Since 2007, the California State Water Resources Control Board had challenged Shell Oil Company’s underground storage tank (UST) cleanup fund claims, alleging that Shell failed to disclose reimbursements it received from other sources for the same sites, in violation of the California False Claims Act. In September 2016, a settlement agreement was reached in which the Water Board disqualified 100 of Shell’s UST claims, held by Shell subsidiary Equilon Enterprises LLC, from the cleanup fund. Shell also agreed to pay $20 million in damages and reimbursement to the State Water Board, the California Attorney General’s office, and a whistleblower qui tam plaintiff who filed a lawsuit in 2010.