This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued heavy-duty engine maker Navistar a hefty civil penalty for violations of the Clean Air Act.
On October 25, the EPA announced that Illinois-based Navistar Inc. must pay a $52 million civil penalty in addition to purchasing and destroying enough older diesel engines to prevent 10,000 tons of future oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions.
The civil penalty comes as a result of a long-standing lawsuit that alleges that Navistar illegally introduced thousands of Heavy-Duty Diesel Engines (HDDEs) that were not covered by EPA-issued certificates of conformity.
From the EPA:
In 2015, the United States filed suit against Navistar alleging that in 2010, after lower emission standards went into effect, the company introduced into commerce 7,749 HDDEs that were not certified and did not meet the lower emission standards. Navistar had marketed and sold the engines installed in its International-branded trucks as being EPA-certified model year 2009 engines even though it completed all manufacturing and assembling processes for the engines in 2010. The court held that the engines were in fact model year 2010 engines and required to be covered by a 2010 certificate of conformity demonstrating compliance with the lower emission requirements.
The EPA ruling requires Navistar structure the NOx emissions mitigation through an EPA approved program that takes into consideration geographic diversity and benefits to communities that are overburdened by air pollution. Navistar is also required to “report back to the EPA on its implementation of the program to ensure compliance with the environmental justice and geographic distribution requirements in the consent decree.”
“Older diesel engines without modern emissions controls emit significant amounts of air pollution that harms people’s health and takes years off people’s lives,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This harm is greatest in communities near busy roadways, which are too often overburdened by high levels of ozone and particulate matter pollution. Today’s settlement will protect these vulnerable communities by preventing the emission of 10,000 tons of NOx from older, heavily-polluting commercial vehicles and equipment.”