The Trump administration on Thursday leveled nearly a half-billion dollars in fines against automaker Fiat Chrysler for intentionally violating emissions rules for 100,000 diesel vehicles sold and leased in the U.S.
“Not only did they violate the law, but they tried to hide their actions,” Environmental Protection Agency acting chief Andrew Wheeler said on a call with reporters.
Wheeler explained that EPA engineers discovered that the vehicles had hidden software, called a "defeat device," meant to intentionally violate emission rules and the Clean Air Act.
The federal penalties will total $490 million. That sum is higher than the fines leveled against Volkswagen in a landmark multi-national case that unfolded in the later part of the Obama administration.
"Those that violate public trust in pursuit of profits will forfeit both,” Wheeler said on the call with Department of Justice lawyers and California emissions regulators.
Officials on the call said the higher fines for Fiat Chrysler are a result of the company denying that it had installed the defeat devices after federal regulators had confronted it, following an investigation of millions of lines of computer code to find the "defeat device." Volkswagen had come forward sooner when confronted.
Thursday's settlement agreement with the company listed the fines it would have to pay, pollution remediation, and a recall of all affected vehicles.
Additional penalties could be imposed if Fiat Chrysler does not comply with a full recall to contact customers affected and repair the vehicles, said Wheeler.
He said the settlement agreement demonstrates the president’s overarching goal of leveling the playing field for all U.S. businesses and ensuring that a company cannot gain competitive advantages through cheating. Wheeler also said that that the administration will enforce all environmental and emission rules and punish violators.
The announcement comes one day after Wheeler was nominated by President Trump to lead the agency as administrator. Wheeler has been serving in that role on an acting basis.
Poster Comment:
Joe Sixpack doesn't give a damn about "public trust" he just wants an affordable diesel truck that hasn't been F'd up by the US gov/EPA.
