ARCO Settlement 2002
ARCO Case Settled - $45.7 Million
The Enforcement Division, working under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the California Environmental Protection Agency, completed its investigation of the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), now owned by British Petroleum (BP). This investigation started in Sacramento on October 6, 1999, after it was found that ARCO had many sites that were under construction and unprotected steel piping was observed being removed from underground. Health and Safety Code Sections 25299(b)(2), 25299(b)(4) and 25299(b)(6) required that all underground fuel storage tanks and piping be upgraded by December 22, 1998, to meet these requirements.
This investigation was conducted at over 100 ARCO sites throughout California, and it was confirmed that ARCO failed to meet the 1998 upgrade requirements at 59 sites. It was found that these sites had unprotected steel piping at the dispensers and the turbines.
The Attorney General's Office filed the complaint and negotiated the consent decree, which resulted in a record $20.7 million cash settlement and an additional $25 million in improvements to their sites over and above what was required. Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced the settlement on June 20, 2002. Of this $20.7 million cash settlement, $500,000 will go to the Air Resources Board (ARB) for a Supplemental Environmental Project to fund an ethanol permeation study for RFG3 and an additional $80,000 will go to the ARB to cover our investigative costs.