California’s Corrupt Air Board and The Great California Shakedown

The California Air Resources Board, which will be voting on new gas regulations Nov. 8th likely resulting in a .65 cent per gallon increase in gas prices, proudly just announced they have issued a massive fine to Valero oil company:

Bay Area Air District and CARB fine Valero Refining Co. $82 million for air quality violations

Historic penalties to benefit the Benicia area and overburdened communities around the Bay Area 

It’s not just any fine, “This penalty is the largest ever assessed in the Air District’s history.”

The air district referenced is the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which together with California Air Resources Board (CARB) made the announcement of the nearly $82 million penalty “to address significant air pollution violations by Valero Refining Co. at its Benicia refinery.”

This redistribution of private sector wealth will ostensibly be spent on the local community, justifying the fine: “Over $64 million of these funds will be returned to the local community to finance projects aimed at reducing air pollution exposure, mitigating air pollution impacts and improving public health in areas surrounding the refinery.”

Ah, the funds will be “returned” to the community – but only after they are taken from Valero by the state.

The Air Board’s millionaire Executive Director is giddy about the shakedown:

“CARB is pleased to have supported the Air District in investigating and settling this important case that helps remediate the harms Valero’s operations caused to surrounding communities,” said CARB Executive Officer Dr. Steven Cliff. “The Air District’s new community fund provides critical funding for projects that improve air quality and public health for impacted local communities. CARB is proud to direct the majority of its share of the penalties from this settlement to the community fund to expand the reach of its projects.”

And as both air boards proudly proclaimed, this is the third major fine the Air District has assessed against Bay Area refineries this year. In February, the Air District announced a $20 million penalty against the Chevron refinery in Richmond, and earlier this month the Air District announced a $5 million penalty against the Marathon refinery in Martinez.

“Of the penalty amount, $80,800,000 shall be paid to BAAQMD, where it will be allocated according to BAAQMD’s recently adopted ‘Policy: Funding Community Benefits from Penalty Funds.'”

Notably, the Bay Area Air District’s core values are “environmental justice, equity, integrity, partnership, transparency, and trust.” In 2023, the Bay Area Air District had 421 Violations Resolved With Penalties totaling $3,403,279 in fines, according to their 2023 Annual Report.

This is how businesses in California are treated by the government – they are shaken down for million$ and treated as if they are criminal enterprises. They are litigated and indicted behind the closed doors of the air boards, and then in the court of public opinion with spiteful news articles.

The CARB has issued 82 such penalties this year… and 2024 is not over yet.

Here are several examples of CARB’s shakedown power:

• In September 2024, the California Air Resources Board reached a settlement with Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Sierra Nevada Region… for failing to meet CARB’s reporting requirements: “An investigation conducted by CARB staff showed that WAPA failed to meet the applicable reporting requirements for Reporting Year 2021, as well as the applicable emission limits for Reporting Years 2020 and 2021. To settle the case, WAPA agreed to an average penalty of approximately $1,336 per day for 82 days of violation, resulting in a total settlement amount of $109,540. This total amount will be deposited into CARB’s Air Pollution Control Fund, which provides funding for projects and research to improve California’s air quality.Terms of the settlement also include a requirement for WAPA to comply with all other CARB regulations going forward. (emphasis the Globe – did WAPA even know about CARB’s reporting requirements?)
• In August 2024, the California Air Resources Board reached a settlement with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S., Inc., with its principal location in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and amusement park in Anaheim, California, for small off-road engine equipment violations related to CARB’s Evaporative Emission Requirements for Off-Road Equipment. To settle the case, Disney agreed to the penalty of $450 per unit of noncompliant SORE equipment for a total penalty of $56,250. Disney elected to provide $28,125 to a Supplemental Environmental Project entitled Cleaner Air Greener Schools. The funds will be used to install indoor air quality sensors, air purifiers, and outdoor air quality sensors in 10 schools in Southern California.
• In June 2024, the California Air Resources Board reached a settlement with Guerlain, Inc. with its principal location in New York, New York, for the company’s violation of the Regulation for Reducing Emissions From Consumer Products. CARB staff conducted an investigation that revealed Guerlain sold, supplied, offered for sale or manufactured for use in California, personal fragrance products with modified codes, without providing an explanation of the codes to CARB before offering the products for sale in California. (The CARB nailed Louis Vuitton and Chanel for fragrance violations as well…)
• In March 2024, the California Air Resources Board reached a “mutual settlement” with Cummins Inc. for alleged violations of California’s certification and test procedure requirements. CARB said Cummins made undisclosed changes to approximately 120,000 engines in California after CARB had certified the engines for sale. In addition, roughly 2,000 Cummins engines had undisclosed auxiliary emission control devices that altered the emissions control system and resulted in emissions in excess of regulatory limits. Of the $46 million under the settlement, approximately $42 million will be paid to CARB, of which approximately $32 million is for penalties, and approximately $9.8 million is for mitigation of the full amount of excess nitrogen oxide emissions created by the noncompliant engines. Cummins has the option of using half the amount of the penalties to invest in zero emission heavy duty infrastructure in California. The settlement monies will go to the Air Pollution Control Fund to support CARB’s mobile source emissions control program and other CARB activities related to the control of air pollution. Cummins will also pay $4 million to the California Attorney General’s Office for unfair business practices and public nuisance.
• Lowe’s was fined $5,000 for selling uncertified indoor air cleaning devices – uncertified by CARB, that is.
• VP Racing was fined $610,000 for violating CARB’s Portable Fuel Containers and Spill-Proof Spouts Regulation. They had a spout CARB did not approve of and got a $600,000 fine for it.
• CARB even fined Sterling Ethanol $175,000 because its operational carbon intensity exceeded its certified carbon intensity. But that’s okay because “Of the total amount, $87,500 will be deposited into CARB’s Air Pollution Control Fund, which provides funding for projects and research to improve California’s air quality. The remaining amount of $87,500 will fund the Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) entitled Cleaner Air Greener Schools, which will provide indoor air quality sensors, air purifiers, and outdoor air quality sensors for 5 classrooms in 10 schools in the Los Angeles region’s disadvantaged communities.”

The CARB members believe they are doing the work of the Environmental Gods – saving disadvantaged school children from carbon emissions. And “CARB is committed to racial equity and environmental justice.” In fact, “CARB is committed to prioritizing environmental justice in everything that we do.”

See? Doing the work of the Environmental Gods is “justice,” and very expensive.

The California Air Resources Board is an unelected board consisting of 16 members. 12 are appointed by the Governor, 4 are appointed by the Senate and Assembly (2 represent environmental justice communities), and they are accountable to no one. The CARB is supposed to be held accountable by the California Legislature, but that ship sailed long ago, facilitated by the 2006 passage of AB 32, California’s “Global Warming Solutions Act,” which greatly increased CARB’s power. Consequently, this omnipotent board illegally makes laws, illegally passes tax increases, investigates California businesses, decides which of the myriad CARB laws are being violated, and issues sizable fines and penalties (new laws and tax increases can only be passed by the California Legislature).

This shakedown of immense proportions, in many cases, is in coordination with local governments, and is being used to backfill local governments’ budget deficits, as the Globe reported in August with the City of Richmond and Chevron:

Early in the 2020’s, city lawmakers began looking at taxing oil refineries in the city, both to help bump up quality of life in Richmond, as well as solve city budget issues. Richmond currently faces a $34 million budget gap for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, with a refinery tax potentially raising Chevron’s taxes in the city close to $100 million a year. In May, the refinery tax proposal was approved by the Richmond City Council, making it a city-wide proposition and placing it on the November ballot.

This sounds like collusion, a secret understanding, often with intent to defraud. While Richmond passed the tax increase for the November ballot, shaking down large companies in case the tax increase isn’t passed by voters is collusion, as could be the case with the Chevron, Marathon, and Valero fines. The Bay Area Air District Board knows what it is doing – The Air District’s Board of Directors is made up of 24 locally elected City Council members and County Supervisors from 9 Bay Area counties. And as the CARB/BAAQMD statement said:

In May 2024, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board of Directors adopted a groundbreaking policy that directs a significant portion of penalty funds to the communities most impacted by air quality violations. Under this policy, most of these penalty funds will be reinvested in local projects specifically designed to reduce pollution and enhance public health.

California’s own Chevron Oil Company announced in August their corporate relocation to Houston Texas from the Bay Area, where it has been based since 1879. Chevron and now Phillips 66 are just the latest big business to flee the Golden State. How many more businesses will leave in 2025 because of The Great California Shakedown? It doesn’t matter which mafia-style state agency is perpetrating the extortion scheme on California businesses – The California Coastal Commission, CalEPA, CARB, ALRB, or local environmental justice-focused agencies, all hiding behind “climate change” woo-woo.

One commonality all of the 82 businesses shaken down by the CARB this year have: They all “fully cooperated with CARB’s investigation.”

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District board members: