Ace Hardware Corporation Settlement
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Ace Hardware Corporation Settles SORE Violations for $50,714
During the spring of 2001, staff of the MSOD Field Inspection / Testing section conducted a compliance survey for Small Off-Road Engines (SOREs) by visiting hardware stores and lawnmower shops throughout the State. At the Santa Barbara Home Improvement Center (SBHIC), they discovered non-California compliant chainsaws and line trimmers offered for sale. Since the SBHIC belongs to the ACE cooperative of stores, the ARB issued a cease and desist order to ACE and a request to report the number of units sold statewide. ACE reported that they delivered 1,068 line trimmers and 645 chainsaws equipped with non-California certified engines to retail stores in California, prior to the cease and desist order. Though ACE had procedures in place to segregate 49 state and California compliant equipment, an inadvertent error in the coding of the trimmers and chainsaws allowed the non-compliant units to be distributed and sold in California stores. A recall campaign undertaken by ACE was not successful because most of the non-compliant equipment had already been sold to consumers in California. ACE signed a settlement agreement on December 2, 2003 and deposited $50,714 into the Air Pollution Control Fund.