Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls
Cummins Inc. has lodged a settlement in the U.S. District Court for D.C. agreeing to pay a $2.1 million penalty for violating the Clean Air Act. What did Cummins do? Well, it “shipped more than 570,000 heavy duty diesel engines to vehicle equipment manufacturers nationwide without pollution control equipment included” between 1998 and 2006. Even with that many engines sold, Cummins has agreed to recall only 405 of them because that is all that “were found to have reached the ultimate consumers without the correct ATDs in order to install the correct ATDs.” (ATD here standing for exhaust After-Treatment Devices like catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters that control pollutants).
What effects did the faulty engines have on the environment? The EPA estimates that “approximately 167 excess tons of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon emissions, and 30 excess tons of particulate matter emissions” were released into the air. To make up for this, Cummis will also “permanently retire” enough emission credits to equal the excess tons of pollution. The settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period.
[Source: Environmental Protection Agency]
Cummins will recall 405 engines, pay $2.1 million penalty for Clean Air Act violations originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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