Brandon Manzano is with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. He says they fined eBay for using three standby generators for purposes other than maintenance or emergency use. 

"They discharged a number of different type of pollutants into the air putting some of our residents at risk but more importantly they didn’t abide by their permit regulations." 

eBay spokeswoman Catherine England says their Rancho Cordova facility had an “issue” and had to switch to generator power. But they ran over their allotted time before technicians were able to fix the problem. England says eBay reported the incident to local authorities, knowing that it would result in a fine. 

She says eBay is dedicated to minimizing its environmental impact.