An Albany gas station is one of 28 stations in Alameda County that have been named in a lawsuit filed by state authorities.
Attorney General Kamala Harris announced Monday that her office has filed civil action against 780 service stations in California owned by British Petroleum and its subsidiaries.
The civil action accuses BP and its stations of violating state laws governing hazardous materials and hazardous waste. The lawsuit accuses the stations of failing to properly inspect and maintain underground tanks used to store gasoline.
Alameda County is one of seven counties that joined the state in the lawsuit.
Deputy District Attorney Ken Mifsud said four of the 28 Alameda County stations listed are accused of tampering with equipment used to monitor leakage from the underground tanks.
Those stations are in Alameda, Albany, San Leandro and San Lorenzo. The Albany station is located at 1001 San Pablo Ave.
The other stations are accused of other violations such as improper employee training, alarm system maintenance and secondary containment problems.
Mifsud said the violations are serious because most stations have two to four underground tanks that each hold 5,000 to 10,000 gallons of gasoline. Leakage from those tanks can pollute drinking water.
In an email to Patch, BP officials said:
The Office of the California Attorney General has been pursuing underground storage tank litigation with the refining industry for several years now. BP, like the companies before it, has been in negotiations with the Attorney General’s office in an attempt to settle a number of alleged violations relating to underground storage tanks and hazardous waste management at retail sites.
The majority of these alleged incidents are procedural violations concerning documentation. A small number of the alleged violations relate to the monitoring of tanks. None of the alleged violations posed any harm to human health or the environment.
BP takes compliance seriously and has a comprehensive program to maintain compliance. As soon as BP learned about the alleged violations, BP took appropriate action to address the issues.
In early January, the Attorney General's office filed similar civil action in early January against Phillips 66 and Conoco-Phillips.
