Source: http://www.dailynews.com, December 7, 2015
By: Sarah Favot
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has approved a $2.4 million settlement between the state water board and Los Angeles World Airports over allegations of improper monitoring of underground tanks that store hazardous materials at several area airports, the water board announced Monday.
The state Water Resources Control Board began investigating LAWA in 2011 after alleged violations were discovered during inspections of nine underground storage tank facilities at Los Angeles International, LA/Ontario International and Van Nuys airports.
The tanks store petroleum-based fuels.
The state Water Board also found that LAWA operated three unpermitted and unmonitored underground storage tank systems at LAX’s “burn site” where airplane crashes and fires are simulated. The tanks stored hazardous runoff produced by the training exercises.
“Both LAWA and the local agency responsible for permitting the tanks, in this case the Los Angeles City Fire Department, should have known the tanks were storing hazardous substances that posed a risk to the environment and should have been permitted,” state Water Board Assistant Chief Counsel David Boyers said in a statement.
“We required that LAWA test the soil beneath the tanks in order to ensure that no releases had occurred. Thankfully, there was no contamination that resulted from the violations.”
LAWA said the issues have been corrected. It removed six of 19 underground storage tanks and will remove several more over the next three years, the department said in a statement.
“LAWA has worked with the state to strengthen and improve the overall management of its (underground storage tanks), and is committed to a strong compliance program,” LAWA Executive Director Deborah Flint said in a statement released on Oct. 15 following the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners’ approval of the settlement.
The alleged violations include failure to monitor tanks and product piping, late testing of monitoring equipment, failure to install secondary containment, failure to maintain functional spill containers and failure to install and/or maintain automatic line leak detectors on underground pressurized piping.
By agreeing to the settlement, LAWA did not admit to any of the allegations.
LAWA will pay $1.2 million to the water board’s State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account in civil penalties and $100,000 for enforcement costs. The remaining amount of the fine, $1.1 million, will be suspended — $450,000 will be suspended as long as the airport department maintains compliance for up to five years and $650,000 has been suspended because LAWA has agreed to spend that money to implement several environmental improvements.