SAN DIEGO–FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. has been ordered to pay $1.75 million as part of a settlement in an environmental prosecution, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said Tuesday.
The settlement stems from claims that Pennsylvania-based FedEx Ground was illegally transporting and storing hazardous waste, failing to adequately train its employees regarding the proper handling of the waste and failing to appropriately dispose of the waste.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, working jointly with 15 other district attorney’s offices, filed the suit in Sacramento County Superior Court. Judge Raymond Cadei signed the stipulated judgment.
The judgment is the culmination of a civil enforcement lawsuit initially filed July 1, 2014 in Sacramento County and led by the district attorneys of Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Butte, Fresno, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, and Solano counties. Two of the 36 FedEx Ground facilities involved were in San Diego County.
Prior to June 1, 2013, FedEx Ground was not immediately identifying and then properly transporting or storing hazardous waste as it was moved between its facilities in accordance with California law, prosecutors said. The County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health and County Counsel played an integral part in the investigation and pursuit of these violations and their work helped assure another industry was brought into compliance with California’s environmental laws.
Under the final judgment, FedEx Ground must pay $1.75 million: $1.5 million in civil penalties, $155,000 in reimbursed funds to the investigative and law enforcement agencies, $85,000 for a supplemental environmental project, and $10,000 to inform its customers of waste minimization techniques and improved packaging.
FedEx Ground also will be bound under the terms of a permanent injunction prohibiting similar future violations of law. The company was cooperative during the investigation.
