The agreement is with Conoco Phillips.  Attorney General Jerry Brown has agreed to drop his challenge to the company’s plan to expand a refinery—and a hydrogen fuel operation—in the Bay Area.  In exchange, Conoco Phillips has agreed to pay seven million dollars to a program that will fund Bay Area projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The company will also pay for tree planting and to restore a wetland area.  

The company has also agreed to close its Santa Maria plant by the end of the year.  Conoco Phillips estimates annual CO2 emissions from the plant are 70-thousand tons.

Brown had appealed the Contra Costa County planning commission’s approval of the refinery expansion project. He argued the company hadn’t fully addressed its greenhouse gas emissions.