A California-based citrus processor's $270,000 settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will protect the community in a San Joaquin Valley community.
Ventura Coastal agreed to the civil penalty to resolve alleged Clean Air Act chemical risk management violations, according to an Aug. 31 news release. The settlement follows a 2019 EPA inspection that found the company mishandled a hazardous substance at its operation on Avenue 368 in Visalia, Calif.
"It is so critical that facilities like the Ventura Coastal citrus processing plant in Visalia prevent dangerous incidents by handling extremely hazardous substances properly," EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in the news release. "If they violate the law, they will face Clean Air Act penalties. This settlement will protect the nearby Visalia community from future chemical accidents and minimize the danger if incidents do occur again."
EPA inspected the Visalia facility in May 2019 and found the company improperly managed refrigeration equipment on site that contained more than 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia, according to the release. EPA also found Ventura Coastal failed to keep up-to-date information about the equipment and label piping and equipment, in addition to not adequately describing maintenance and inspection frequencies. The company also allegedly failed to inspect equipment and correct deficiencies and did not timely address internal audit and incident investigation findings.
The EPA has historically documented about 150 incidents a year involving catastrophic accidents at ammonia refrigeration facilities, resulting in fatalities and serious injuries, evacuations "and other harm to human health and the environment," the news release said.
EPA's inspection of Ventura Coastal's Visalia facility was part of the agency's National Compliance Initiative, which aims at reducing human health and environmental risks by decreasing likelihood of accidental releases and mitigating chemical accident consequences, according to the release.
