Engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. today disclosed that it has reached an agreement in principle with the United States and State of California to pay a $1.675 billion penalty to settle claims that it violated the Clean Air Act by installing emissions defeat devices on hundreds of thousands of engines.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland: … “As part of the agreement, the Justice Department will require Cummins to pay $1.675 billion, the largest civil penalty we have ever secured under the Clean Air Act, and the second largest environmental penalty ever secured.”
I’m not clear what Cummins has done, or what they even could have done. I work here, and I just can’t imagine anyone in this modern, enlightened environment doing anything like what Volkswagen did. Despite my initial dismissal of that case as most-likely being run by a few, well-placed, rogue elements, it turned out to be a surprisingly deep engineering effort that extended all the way up to one level below the boardroom. Maybe more facts will come to light, but, right now, this feels like a shakedown, by a liberal administration, of a company that makes a product that’s politically-unpopular with its voting base.
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