In December 2023, engine producer Cummins was hit with an enormous $1.675 billion penalty for deliberately promoting emissions defeat gadgets in what was the largest-ever penalty for a violation of the Clean Air Act. Now, in a latest press convention reported on by The Drive, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has doubled down on its stance: it merely is not going to relaxation till Cummins has paid each single greenback of its high-quality.
Part of Cummins’ punishment additionally includes the recall of 630,000 vans that may have to be repaired, Reuters experiences. Pollution cures will tack on a further $325 million to Cummins’ $1.675 billion civil penalty.
Cummins remains to be claiming that it has “no evidence that anyone acted in bad faith and does not admit wrongdoing,” however a press convention held by the EPA, the Department of Justice and the California Air Resources Board tells a a lot completely different story, as per The Drive.
From the story:
David M. Uhlmann, Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, spoke very candidly concerning the case. “Cummins deserves to pay every dollar,” he informed me, calling the corporate’s actions a “brazen scheme.” You’d in all probability anticipate an enforcement chief to say such a factor, however simply as essential because the phrases he stated is the conviction that he spoke with.
Uhlmann was nominated for his function not too long ago, again in July of 2023, and has devoted his time in workplace to guaranteeing that the EPA truly enforces the foundations it has laid out. As per quotes recorded in The Drive, meaning rising the variety of on-site inspections and legal investigations designed to punish “polluters who break the law and expose our communities to harm.”
As a reminder, Cummins’ high-quality is a results of the EPA’s ruling that the corporate put in emissions defeat gadgets in tons of of hundreds of Ram pickup vans. Cummins adamantly denies this declare, however its billion-dollar penalty is a results of an settlement made with the Justice Department.
In talking with the Drive, Uhlmann raised an fascinating level: the EPA’s enforcement of its personal guidelines has been fairly slack lately. That’s as a result of each finances cuts and to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting the variety of on-site inspections the company may undertake. Now that it will probably get again to enterprise, the EPA is able to make an instance out of corporations like Cummins which have been discovered to have damaged the regulation.
Source: jalopnik.com