LA-based company reaches $29,000 settlement with Ventura County DA over wastewater spill

A Paramount-based industrial coating company has reached a $29,736 settlement with the Ventura County District Attorney's Office over a 150-gallon spill of petroleum-contaminated wastewater into a creek bed, prosecutors said Friday.

Advanced Industrial Services, Inc. was also ordered to comply with certain permanent conditions prohibiting unlawful disposal of petroleum products, according to the DA's office. In November 2022, an investigation was launched into the wastewater spill after an employee of the California Natural Resources Group found petroleum byproduct in a dry creek bed in Fillmore. 

The creek bed was located at a leased facility for motor oil manufacturer Dryden, but prosecutors said investigators later learned the wastewater had come from a truck being operated by a temporary employee of AIS. Investigators with the Ventura County DA's Office and California Department of Fish and Wildlife made the connection after going through evidence including interviews with witnesses, photos, tire tread analysis and logbook records, according to prosecutors.

They determined that between 4 a.m. and 4:49 a.m. one morning, a driver had backed up a vacuum truck operated by AIS into Grimes Canyon Creek and discharged about 150 gallons of petroleum-contaminated wastewater into a ravine which led into the creek bed, according to prosecutors. 

The driver, a temporary employee of AIS, left the area without reporting the spill as required by law, prosecutors said. AIS, which lists services such as industrial painting and fireproofing, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. 

The U.S. Department of Energy previously investigated the company based in the city of Paramount in Los Angeles County, announcing a $10,600 penalty in December 2022 in connection with the a severe blasting injury suffered by an AIS employee working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

The University of California, which runs the lab, did not allow any further blasting work at the site to be performed by AIS.

The company had reported the incident "promptly" and cooperated with the federal agency's investigation while also carrying out its own probe, Department of Energy officials said in a letter addressing the president and CEO of AIS.