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County seeks $11.8M from 2 firms for air quality violations
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Maricopa County wants a pair of Valley companies to pay as much as $11.8 million for breaking air pollution laws with work they did in Gilbert.
The figure is huge, considering the county set a record last year by getting companies to pay a combined $5.3 million for similar air pollution violations.
All told, the lawsuit filed last week in Maricopa County Superior Court means companies A and B Grading in Gilbert and Dirt Works in Phoenix could end up paying more than 11 times what any Valley company did for air quality violations in 2007.
Representatives from the companies could not be located Wednesday for comment.
No record of A and B Grading could be found with the Arizona Corporation Commission.
The lawsuit says the companies, in 2005 and 2006, did extensive digging at two lots in southern Gilbert, both near Power and Chandler Heights roads.
The companies did not have the proper permits or use proper techniques to handle the massive amounts of dirt they were moving, it says.
Erin Bruno, a spokeswoman with the county Air Quality Department, would not discuss details of the suit. She said it was unusual, however, for the county to take a company to court.
“If it is in the courts, that just means that we have tried communicating with them out of court and it just hasn’t worked out,” Bruno said.
“More often than not, most cases are settled without going to court,” she said.
Arizona law allows Maricopa County to collect up to $10,000 a day for each air quality violation.
The companies were in violation for more than 1,100 days, the suit says.
It also says inspectors warned the companies they were violating the law.
In one instance, inspectors told them in April 2005 they didn’t have the right permit to be digging, and when inspectors returned more than a year later, in June 2006, the companies still did not have that permit.
During 2007, Kansas-based International Rectifier’s Mesa facility was the county’s highest-fined air quality violator of the year, according to the air quality department. The company settled with the county for $98,500.
More than 25 other Valley companies paid the rest of the $5.3 million in fines, well above the 2006 total of $3.7 million.
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