California Air Resources Board

ARB and Ventura County APCD Settle with Texas Industries and Subsidiaries for $350,000

Air Resources Board (ARB) and the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District (District) have settled an enforcement case with Texas Industries, Inc. (TXI) and several of TXI's subsidiaries: Pacific Custom Materials, Inc. (PCM), TXI California, Inc. and TXI Operations, Inc. Under the terms of the settlement, TXI and its subsidiaries have agreed to pay a monetary settlement of $350,000, undertake process and equipment upgrades, install additional monitoring and reporting equipment and conduct additional source testing.

ARB and the District alleged that TXI / PCM's plant, located outside of Frasier Park in eastern Ventura County's Lockwood Valley, emitted nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter in amounts exceeding limits in the regulations of the District and set in TXI / PMC's permits, issued by the District. These emissions resulted in deleterious health consequences, property damage and nuisance to Lockwood Valley residents. These emission violations caused a large number of complaints to the District and the ARB, resulting in an investigation by ARB personnel and ultimately in the enforcement case prepared jointly by the ARB and the District and prosecuted by the Attorney General's office.

In addition to paying the monetary settlement, TXI / PCM agreed to provide continuous monitoring of emissions from the facility and upgrade several pieces of equipment at the facility to reduce emissions and to provide continuous quality control on emission control equipment. Further still, TXI agreed to retrofit diesel engines on mobile equipment with catalytic control devices to reduce or eliminate emissions of particulate matter in the exhaust. TXI / PMC agreed to work with the District in the development of a plan to reduce fugitive emissions of particulate matter from the facility.

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