Air District and Chevron reach settlement with enhanced requirements for air monitoring and transparency

The Air District’s Refining Emissions Tracking Rule (Regulation 12, Rule 15) requires Bay Area refineries to operate fenceline air monitoring systems that measure pollutant concentrations near their property lines. In October 2023, the Air District disapproved the Fenceline Air Monitoring Plans of all five Bay Area refineries because the plans did not meet the requirements of the rule.

Following disapproval of the plans, the Air District has worked with each of the refineries to meet all requirements and bring them back into compliance. Chevron is the first among the Bay Area refineries to resolve disapproval of its fenceline air monitoring plan. The Air District will continue to work with the other refineries to resolve their air monitoring plan noncompliance and bring them into compliance.

The agreement requires Chevron to:

• Implement the approved Fenceline Air Monitoring Plan and make additional improvements to monitoring in the near future. Collectively, this includes:
  • Operating a network of four point monitors for hydrogen sulfide, which includes one new monitor beyond those that are already operating.
    • The point monitors required by this settlement have a lower detection limit, better accuracy and precision, and are less affected by atmospheric conditions than the current hydrogen sulfide open-path monitoring equipment Chevron is operating.
  • Clearer requirements for operating, maintaining, and assessing the performance of the monitoring equipment for all pollutants to improve accountability and transparency.
• Provide public access to real-time and historical data that can be easily downloaded
• Provide quarterly reports summarizing measured pollutant concentrations and detailing the results of quality assurance and quality control checks
• Hold a public meeting in 2025 to solicit feedback and respond to comments from Richmond residents on improvements to the availability and visualization of data from Chevron’s fenceline and other air monitoring systems
• Pay the Air District a penalty of $100,000, with additional penalties to ensure immediate accountability if Chevron violates any settlement terms.

The Air District will coordinate closely with Chevron to ensure all settlement obligations are implemented while continuing to engage with the local community to ensure residents have clear, timely information.

The Air District continually improves its emissions and air quality measurement programs as technology and air quality data needs evolve, particularly for communities disproportionately impacted by air pollution. For more information about the fenceline air monitoring program, visit the Air District's Fenceline Monitoring Plans web page. 

View press release(224 Kb PDF, 2 pgs, posted 10/06/2025).

View Penalty and Settlements page.