Home Depot to Pay $8 Million to Southland Governments

The country's largest home improvement chain will pay several county and city governments -- and a regional environmental agency -- $8 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it sold toxic paint and coatings in the Southland.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District sued The Home Depot chain in Southern California -- joined by the city of Los Angeles and the counties of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The SCAQMD contends the chain sold tens of thousands of gallons of non-compliant paint and other coatings to Southland customers.
Customers in the cities of Pomona, Rialto, West Hills, Whittier and Woodland Hills were affected, according to AQMD officials.
The stores allegedly sold products containing illegal levels of smog-forming volatile organic compounds -- clear wood finishes, acrylic paints, sealers, lacquers, roof coatings, primers and base paints -- in these stores between 2009 and 2010.
"Paints and other coatings are one of our largest sources of air pollution,” said Barry Wallerstein, SCAQMD executive officer.
"Since the Southland has the most severe air pollution problem in the nation, our standards limiting the polluting ingredients must be enforced.”
In a number of stores, the chain continued to sell the banned products after warnings to cease and also after claiming to have fixed the problem, SCAQMD officials said.
Of the $8 million, $1.98 million will be paid to SCAQMD and $6.02 million to Los Angeles and the three counties.
The agreement settles a lawsuit filed in June 2011 against Home Depot for violations of SCAQMD’s Rule 1113.
That rule affects the use of architectural coatings and enforces sanctions against violations of state law in regard to unfair competition and false and misleading advertising, officials said.
As part of the settlement, Home Depot agreed to develop and implement a new computerized tracking system to ensure that only compliant coatings are sold in the future.

All paints and other coatings in the region emit a total of 15 tons of volatile organic compounds per day – equivalent to VOC emissions from more than 1.1 million cars, according to the AQMD website.
VOCs combine with nitrogen oxides to form ground-level ozone, a pollutant responsible for a wide range of health effects, including increased risk of asthma.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.