The air district is trying to hit the Chemtrade facility in Richmond with an abatement order that would require compliance by April 15.
Officials with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District officials announced Tuesday it will be bringing an abatement order regarding emissions at Chemtrade’s Richmond facility to the independent hearing board in April.
The abatement order is to correct alleged air quality violations for faulty emissions at the facility, officials said.
Should the hearing board approve the abatement order, Chemtrade would be required to come into compliance by April 15 and conduct source testing by May 2.
District officials said that the violations stem from a previous audit of the facility’s continuous emissions monitoring system and that an investigation uncovered multiple violations prompting a deeper investigation.
The district alleges that Chemtrade underreported sulfur dioxide emissions by an average of 64 tons annually, though staying below their annual permit limit.
The senior deputy executive officer of operations and enforcement for the district, Damian Breen, alleges that the facility had faulty monitoring “in a community already overburdened by air pollution.”
The district recently got heat for overlooking years of hazardous emissions at the Benicia Valero Refinery of which the agency said it was not aware. The independent board issued an abatement order to Valero this month.
Chemtrade provides chemicals to industries such as agriculture, pulp and paper, food production and oil refining, according to its website.
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