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The settlement followed a two-year investigation that state officials said found widespread violations of environmental rules on storage of petroleum in underground tanks owned or operated by Golden Gate Petroleum, based in Martinez.
Dennis O’Keefe, president and sole shareholder of Golden Gate Petroleum and its affiliated companies, is a defendant in the action and is jointly liable for payment of the penalties, the State Water Board reported.
“The case against Golden Gate Petroleum is another in a series of underground storage tank cases brought by the State Water Board against facilities that substantially threaten water quality and public safety,” said Reed Sato, director of the State Water Board’s Office of Enforcement.
“The judgment against GGP compels the defendants to operate and maintain its fuel storage tanks in a manner protective of the environment,” Sato added.
The settlement covers violations at approximately 30 gasoline stations located in 17 counties throughout Northern California.
Parties to the lawsuit include district attorneys' offices in Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Kings, Lake, Mendocino, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter and Yuba counties.
Court records identified three Golden Gate Petroleum gas stations in Lake County that are covered by the settlement: Lakeport Shell, 2725 S. Main St.; Cobb Texaco, 16340 Highway 175; and Two Jacks, 5200 Main St., Kelseyville.
According to its Web site, Golden Gate Petroleum also owns Westgate Petroleum outside of Kelseyville, but that station was not alleged to have any violations.
A two-year investigation conducted by the State Water Board’s Office of Enforcement and various counties' environmental protection staff revealed that Golden Gate Petroleum had extensive violations, including the failure to install and repair leak detection equipment designed to prevent releases
of petroleum into the environment.
The court action does not resolve any liability or responsibility that Golden Gate Petroleum has to cleanup leaks of petroleum from its tank systems, the State Water Board said.
Under the terms of the settlement, Golden Gate Petroleum will pay $3 million in cash over a period of five years. The remaining $3 million will be suspended conditioned on Golden Gate Petroleum maintaining compliance with underground storage tank requirements.
Court records show that the State Water Board will receive $500,000 and the California Attorney General's Office will get $447,000 in the settlement, with $268,000 going to the Craig Thompson Environmental Protection Prosecution Trust.
Contra Costa and Monterey counties will each receive $410,000 to cover business and professional and health and safety code violations, the highest amount to any of the 17 counties, followed by Solano with $400,000 and Santa Clara with $220,000.
Lake County will receive a total of $35,000, due by June 30, 2014, according to the settlement.
Golden Gate Petroleum also must employ an environmental coordinator to oversee compliance in the future, according to the settlement.
The State Water Board said the settlement amount was based on Golden Gate Petroleum's financial inability of GGP to pay higher penalties.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of major enforcement actions that the California Attorney General’s Office and local prosecutors have jointly brought against violators of California’s Underground Storage Tank laws.
To date, those actions have reportedly resulted in numerous multimillion dollar penalties and extensive corrective action and operational improvements by the violators to prevent unauthorized spills of motor vehicle fuel to the environment.
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