San Francisco Air Quality Agency Collects Huge Fines

June 28, 2006 - The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has reported that they’ve collected nearly half a million dollars in fines for asbestos violations, the largest fine ever collected by the agency.

Two sister companies, USA Properties Fund, Inc., and USA Multifamily Management, Inc., a property management company headquartered in Roseville, California, were fined $300,000 total.  They were accused of using “untrained and uncertified laborers” to remove asbestos-containing material from an apartment complex in the Bay Area.

Synergy Environmental, Inc., and Synergy Enterprises, Inc., a licensed asbestos abatement contractor in Hayward, California, was fined $130,000 for doing work without first informing the Air District, which is required by law.  Officials from the Bay Area Air Quality Management agency note that the company performed more than 250 such illegal operations between June 2002 and August 2003.

Jack P. Broadbent, the Air District executive officer, said in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle: "Asbestos is a harmful air contaminant that causes serious adverse health effects when asbestos fibers are inhaled, including asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, pleural plaques, and other serious diseases."