EPA Calls for Granite Rock to Improve Oil Spill Prevention

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached a settlement with Granite Rock Co. over Clean Water Act violations at three of its road materials manufacturing and recycling facilities in Northern California. The agreement requires the company to pay a $102,051 penalty to address storm water discharge violations at two of its Redwood City facilities and oil pollution prevention violations at a facility in Aromas. Granite Rock will also complete a watershed cleanup project as part of the settlement.

“The waterways of San Francisco Bay and the Monterey Peninsula are important to the region’s unique ecology and economy,” said Alexis Strauss, acting regional administrator for EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. “It is critical for industrial facilities to control stormwater runoff and prevent oil spills, given the potential to harm precious water resources and wildlife.”

As part of the agreement, Granite Rock will also complete a Supplemental Environmental Project, removing 800 cu yd of trash and debris from the Coyote Creek and Pajaro River watersheds. The project, which will be completed by October 2019 and cost almost $78,000, will remove contaminants and improve habitat for anadromous fish, including endangered steelhead trout.

An EPA inspection, conducted in partnership with the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, found that Granite Rock’s Peninsula Road Materials and Peninsula Recycling Services facilities failed to use best management practices—such as routinely sweeping paved surfaces and using covered storage areas for potential pollutants—to reduce or eliminate pollutants in stormwater runoff. In addition to the settlement announced today, EPA previously ordered Granite Rock to improve storm water controls at the Redwood City facilities and to redirect storm water flows to an active treatment system that will remove pollutants prior to discharge. These changes will be in place by July 1, 2018.

The settlement also resolves Granite Rock’s violations of the Oil Pollution Act’s Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure requirements at its A.R. Wilson Road Materials facility in Aromas. In response to EPA’s inspection, the company has cleaned up all petroleum product leaks and spills at the facility, installed additional secondary containment around petroleum product storage tanks, and conducted tank integrity testing.