Chevron Will Pay Record Fines for Oil Spills in California | The penalties come after an investigation by The Desert Sun and ProPublica found that companies were profiting from illegal spills

Not only is the fine ridiculously low, they will also most likely not get other fines for the spills because they „have been punished already“.

However, it seems that prosecutors need to grab what they can. I imagine an appropriately large fine would take years or decades of litigation when Chevron invariably sues, appeals, etc

Government treats fines for company's like they do for regular people.

Oh, you broke the law? Okay pay for the damage and maybe a small fee for administration costs for us having to do paperwork.

Companies should be paying the fee for clean up, and then 10x whatever that costs as punitive fines which go into a fund specifically for environmental restoration to cover the times that companies prefer to go bankrupt and can't afford the cleanup.

$10 million to clean up this spill?

Alright that's $100 million in fines, not $1 million.