Chevron Products Co. Settlement 2021
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Chevron Products Company Settles California Reformulated Gasoline Violation For $99,000
In January 2021, Chevron Products Company settled a case with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for $99,000 in penalties, for violating the California Reformulated Gasoline (CaRFG) Regulations as codified in California Code of Regulations (CCR), title 13, § 2250 et seq. (13 CCR § 2250 et seq.).
CARB discovered the violation during a routine inspection at the refinery in Richmond, California in May 2019. A batch of CaRFG exceeded the olefin limit that was reported in its predictive model. The gasoline was sold, offered for sale, supplied, offered for supply, or transported for four days. During Chevron’s internal investigations, they discovered that a second batch of CaRFG also exceeded the olefin limit reported in its respective predictive model. This second batch was sold, offered for sale, supplied, offered for supply, or transported for two days.
Chevron agreed to pay a total of $99,000 for producing CaRFG that failed to conform with the PM flat limit, and for selling, offering for sale, supplying, offering for supply, or transporting the fuel (per count penalty of $18,000 for the first batch and $13,500 for the second batch). Chevron agreed to pay $49,500 to CARB for its Air Pollution Control Fund, and to allocate $49,500 to a Supplemental Environmental Project with IQAir Foundation. Factors that influenced this penalty included Chevron’s diligent efforts to comply and to cooperate with CARB’s investigation and their compliance history. Voluntary disclosure was considered for the second batch.
As a preventative effort, Chevron implemented new procedures for validating analysis results and to preemptively identify and address issues in advance of submitting predictive models.