US District Court judge hits American Biodiesel hard for Clean Water Act violations

July 15, 2019 |

In California, on July 8, a United States District judge sentenced the corporation known as American Biodiesel, Inc. for violations of the Clean Water Act. American Biodiesel, Inc., registered in San Joaquin County as Community Fuels, manufactured biodiesel fuel on property leased from the Port of Stockton.

According to court documents, American Biodiesel, Inc. admitted to allowing the discharge of industrial wastewater into the City of Stockton sewer system in violation of Stockton permitting regulations and the federal Clean Water Act. American Biodiesel, Inc. also admitted to tampering with monitoring devices and methods designed to detect such violations.  Specifically, employees tampered with pH recordings and flow meters for the purpose of underreporting acid and pollutant levels and volumes that would have exceeded the figures allowed under the City’s regulations.

The judge imposed a three-year term of probation on American Biodiesel, Inc., including various reporting and monitoring conditions and also fined American Biodiesel, Inc. $401,000 and ordered restitution to the Port of Stockton and the City of Stockton in the amount of $256,206. The judge further ordered the company to develop and implement an effective compliance and ethics program, which will be submitted to the court for review.

Category: Fuels

Thank you for visting the Digest.