Valero Fined Nearly $82 Million by California Regulators

The penalty was announced after oil giant Phillips 66 stated that it planned to shut down its refinery in the Los Angeles area in about a year.

The Valero refinery at the Port of Houston on May 5, 2019. Loren Elliott/Reuters

Regulators in California announced on Oct. 31 a penalty of nearly $82 million for oil giant Valero for alleged air pollution violations at the company’s Benicia refinery in the Bay Area.

The case was brought jointly by the California Air Resources Board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District—and represents the district’s largest penalty ever assessed.