State fines 2 oil firms $ 11.5 million for hazardous- waste violations

Two affiliates of a giant petroleum company that operates nearly 150 gas stations in the Bay Area will pay $ 11.5 million to the state for numerous violations of hazardous- waste laws, the California Attorney General announced Thursday.

Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips agreed to pay the fine as part of a settlement of the violations, according to the final judgment filed Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court.

The companies were accused of allowing 560 of their service stations in 34 counties to improperly operate and maintain underground gasoline storage tanks, endangering nearby water supplies. The violators included the 150 stations in the Bay Area, including 16 in San Francisco, authorities said.

The complaint, filed in January of 2013, claims that the two affiliates failed to properly train employees and have not adequately maintained leak detection devices, tested secondary containment systems, conducted monthly inspections or maintained operational alarm systems since 2006.

“This settlement holds Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips accountable for this dangerous negligence and will ensure future compliance with environmental laws,” said Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Harris said Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips have since sold nearly all of their interests in the underground storage tank sites in California.

The ConocoPhillips refinery in Rodeo was also named in a report released in 2013 as the biggest releaser of toxic chemicals in the Bay Area.

The Rodeo Conoco, known as the Phillips 66 refinery, was the eighth largest distributor of dangerous substances in the state, according to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, which tracks the transport and release of chemicals, including copper, petroleum, nitrates, lead, asbestos and ammonia.