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EPA FINES SACRAMENTO FACILITY $100,000 FOR CLEAN AIR VIOLATIONS

Release Date: 9/10/1999
Contact Information: Dave Schmidt, 415/744-1578

     SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined Continental Store Fixtures, Inc. $100,000 today for past Clean Air Act violations that led to excess emissions of smog-forming organic compounds into the atmosphere from its Sacramento facility over the span of several years.

     Continental Store Fixtures violated the Clean Air Act by failing to obtain the required permits from the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District when the firm constructed its facility in 1987, and subsequently modified it between 1987 and 1990.  The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District did not issue the appropriate permits to the company until 1995.  

     "Companies must take the proper steps to protect air quality, especially in areas like Sacramento that already suffer from high ozone levels," said Dave Howekamp, EPA regional air division director.  "This settlement should send a message to others that we are serious about pursuing companies that jeopardize public health through careless environmental practices."

     The agreement reached between the company and the EPA requires the firm to comply with its permit limit of 150 pounds per day or less of reactive organic compounds, or "ROC" emissions.  If in the future the company wishes to expand operations at its facility and ROC emissions exceed 150 pounds per day, the company will need to install air pollution control equipment to reduce emissions.

      Reactive organic compounds react in the atmosphere with nitrogen oxides in the presence of sunlight to form ground-level ozone, a primary component of smog.  Ground level ozone is a respiratory irritant that causes health problems by damaging lung tissue and reducing lung function.  Exposure to ground level ozone causes coughing, headaches, nausea and may cause premature aging of the lung.

     Continental Store Fixtures, located on Norwood Avenue in Sacramento, emits ROCs from its facility when painting and coating store fixtures for large department stores.  EPA investigators discovered the violations in 1993.