Jiffy Lube Pays for Environmental Regulations Violations

The owner of the . in Cupertino paid more than $130,000 in fines related to violations of environmental regulations that occurred at 20 different Jiffy Lube locations in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties.

M.C. LLC—the business name of the oil-change business for 14 Santa Clara County locations and six Contra Costa County locations—is not the business owner of a group of Jiffy Lubes prosecuted in the past by the county and state, said Deputy District Attorney Nahal Iravani-Sani.

“Jiffy Lube International has a history of violations in our county. (M.C. LLC) was not part of those previous cases,” she said.

The Jiffy Lubes owned by M.C. LLC admitted to violating up to 29 types of violations, including failure to mark and label tanks or containers that stored hazardous waste, such as oil or brake fluid.

The company had eliminated its environmental compliance specialist—an outside consultant—in an attempt to cut costs, Iravani-Sani said.

As part of the settlement agreement, the company agreed to reinstate an environmental compliance specialist to audit its operations.

“It’s really important to stress that businesses have to be proactive instead of reactive, because a lot of a times they wait to take action,” Iravani-Sani said.

Eliminating the oversight specialist’s role is probably what led to Jiffy Lube’s violations.

“Businesses need to ensure that these positions aren’t treated as excess employees,” she said.

The county takes very seriously any environmental law, she said, because it considers itself a “green county,” and asks businesses to share in the responsibility of keeping the county environmentally safe.

Other parts of the agreement include a staff training program, an internal compliance program and further inspections.