SACRAMENTO, California — California officials on Wednesday announced $13 million in fines against Chevron stemming from more than 70 oil spills over a five-year period.
The fines are the largest the state Department of Conservation and the Fish and Wildlife Department have ever levied, officials said.
Chevron has already paid to clean up the spills, which occurred between 2018 and 2023, but will pay the settlement money to funds that will be used to plug orphan oil wells, buy and protect land and help with future spills, according to a California Natural Resources Agency announcement.
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The settlements reflect the state’s ramped-up enforcement of the oil industry and officials’ increasing attention to unused wells.
