded $25,000.
The five trucking companies paying the highest amounts were:
• Dole Fresh Fruit, fined $24,750 for failing to properly label its diesel-powered Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) generator sets according to CARB regulations.
• Hendrickson Trucking Inc., fined $19,875 for failing to properly self-inspect its diesel trucks to assure the vehicles met state smoke emissions standards.
• Dynalectric Los Angeles, fined $15,750 for failing to properly self-inspect its diesel trucks to assure the vehicles met state smoke emissions standards.
• United Food Group LLC, fined $13,725 for failing to bring the company’s TRUs into compliance with state requirements, and for failing to properly self-inspect its diesel trucks to assure the vehicles met state smoke emissions standards.
• Harrison Trucking, Inc., fined $13,175 for failing to properly self-inspect its diesel fleet to ensure compliance with state smoke emissions standards.
