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SACRAMENTO – White River Marine Group, a manufacturer of fishing and recreational boats, has paid $203,500 in penalties for violating state anti-pollution laws relating to marine watercraft.

The Missouri-based company was cited for selling boats with uncertified evaporative emissions systems and missing labels. The penalty was the highest issued by CARB since evaporative emissions requirements for recreational marine watercraft were adopted in 2018.  The regulation applies to model year 2018 or later recreational marine watercraft, recreational marine engines, and/or any of its evaporative emissions control system components.

“CARB regulations exist to protect the public from harmful air pollution,” said CARB Executive Officer Richard W. Corey.  “We certify evaporative emissions systems to ensure that gasoline emissions do not escape into the atmosphere when engines are in use, and also when they are not. Manufacturers who circumvent these rules have to be held accountable and come into compliance if they want to continue selling their merchandise in California.”

Engines that leak evaporative emissions put benzene and other hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, where they become  pre-cursors to smog and can exacerbate respiratory and other health conditions.

CARB field inspectors discovered the noncompliant watercraft in 2018 during routine inspection visits to three dealerships in Rancho Cucamonga, Manteca and Rocklin. The inspection and investigation found 40 noncompliant vessels, and seven vessels missing Hang Tags (which include safety information and show that the engines are CARB certified), that were offered for sale.

Representatives from White River Marine were fully cooperative and took immediate corrective action, obtained CARB certification, submitted the requested documentation and put together a compliance plan to avoid future violations.

All monies collected were deposited into the Air Pollution Control Fund.

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