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U.S. EPA Requires AllenCo to Pay Penalty for Federal Violations

Release Date: 07/30/2014
Contact Information: Nahal Mogharabi, 213-244-1815, mogharabi.nahal@epa.gov

LOS ANGELES— Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached a settlement with AllenCo Energy, Inc., requiring the company to pay $99,000 for violations of federal environmental laws. The penalty is in addition to the ongoing work identified in an April 2014 consent agreement with EPA.

EPA’s November 2013 inspection, prompted by community complaints regarding emissions coming from the facility, found that AllenCo was in violation of the “General Duty Clause” of the Clean Air Act because it failed to maintain a safe facility by not taking steps necessary to prevent accidental releases of hazardous substances. EPA also found that AllenCo was in violation of the Clean Water Act, which requires onshore oil production facilities that may discharge oils into waterways to prepare and implement a Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan. In addition, EPA’s investigation found that AllenCo failed to submit chemical inventory forms for the hazardous substances stored at the facility as required by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

AllenCo is a small oil production facility located in a residential neighborhood of South Los Angeles, approximately two miles from the University of Southern California. The facility voluntarily shut down operations in late November 2013. As part of a consent agreement with EPA in April 2014, AllenCo will continue to make changes and improvements at the facility and must certify with the Agency that the work is completed at least 15 days prior to re-opening the facility. In addition to today’s penalty, AllenCo estimates that it will spend approximately $700,000 for improvements at the facility, which will include the actions required by EPA’s order. Details of the April 2014 consent agreement can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/region9/waste/enforcement/inspections/

The SPCC portion of the settlement is subject to a 30-day comment period and final agency approval. The 30-day public comment period ends on August 28, 2014. The penalty order and information on how to provide comments on the SPCC portion of the settlement can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/region9/enforcement/pubnotices/pubnotice-allenco.html.

For more information on the Clean Water Act SPCC, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/oem/content/spcc/

For more information on the Clean Air Act General Duty Clause, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/chem/gdc-fact.pdf

For more information on the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/epcra