Kern Oil & Refining Co. Settlement
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Kern Oil & Refining Co. Settled for $54,000.00
In December 2019, a case was settled for $54,000 with Kern Oil & Refining Co. (Kern) related to a reformulated gasoline violation at their Bakersfield Refinery. Kern was penalized for failing to report the fuel specifications of eighteen blends of gasoline in violation of the California Reformulated Gasoline Regulation (CaRFG) as codified in California Code of Regulations (CCR), title 13, sections 2250-2273.5, et seq. (13 CCR § 2250-2273.5); and specifically, CaRFG section 2265.
California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff found the first violation through a routine audit. Further investigation of the incident by Kern revealed seventeen additional violations that Kern self-disclosed to CARB.
Factors that influenced their penalty included Kern’s full cooperation with CARB’s investigation, self-disclosing seventeen violations; the fuel complied with a previous predictive model specification and never before had a violation of this type.
Kern agreed to pay $27,000 to the California Air Pollution Control Fund and to undertake a Supplemental Environmental Project, paying $27,000 to Fresno Trees.