Southern Pacific pays $425,000 to AQMD, settling 110 violations for train emissions.

Southern Pacific pays $425,000 to AQMD, settling 100 violations for train emissions

The payment of $425,000 by Southern Pacific Railroad Co. to settle 110 air pollution violations was the largest penalty received by South Coast Air Quality Management District in July and the second highest in AQMD history.

Diesel-fueled trains owned by the San Francisco-based railroad concern were cited for excessive emissions of smoke in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties between August 1987 and July 1990. As a result of Southern Pacific's violations, the AQMD began a three-month crackdown last fall on trains that generate high amounts of smoke for more than three minutes at a time. The Long Beach and Los Angeles harbor areas, where trains routinely collect and deliver cargo, along with the Coachella Valley, the Cajon Pass and Colton were identified as regions where the greatest amount of train-caused pollution is produced.

The highest settlement ever paid to AQMD occurred last February when aerospace giant Lockheed Corp. agreed to pay air quality officials $1 million for hundreds of record-keeping violations relating to paint and solvent use.

"Obviously Southern Pacific's settlement is higher than the norm, but it reflects the nature and seriousness of the violation," said AQMD spokesman Tom Eichorn, referring to emissions of particulate matter and smog-producing compounds by the "smoking" trains. "I think it shows once again the largest polluters, like oil refineries and power plants that comply with district laws, are not necessarily the biggest violators."

Other companies that reached large settlements with AQMD in July include:

* Redman Equipment and Manufacturing Co., a Torrance-based producer of heat exchange devices, agreed to pay $7,500 for failure to notify AQMD about asbestos removal, as well as its failure to wet down and label asbestos-containing material last January.

* Fletcher Oil and Refinery Co. of Carson settled a $6,000 penalty for exceeding limits on sulphur emissions in August 1989. Another Carson-based company, Chemoil Refinery Corp., agreed to pay $4,000 for generating hydrocarbon vapors on three occasions between June 1989 and early 1990.

* Santa Fe Springs-based Trojan Battery Co. consented to a $5,000 settlement for failure to submit an approved trip-reduction plan, a mandatory transportation program that all Southland business with more than 100 employers must develop.

* The Southern California Rapid Transit District agreed to pay $3,750 for operating five large oil and fuel tanks without a permit.

The district has the authority to seek court-imposed fines of up to $25,000 a day against the estimated 30,000 Southland companies it regulates. Most penalties are negotiated in settlements, with most businesses paying penalities without admitting they violated AQMD rules. Full compliance with district rules is required before any settlement can be reached.

AQMD expects to receive $2.5 million in fines this year, compared to the $2 million it collected last year. Southern Pacific's $450,000 payment will go toward advanced pollution-control technology for diesel locomotives and operation of a stepped-up smoke-inspection program.