Custom truck makers featured on a popular reality television show have been ordered to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars for removing pollution control devices from their vehicles.
On March 6, a federal judge ordered the Discovery Channel’s “Diesel Brothers” stars David “Heavy D” Sparks, David “Diesel Dave” Kiley and other defendants to pay $851,451 for violating the Clean Air Act and Utah state law.
The ruling came after years of litigation that began with a 2017 lawsuit filed by the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. The group accused the Diesel Brothers of “deliberately and systematically destroying pollution control equipment on diesel trucks in violation of the Clean Air Act.”
The pollution control devices that were reportedly tampered with include diesel particulate filters and exhaust gas recirculation systems.
The group argues that diesel fumes are “one of the most toxic types of pollution there is” and say that there are serious health risks associated with air pollution.
The Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment reportedly purchased a “Diesel Brothers” truck for testing purposes and say that the vehicle emitted 36 times more pollution than a stock vehicle.
The lawsuit also argued that the Diesel Brothers benefitted financially from removing pollution control devices, thanks in part to their status as television and social media celebrities.
The legal team representing the Diesel Brothers argued that some of the 17 vehicles named in the suit that were found to have missing pollution control devices were purchased at auction and were not tampered with by the reality stars.
The federal judge also forbade the Diesel Brothers from removing pollution control devices from any more of their custom vehicles and from selling any additional vehicles without the legally required controls.
You can check out a Diesel Brothers custom semi in the video below.