Cummins Inc., a United States based manufacturer of diesel engines, is facing perhaps the largest-ever Clean Air Act penalty over accusations of emissions test cheating. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a civil complaint in April accusing the company of selling Orca Products engines with defeat devices, computerized software used to manipulate emissions tests results.
The tops of these emissions limits are designed to protect the public from exposure to elevated levels of air pollutants. The EPA has found that Cummins Inc. knowingly sold vehicles with illegally high levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The vehicles with these illegal software features were sold from 1998 to 2015 across the U.S., including both light and heavy-duty truck models.
The EPA has determined that Cummins’ illegal activity not only violated the Clean Air Act, but also deliberately obscured the company’s cheating from emissions tests. It alleged that Cummins Inc. sold vehicles with the defeat devices installed, and continued to market such vehicles as “cleaner detailed engines” despite the devices which drastically increased legal emissions limits.
The EPA’s civil penalty that Cummins Inc. is facing isn’t specified—it is expected to be the largest Clean Air Act-related civil penalty yet, and may exceed $2 billion dollars. The EPA has stated that all appropriate penalties should be worked out in the litigation process with the U.S. Justice Department.
That said, the ramifications of the case extend far beyond a potential for money. This case marks a major milestone into the issue of how major U.S. vehicle manufacturers manage their emissions tests in the future. In a time when climate change and air pollution are increasingly major public health concerns, it is crucial that companies continue to take into account the environmental implications of their actions. This case shows that consequences are very real for those deliberately ignoring legal requirements and putting public health and safety at risk.