Santa Rosa gas station owner ordered to pay $500,000 for environmental violations

The owner of gas stations in Sonoma and several other Bay Area counties has been ordered to pay $500,000 to settle allegations that the corporation failed to follow state environmental laws.

In Sonoma County, the judgment affected the Chevron gas station at 2225 Cleveland Ave. in Santa Rosa.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Charles Smiley’s ruling against the Ukiah-based Alam and Faizan Corp. (with Mahmoud Alam as chief executive officer) also affected stations in Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Mendocino and Yolo counties.

Owners and operators of underground storage tanks at retail gas stations in California are subject to environmental rules and requirements designed to prevent underground petroleum releases to surface and groundwater.

Prosecutors alleged that the Ukiah-based corporation failed to adequately install, monitor, operate and calibrate equipment on-site designed to detect leaks, and failed to comply with laws regulating hazardous waste and hazardous materials at certain stations.

Prosecutors also alleged the corporation’s stations failed to label fuel dispensers with the correct octane rating and price per gallon, and falsely advertised the sale of lower-octane gasoline as higher-octane at certain stations.

The corporation is required to pay $327,000 in civil penalties and $123,000 in investigative and enforcement costs. The settlement also includes a permanent statewide injunction requiring Alam and Faizan to retain an environmental consultant to assist with future compliance at all stations.

“Our Environmental and Consumer Law Division is dedicated to working with our regulatory agencies when violations are discovered that endanger our precious environmental resources within Sonoma County,” said Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez in a news release issued by her office.

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at 707-521-5209 or kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com.

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to correct the location of the affected Sonoma County gas station. The address was previously misstated in a news release from the county District Attorney’s Office.