California Air Resources Board

SACRAMENTO - The Air Resources Board has announced nearly $1 million in penalties against three 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 nine other companies smaller amounts for late or inaccurate reporting.