The South Coast Air Quality Management District, the region’s pollution control agency, issued a notice of violation for leaks coming from crude oil tanker GAC North America currently berthed at the Port of Long Beach.
The agency said complaints about petroleum-type odors in the Long Beach area led to an investigation and found that seven of 10 pressure-release devices on the ship were leaking hydrocarbon vapors well over the of limits set by the agency.
SCAQMD emphasized that the 2-million crude oil tanker was one of the sources of the leak, not the only one. GAC North America transports crude oil from Middle Eastern countries to the West Coast of the United States.
“Using a combination of dedicated field staff, advanced emissions imaging technology, atmospheric modeling and in-house laboratory analysis, now for the first time we have confirmed one potential source of these odors,” Wayne Nastri, SCAQMD’s executive officer said in a statement.
Since Jan. 1, 2016, SCAQMD has received more than 2,000 chemical-type odor complaints from residents in Long Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach.
Manufacturing, retail and trade reporter Shwanika Narayan can be reached at snarayan@labusinessjournal.com or 323-556-8351. Follow her on Twitter @shwanika.
