Southern Power Company Settlement
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Southern Power Company Settles For $102,462
In February 2024, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) reached a settlement with Southern Power Company, with its principal location in Birmingham, Alabama, for the company’s violation of the Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear, renamed in 2021 as the Regulation for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Gas-Insulated Equipment (SF6 GIS Regulation), as codified in the California Code of Regulations, title 17, sections 95350-95359.
CARB staff’s investigation found that Southern Power Company had submitted inaccurate information in their annual reports for 2019 and 2020, and exceeded the maximum emissions limit during a single-day event in 2021.
Southern Power Company agreed to the settlement amount of $102,462. The amount of $51,231 in civil penalty will be deposited into CARB’s Air Pollution Control Fund, which provides funding for projects and research to improve California's air quality. Southern Power Company opted to invest 50 percent of the agreed settlement amount in a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP). Therefore, the remaining amount of $51,231 will help fund the SEP entitled Marine Vessel Speed Reduction Incentive Program Phase 3, administered by Ventura County Air Pollution Control District in Ventura County. This SEP incentivizes owners/operators of ocean-going cargo vessels to slow down in vehicle speed reduction zones during peak whale and ozone seasons by providing financial and public relations support.
The per unit penalty of $2,928 was reduced from statutory maximums because the violation was self-disclosed, and because Southern Power Company cooperated by working with CARB to quickly come into compliance. Southern Power Company also put additional measures in place to reduce the potential of any future violations.