EPA busts trucking repair companies selling emission defeat devices
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached a settlement with trucking repair companies selling emission-defeating devices.
According to a news release, the EPA has signed off on a consent order with Joshua Davis, River City Diesel LLC, RCD Performance LLC, and Midwest Truck and 4WD Center LLC of East Peoria, Ill. The order requires the companies to stop manufacturing, selling, offering to sell and installing defeat devices that bypass, defeat or render inoperative EPA-approved emission controls and harm air quality.
Davis and the trucking repair companies will pay a $600,000 penalty. That amount was based on their financial situation. Furthermore, the defendants have agreed to notify customers that they will no longer provide technical support or honor warranty claims for the defeat devices.
The complaint was filed last August in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois.
Court documents accuse Davis and the trucking repair companies of manufacturing, selling and installing tens of thousands of defeat devices.
In doing so, the defendants violated the Clean Air Act.
“By providing devices that avoid air emissions controls, defendants helped others cheat a system designed to protect the public’s health, in particular, elderly and young children,” acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said in a statement. “Today’s settlement holds them accountable for their unlawful acts and not only prohibits the future sale of aftermarket defeat devices by the defendants but also mandates Clean Air Act compliance training for all of their employees.”
According to the EPA, tampering with diesel-powered vehicles by installing defeat devices causes large amounts of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions, both of which contribute to serious public health problems.
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