Seven California DAs Sued a Gas Station Operator, Including Mendocino County's David Eyster. Then County Supervisors Approved His Next Station
Critics contend the county's environmental review was inadequate
When Mendocino County planning staff completed their environmental review of a proposed 10-pump Chevron gas station on North State Street last spring, they reached a straightforward conclusion: with standard mitigation measures in place, the project would have no significant effect on the environment.
What the review did not mention was that the company seeking the permit, Faizan Corporation, had been the subject of a $500,000 court judgment entered against it following a civil enforcement action brought in part by Mendocino County’s own district attorney — or that state environmental records showed benzene in the groundwater beneath one of the company’s Ukiah stations, prompting an urgent cleanup and abatement order from the state water board and a hazardous materials spill report from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
The Mendocino County Planning Commission had denied the project in January 2024, citing unresolved traffic safety concerns at the US 101 median. The applicant appealed, and over the following two years revised the project design and dropped his legal objections to the traffic mitigation conditions. County planning staff concluded the outstanding concerns had been resolved and recommended the Board reverse the denial.
On May 19, 2026, the Board of Supervisors followed that recommendation, approving Permit U_2021-0016 and Variance V_2021-0005 and allowing Faizan Corporation and its CEO, Mahmood Alam, to build the station at 9621 and 9601 North State Street in Redwood Valley. Supervisor Ted Williams of District 5 was the only “no” vote.
A Notice of Determination was filed with the state on May 21, starting a 30-day window for legal challenges under the California Environmental Quality Act that closes June 20.
Seven district attorneys from seven California counties
On December 2, 2022, the People of the State of California filed a civil enforcement complaint against Faizan Corporation and Alam in Alameda County Superior Court. The action was brought jointly by the district attorneys of seven counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Sonoma, Yolo — and Mendocino.
Mendocino County District Attorney C. David Eyster was among the seven co-plaintiff prosecutors who signed onto the complaint, Case No. 22CV023017.
The complaint named 12 Faizan-operated retail fuel facilities across Northern California. Five of them were in Mendocino County: stations at 390 East Gobbi Street, 998 South State Street, 615 Talmage Road, and 1460 North Lovers Lane — all in Ukiah — and a station at 1004 South Main Street in Fort Bragg.
The complaint alleged systemic failures across Faizan’s operations: failure to install, maintain, and calibrate underground storage tank leak detection equipment; failure to conduct required secondary containment testing; failure to maintain functioning line leak detectors; failure to conduct enhanced leak detection testing at stations within 1,000 feet of public drinking water wells; hazardous waste violations including illegal disposal; and fuel fraud — selling lower-octane gasoline labeled as higher-octane.
On January 5, 2023, Alameda County Superior Court entered a stipulated judgment requiring Faizan Corporation and Alam to pay $500,000 — $327,000 in civil penalties and $123,000 in enforcement costs — and permanently enjoining them to retain an independent environmental consultant.
The Mendocino County Planning Department’s Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration, dated April 8, 2026, does not mention the complaint, the judgment, or the permanent injunction.
Documents delivered to Mendocino County
The county’s silence on the enforcement record is not attributable to lack of notice.
On November 20, 2023 — 17 days before the Planning Commission’s public hearing on the Redwood Valley project — Dolly Riley, chair of the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council, emailed the Planning and Building Services department directly. The subject line read: “Fwd: Documents from Sonoma County DA’s office on Faizan Corp.” Attached were two PDFs: the filed complaint and the final judgment.
“I have attached to judgments against Faizan corporation,” Riley wrote in her email to the department. “Please do not approve this project.” Riley said in an interview she was corresponding as a private individual.
In Riley’s email, she forwarded a message from Don Hess of the GrassRoots Institute of Mendocino County, who had obtained the documents from the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office.
The email was received by Planning and Building Services on November 20, 2023, more than two and a half years before the MND was adopted. The adopted environmental review contains no reference to either document.
Riley said she forwarded the documents because the Planning Commission needed to understand who it was dealing with. “They needed to know the background of the operator they were considering — their credibility,” she said. The complaint’s allegations included fuel fraud: selling lower-octane gasoline labeled as higher octane. “Mislabeling octane readings so people pay more for supreme when they are getting regular,” Riley said. “That’s a con.”
A well is proactively shut down
The enforcement action was not the first time Faizan Corporation had drawn regulatory scrutiny in Mendocino County.
On February 5, 2019, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued Cleanup and Abatement Order (CAO) No. R1-2019-0014 against Alam and his co-owner Farah Alam for a release of gasoline at Faizan’s Express Mart station at 390 East Gobbi Street in Ukiah — the same address listed as Faizan Corporation’s principal business address in the 2022 complaint. The contamination occurred during underground storage tank removal and installation work that, according to regulators, had not been fully permitted.
The order documented gasoline contamination in groundwater: benzene at 8.9 micrograms per liter — nine times California’s drinking water maximum contaminant level of 1 microgram per liter — along with total petroleum hydrocarbons, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes. The site sits within 300 feet of Gibson Creek, a tributary of the Russian River.
On January 29, 2019, the City of Ukiah temporarily removed a public water supply well from service. The well was located approximately 500 feet from the Gobbi Street station.
A hazardous materials spill report filed with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services on January 26, 2019 — the same day city staff notified regulators — described the operator pumping contaminated excavation water into holding tanks and then back into the excavation hole rather than properly disposing of it. The report noted potential impacts to a storm drain flowing to Gibson Creek and flagged the nearby drinking water well as potentially being impacted. The cause was listed as human error.
The CAO also documented improper handling of contaminated soil: excavated material was loaded onto trucks operated by A to Z Construction and transported first to 1460 North Lovers Lane in Ukiah — another address later named in the 2022 multi-county complaint as a Faizan facility — and then to 4300 North State Street, where it was stockpiled without proper environmental controls.
Mendocino County Environmental Health Division was directly involved in the 2019 investigation. The same agency serves as the county’s Certified Unified Program Agency — the primary regulatory body that would oversee underground storage tank operations at the proposed Redwood Valley station.
The Mendocino County Planning Department’s environmental review of the Redwood Valley project does not mention the 2019 Cleanup and Abatement Order.
Benzene in the groundwater — and what regulators found
When crews removed the underground storage tanks at the Gobbi Street station in early 2019, water in the excavation tested positive for gasoline contamination — including benzene at 8.9 micrograms per liter, nine times California’s drinking water maximum contaminant level, along with toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and naphthalene. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued Cleanup and Abatement Order No. R1-2019-0014 and required the Alams to conduct further soil and groundwater investigation.
That investigation, according to regulators, found no ongoing contamination. In a May 2021 Notice of Proposed No Further Action, the Regional Water Board stated that “excavation water was pumped out, and a soil and groundwater investigation was conducted. No additional contamination was detected, and groundwater located downgradient of the underground storage tank location was found to be uncontaminated.” The agency proposed closure under the State Water Resources Control Board’s “Low-Threat Underground Storage Tank Case Closure Policy.” The case — RB Case No. 1NMC640 — was subsequently closed.
In his response to questions from MendoLocal.News, Alam said the case had been resolved with no financial penalty and that testing found “no contamination in the soil or groundwater attributable to the property.” The regulators’ NFA notice is consistent with that account.
Benzene is a known human carcinogen with no established safe level of exposure. California sets its drinking water limit at 1 microgram per liter because even low concentrations carry cancer risk — the state’s public health goal for benzene is zero. The regulatory closure of the Gobbi Street case reflects a determination that contamination risk at that site is no longer significant. The proposed Redwood Valley station would involve the installation of new underground storage tanks by the same operator at a site 1.6 miles from Forsythe Creek, a tributary of the Russian River, which provides drinking water to communities in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.
The applicant’s response
Responding to written questions from this reporter, Alam — who signs his name as Haji M. Alam — provided a detailed account of his environmental compliance record and his plans for the Redwood Valley project.
On the 2023 judgment, Alam wrote: “While Faizan Corporation and I entered into a stipulated agreement in Alameda County that included monetary penalties, those penalties were not the result of any release of gasoline or diesel fuel, nor were they based on contamination of soil or groundwater at those sites. The issues involved regulatory compliance matters, including paperwork, reporting, and testing deadlines.”
The complaint’s allegations included failure to maintain leak detection equipment capable of detecting releases, failure to conduct required secondary containment testing, and failure to perform enhanced leak detection testing at stations near public water wells — violations prosecutors characterized as strict liability public welfare offenses under California Health and Safety Code. A strict liability public welfare offense is a regulatory crime where the government does not need to prove the defendant intended to commit the act or knew it was wrong — merely committing the forbidden action is enough to establish liability.
Alam said Faizan Corporation has retained the independent environmental consultant required by the judgment and that if the company elects to operate the Redwood Valley station rather than lease it to a third party, the consultant would be involved in compliance oversight.
Alam also described remediation work he said he funded at other Mendocino County sites. At a former Jensen’s Truck Stop — now a Chevron station — he said thousands of tons of impacted soil were removed and the site has achieved regulatory closure. At 898 North State Street in Willits, he said more than 100 truckloads of contaminated soil were removed from a former 76 station he redeveloped into an ARCO AM/PM; that site has also received a no-further-action designation from regulators.
“My objective is not only to meet regulatory requirements but also to develop a safe, modern facility that serves the community while protecting public health and the environment,” Alam wrote.
Community opposition
The Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council voted unanimously to recommend denial of the project in January 2022 and again in November 2023. Dolly Riley, the council’s chair, has been among the most active opponents, forwarding court documents to county planning staff and attending Planning Commission hearings. The council’s opposition has centered on the applicant's environmental compliance record and proximity to the Deep Valley Christian School, traffic safety, the risk of fuel runoff into Forsythe Creek, public health, lighting impacts, overnight truck parking, and the project's consistency with Redwood Valley's commercial character.
Deb Hughes, a council member, said she is not opposed to gas stations in principle. “Personally I am neutral about a gas station,” Hughes said. “However I am definitely against Faizan due to its record of non-compliance and disregard for environmental issues.”
Hughes also said she is not aware of the Planning Department having contacted the RVMAC during the environmental review process. “Planning did not contact the RVMAC, to the best of my knowledge,” she said. The RVMAC is an official county advisory body whose recommendations are submitted to the Planning Commission as part of the permit review process.
At the December 7, 2023 Planning Commission hearing, the GrassRoots Institute of Mendocino County submitted a 12-page letter stating that the Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration contained “not a single word” about the 2019 Cleanup and Abatement Order or the 2023 judgment. The letter raised direct questions about why Planning and Building Services had not included the enforcement record in materials provided to the public and the Commission.
Sandy Turner, facilitator of GrassRoots Institute’s Climate Crisis Workgroup and a former Redwood Valley resident who lived about a mile from the proposed site for nearly 30 years, said the group became involved in opposing the project about two years ago after member Don Hess alerted them to it. “Members of our Climate Crisis work group and others in the broader Grass Roots Institute are sad that the owner of the proposed gas station has not been blocked,” Turner said.
The Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations submitted a separate letter explicitly naming the $500,000 judgment and identifying Mendocino County Environmental Health as one of the participating enforcement agencies.
CEQA questions
The MND’s analysis of hazardous materials impacts found conditions “less than significant” based on anticipated compliance with Mendocino County Environmental Health’s oversight of underground storage tank installation and operation.
The MND’s own hazardous materials discussion states that the analysis should include the State Water Board’s “List of active CDO and CAO” — a database that would have surfaced the 2019 Cleanup and Abatement Order against Faizan Corporation’s CEO at the agency’s Ukiah station. That order is not mentioned in the document.
The staff memorandum recommending approval offers an explanation for why the enforcement record was excluded. Planning and Building Services stated that “a conditional use permit regulates land, not individuals,” and advised against basing any conditions of approval or reasons for denial on “the nature of the applicant as opposed to the use of the property.”
Critics of the approval argue that framing does not resolve the CEQA problem. The question, they say, is not whether the county can penalize an applicant for past conduct — it is whether the environmental review was required to analyze whether Faizan Corporation’s documented pattern of UST mismanagement at other facilities — systemic enough to produce a seven-county prosecution — bears on the foreseeable environmental risk of new UST installation in Redwood Valley.
California’s environmental review law requires that an Initial Study be grounded in factual data, and the operator’s documented track record, they argue, is factual data. The California Supreme Court addressed the issue directly in 1988. “A project proponent’s prior environmental record is properly a subject of close consideration in determining the sufficiency of the proponent’s promises,” the court wrote in Laurel Heights Improvement Assoc. v. Regents of the University of California, 47 Cal.3d 376 (1988). Richard Drury, whose Oakland-based environmental law firm frequently represents nonprofits and community groups in CEQA challenges, cited the ruling in response to questions from MendoLocal.News.
The county’s adopted Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program — the document that translates the MND’s findings into enforceable conditions — contains no hazardous materials mitigation measures of any kind. For a 10-pump gas station with new underground storage tanks, proposed by an operator with a documented history of UST violations, a state cleanup and abatement order, and a seven-county enforcement action, the MMRP imposes no UST-specific conditions, no groundwater monitoring requirements, no spill response plan, and no requirement for coordination with Mendocino County Environmental Health in its role as the county’s Certified Unified Program Agency. The Notice of Determination filed with the state likewise lists “Waterways: N/A” — despite the project site’s proximity to Forsythe Creek, a tributary of the Russian River.
The MND also faces questions on transportation grounds. Caltrans formally disputed the project’s traffic analysis on multiple occasions between 2022 and 2024, stating it “cannot support the conclusions and recommendations” of the revised traffic study. A key mitigation measure requires closing the US 101 median at North State Street before building permits can be issued — a process Caltrans estimates normally takes 18 months and requires amendment of a 1983 Freeway Agreement. The MND was adopted, and the permit granted, before that process had begun.
The dissent
District 5 Supervisor Ted Williams was the sole dissenting vote — and notably, his district, which covers the southern coast and inland sections of Mendocino County, contains none of the Faizan Corporation stations named in the 2022 complaint.
At a March 2024 hearing on the appeal, Williams stated his position plainly. “Their community is not in favor of it,” he said of Redwood Valley. “It doesn’t matter if anyone else thinks it’s a good idea. They don’t want it. And I would feel outraged if the county were pushing a project in my district if it were going — a gas station of this scale — were going in Comptche or Mendocino or Gualala or Point Arena or Boonville. I would feel the same thing, that we’re exploiting those communities.” Faizan’s attorney subsequently asked Williams to recuse himself from the proceedings. He did not.
At the May 19, 2026 hearing, Williams argued that the Mitigated Negative Declaration was environmentally inadequate and that substantial evidence on multiple fronts — traffic safety, aesthetics, and stormwater pollutants — warranted a full Environmental Impact Report. He specifically cited the MND’s failure to study 6PPD-quinone, a toxic chemical derived from tire wear that can leach into waterways during storm runoff and has been linked to mass die-offs of coho salmon. The proposed project includes a roadway expansion within 1.6 miles of Forsythe Creek.
Williams also raised procedural concerns. He argued the project was being “piecemealed” — evaluated in separate components to avoid triggering the county’s Formula Business Ordinance — when the fueling station and convenience store are functionally a single integrated development and should have been reviewed as such. And he warned that granting a zero-foot setback variance because of a private easement on the property could set a precedent allowing other developers to use similar encumbrances to bypass county setback requirements.
A community left out
The Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council — the official county advisory body for the community where the station would be built — had formally opposed the project five times over nearly a decade, submitting letters of opposition in September 2016, January 2017, November 2023, March 2024, and May 2026.
When the Board of Supervisors took up the permit appeal on May 19, the council was not notified. Members learned the hearing was scheduled only because a member of the public who had seen the public notice alerted them. The council submitted a letter of opposition the day of the hearing.
Christine Boyd, a founding member and Vice Chair of the RVMAC, said the agency that would oversee underground storage tank operations at the proposed station never engaged with the council during the review process. “Environmental Health — the CUPA — has never reached out to us about the project,” Boyd said. Council member Patricia Ris independently confirmed the account. “To the best of my knowledge, the RVMAC was not consulted by PBS or Environmental Health to discuss the applicant’s compliance history during the environmental review, despite the years-long opposition of the RVMAC to this project,” she said.
Ris said the community will pay a price for the board’s approval. “This project sacrifices the health and well being of residents and their fragile environment, for tax revenue,” she said.
“The community has stated repeatedly that the project is not wanted or needed,” the council wrote.
In its letter to the Board, the council made a direct appeal. “As County Supervisors, you hold the authority for discretionary review and to consider full impacts to the Redwood Valley community,” it wrote. “Despite Faizan Corp’s reversal and agreement to fund closure of the Hwy 101 median, the project remains problematic. Please join the earlier Planning Commission decision and deny it.”
The Board voted four to one to approve it later that day.
Mendocino County Planning and Building Services Department Director Julia Krog did not respond to requests for comment submitted June 13, 2026. Mendocino County District Attorney C. David Eyster's office did not respond to a request for comment submitted June 14, 2026. Planner Liam Crowley responded via an automated message that he was returning to the office today, June 16.
Wowza, I remember getting into some of this, but this is thorough and appalling.