A Woodland biomass facility has been ordered to pay $4.22 million in penalties, costs and remediation, the result of a civil settlement reached in an environmental protection action filed in Yolo County, District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced Tuesday.
Woodland Biomass Power operates a facility on East Kentucky Avenue in Woodland that burns wood fuel to produce electricity, in the process generating ash that the company claimed to be non-hazardous. This claim, however, was supported with faulty methods and, at times, falsified summaries of the test results for its ash.
The company’s own test results have shown that much of its ash had elevated levels of dioxins and constituted hazardous waste because of high levels of pH and high concentrations of contaminants such as arsenic, lead and copper. Woodland Biomass Power also provided these falsified records to various governmental entities, individuals and companies, Reisig said.
During the years it relied on falsified test-result summaries, Woodland Biomass Power caused tens of thousands of tons of ash — some of which was hazardous waste — to be disposed of on properties not authorized to receive hazardous waste, including agricultural lands in Yolo County. At least one site was within 1,000 feet of the city of Davis.
The environmental protection action was filed by Reisig along with the district attorneys of Solano and San Joaquin counties. Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam ordered the settlement.
“As the Yolo County public health officer and a Yolo County resident, I am thankful for the great work of the District Attorney’s Office and other experts involved in this case,” Ronald W. Chapman said in a news release. “When we hear about an environmental contamination we immediately worry about our health and that of our family and friends.
“After consultation with the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, I believe the health risk to myself, my family and my friends from these past practices is very low regarding soil contaminations,” Chapman added.
“Regarding air contamination, we do not have information to assess public health risk. Air sampling was not done during the use of the contaminated material. Going forward, I feel assured measures are being put in place to eliminate future risk.”
The settlement calls for Woodland Biomass Power to pay $2.12 million in civil penalties, $850,000 in investigation cost reimbursements and more than $1.25 million to remediate one site where testing has indicated hazardous materials are present in concentrations that exceed regulatory thresholds.
The company also must implement improved ash-management procedures designed to prevent future violations of hazardous-waste laws.
Woodland Biomass Power has been cooperative in the investigation since the prosecution team discovered the fraud in early 2016 and, since that time, has re-evaluated its plant operations and implemented numerous improvements to its ash management practices.
“The investigation into the unlawful hazardous-waste disposal activity in this case was extremely complex and time-consuming, taking many years to complete,” Reisig said. “The conduct being perpetrated by the defendant here might have easily gone undetected in many jurisdictions.
“Fortunately, Yolo County has remained steadfastly committed to environmental investigations like this which uncovered the fraud and the hazardous dumping practice and brought it to a stop,” he added. “Companies like Woodland Biomass Power need to be held accountable to ensure that hazardous waste is disposed of safely and responsibly.”
The DA’s Office received significant assistance in this investigation from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Yolo County Environmental Health Department and the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District. Other district attorney’s offices throughout the state also assisted.
For more detailed case information, including court filings, visit www.Yoloda.org.