LA area polystyrene manufacturer Lifoam Industries pays $450,000 over violations of federal, state clean-air laws

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and the South Coast Air Quality Management District announced that Lifoam Industries, Inc. will pay $450,000 in fines, claiming the company violated the federal Clean Air Act and state air quality laws at its polystyrene manufacturing facility at 2340 E. 52 Street in Vernon, Calif.

Under the terms of a settlement entered today in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Lifoam Industries is required to pay a $450,000 penalty and must vent all of its manufacturing emissions through an air pollution control device.
“The effects of illegal air pollution in the Los Angeles basin are insidious, and local residents suffer a disproportionate impact,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “To protect public health and the environment, we will vigilantly track down violators and bring them into compliance.”

“Since Southern California has the worst air pollution in the nation, for the sake of public health we must ensure that all businesses are operating in compliance with air quality regulations and doing their part to help improve our air,” said Barry Wallerstein, Executive Officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The city of Vernon is one of several densely populated communities closest to the I-710 Freeway, where the effects of pollution are disproportionately higher than in other areas of Los Angeles County. Approximately 1 million people, about 70% of whom are minority and low-income households, are severely impacted by pollution from industrial activities in the area and goods movement along the freeway.

Related Video:Every year, more than 6,000 Southern Californians die prematurely due to air pollution. This years smog season has not been as severe as previous years. However, the region still has the worst overall air quality in the nation. AQMDs Joe Cassmassi reports on this years smog season.

Federal, state and local regulatory agencies have formed an Enforcement Collaborative to focus resources over a multi-year effort to ensure that businesses and industries in this area are complying with environmental laws.U.S. EPA is joining forces with Cal/EPA, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Air Resources Board in the Enforcement Collaborative, which is partnering with other local government and non-profit organizations to improve environmental and public health conditions in these communities. Lifoam Industries manufactures expanded polystyrene foam products that contain pentane, a volatile organic compound that contributes to ozone pollution, or smog.

According to EPA, Lifoam Industries failed to ensure that the volatile organic compound emissions were less than 2.4 pounds of volatile organic compounds per 100 pounds of raw materials, a violation of the Clean Air Act. The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which oversees air regulations in the Los Angeles Air Basin, allows polystyrene foam product manufacturers to meet this federally-enforceable emissions limit by using raw materials that release less volatile organic compounds or through the use of an adequate air pollution control device.

Both federal regulators and the South Coast Air Quality Management District also assert that Lifoam installed and operated air-pollution-emitting equipment without obtaining the necessary permits and that the facility did not properly vent volatile organic compounds to air pollution control equipment.

Volatile organic compounds react with other pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and, in the presence of sunlight, can form ozone, or smog. Smog can cause respiratory problems, including coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest pain. People with asthma, children and the elderly are especially at risk, but these health concerns are important to everyone.

Pennsylvania DEP Releases Evaluation of Air Quality Program

(HARRISBURG, Pa., April 27) PRNewswire-USNewswire — Pennsylvania has made great strides in improving air quality to levels that protect the public’s health in most of the state, according to a Department of Environmental Protection report released today.

“This report shows we are doing a better job of protecting the public’s health and the environment by reducing harmful pollutants and emissions such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, ground-level ozone, particulate matter and carbon monoxide,” said DEP Secretary John Hanger. “But as much progress as we have made, there is still more work that needs to be done.”

DEP’s Air Quality Program regulates more than 70,000 inspection points such as pollution control devices, boilers, fuels and paints at 3,650 facilities that produce air pollution in Pennsylvania. The previous Air Quality Program evaluation, as required by the Air Pollution Control Act, was issued in November 2002.

Hanger cited the Clean Air Interstate Rule, or CAIR, a program designed to lessen the interstate transportation of emissions from electric generating stations, as being a major force in reducing the amounts of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that by 2010, CAIR will reduce those emissions by 44 percent and 71 percent respectively.

The department has also recorded a significant reduction in emissions from industrial sources of air pollution in Pennsylvania in the 2002 – 2007 period. Major industrial sources of air pollution have reduced emissions of nitrogen oxides by 35,331 tons; volatile organic matter by 7,735 tons; particulate matter by 4,212 tons; and carbon monoxide by 16,102 tons.

Ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter remain concerns in parts of the commonwealth. Ozone is a key component in smog and is a human health threat especially to children, the elderly and people with respiratory illnesses. Fine particulate matter, microscopic particles that can cause serious health problems by lodging deep in the lungs, is also a concern.

“We have made great strides achieving attainment status for counties according to EPA’s 1997 standards for eight-hour ozone and fine particulate matter,” said Hanger. “But recent actions by EPA have made those standards even more stringent.”

In most areas of the state, except the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas, Pennsylvania has attained the 8-hour ozone and particulate matter health-based standards.

“While we can be pleased with our past progress, we must make further reductions to meet the new, more stringent health standards. We look forward to continuing our successes and building upon the recommendations of this report to provide more effective air quality protection programs for the present and the future,” Hanger said.

For more information and to view a copy of the report, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Air Quality.

CONTACT: John Repetz (717) 787-1323

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

CONTACT: John Repetz of the Pennsylvania Department of EnvironmentalProtection, +1-717-787-1323 Web site: http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/

Source:  Newscom