By Elias Schisgall

Chevron agreed to pay more than $1 million in civil penalties as part of a settlement with the Justice Department over violations of the Clean Air Act's Renewable Fuel Standard program.

The department said Chevron improperly generated more than 2.2 million advanced biofuel production credits, also known as Renewable Identification Numbers, from January 2022 to August 2022.

The RINs had been generated based on renewable diesel that had already been used for RIN generation and sold to third parties, the department said. RINs can only be generated once on any volume of renewable fuel under the terms of the program.

In addition to the payment, Chevron had retired about $3.6 million worth of valid RINs to offset the ones it had improperly generated prior to the settlement, the department said.

"Today's action demonstrates the Administration's commitment to the Renewable Fuel Standard program by ensuring that Renewable Identification Numbers generated and traded represent actual renewable fuel gallons produced," Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said Wednesday.

Under the RFS program, refiners and importers are obligated to acquire and retire a certain number of RINs annually based on the volume of petroleum fuel they bring to the U.S. market. RINs can be acquired by producing renewable fuels and blending them into gasoline or diesel, or by purchasing them from other parties.

Chevron didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 11, 2026 14:28 ET (18:28 GMT)

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