Chevron agrees to pay more than $13 million in fines for California oil spills
Chevron has agreed to pay more than $13 million in fines for dozens of past oil spills in California. The California-based energy giant agreed to pay a $5.6 million fine associated with a 2019 oil spill in Kern County. The company has already paid to clean up that spill. This money will instead go toward the state Department of Conservation’s work of plugging old and orphaned wells. The department said it was the largest fine ever assessed in its history. … The 2019 oil spill dumped at least 800,000 gallons (3 million litres) of oil and water into a canyon in Kern County, the home of the state’s oil industry. Also, Chevron agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine for more than 70 smaller spills between 2018 and 2023.