‘Rotten egg’ smell leads to $734,000 penalty for C&H Sugar’s refinery in Crockett

C&H Sugar Co., whose Crockett refinery was once considered the world’s largest, will pay $734,000 after releasing a stench that lasted more than a month.

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, which announced the settlement Tuesday, said C&H’s joint treatment plant emitted a smell compared to the odor of rotten eggs and sewage that permeated the East Bay community in 2022.