California Watch

Explore some of the top corporations which are receiving stimulus funds in California despite previous pollution violations, criminal probes and allegations of fraud.

Environmental monitoring at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory

Contract: $15.9 million
Description: Continued soil- and groundwater-monitoring activities at a property now owned by Boeing. It was the site of rocket engine testing and nuclear-power development that led to toxins leaching into the dirt and groundwater and a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959.
Past violations:
2007: Regional water board fines Boeing for $471,000 for 79 pollution violations.
2005: Residents who live near the laboratory sue, contending that the company caused cancer, settle for $30 million.
Award details: http://www.californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=51110

Planning and creation of a hydrogen power plant

Grant: $308 million
Description: BP and mining company Rio Tinto joined to form Hydrogen Energy California to generate more environmentally friendly electricity by capturing carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. The project would bury and store the emissions underground in an oil field reservoir.
Past violations:
2009: BP pays $179 million to resolve government findings that its Texas plant leached cancer-causing and ozone-depleting chemicals.
2009: Federal safety officials fine BP $87 million, which the company is contesting, for failing to fix the hazards in Texas.
2007: BP pleads guilty to criminal violations of environmental laws – for a 2005 explosion at BP's Texas refinery that killed 15 people and a 2006 oil spill in Alaska.
2005: BP pays $81 million to settle lawsuits that its refinery spewed noxious fumes into the working-class city of Carson.
Award details: http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=34509

Road and runway repair

Contract: $6.4 million
Description: Granite Construction has several contracts through Caltrans and other local agencies to work on airport runways in Salinas and Monterey, and to repair roads in San Bernadino, Riverside and Butte counties.
Past violations:
Ongoing: The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating an Oregon construction project where storm runoff dumped dirt into various creeks, possibly harming the fish population. The DOJ is also investigating a Granite venture in Minnesota, which may have failed to hire a sufficient number of minority businesses as subcontractors and misrepresented those efforts.
2008: The city of San Diego sues Granite Construction and another company, A.J. Diani, for separately allegedly overbilling for their debris-removal services after are fires. The suit is on hold pending a criminal probe by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Award details: http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=41716
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=1472
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=40689
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=12584
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=38342
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=38346
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=27060
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=53146
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=60826
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=56726
http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=16764

Rehabilitation of a Los Angeles senior-housing complex

Tax credits: $13 million offered
Description: AIMCO, in a joint venture with the nonprofit Foundation for Affordable Housing, was offered $13 million in tax credits to help fix up its senior-housing apartment complex in Los Angeles.
Past violations:
2004: AIMCO settles a lawsuit with the city of San Francisco for $3 million. The city said that the company ignored more than two dozen orders to fix scores of health and safety hazards, including water-damaged ceilings and walls, and stairways and landings collapsing from dry rot.
Award details: http://californiawatch.org/data/stimulus-award-detail?id=22193