Enginemaker agrees to pay record $2 billion in emissions cheating settlement

(CN) — The United States Attorney General on Wednesday announced the details of a settlement with the engine manufacturer Cummins, under which the multinational corporation will pay a $1.675 billion civil penalty — the largest-ever fine for a Clear Air Act violation — and spend more than $325 million to remedy violations.

The deal puts to bed accusations that Cummins installed devices, known as “defeat devices” or “‘auxiliary emission control devices,” that can bypass or alter the operation of the car’s emissions control system, allowing the vehicle to meet rigorous emission standards during certification testing in the lab, before the car is released and sold to the public.

Cummins also must recall more than 600,000 vehicles — Ram 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks — and replace their diesel engines. The company will also fund projects “to mitigate excess ozone-creating nitrogen oxides,” according to a Department of Justice press release.

“Those software defeat devices helped the trucks pass standard EPA emissions tests, but they artificially reduced the effectiveness of the emission controls — and increased [nitrogen oxide] emissions — during normal driving outside of the standard test conditions,” the Justice Department said.

“The types of devices we allege that Cummins installed in its engines to cheat federal environmental laws have a significant and harmful impact on people’s health and safety," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a written statement.

The emissions test cheating scandal was uncovered by EPA, which tested Ram pickup trucks at its National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Michigan as a follow-up to a similar scandal in 2015, involving Volkswagen.

According to the Justice Department nearly a million Ram trucks, from 2013 to 2019, were fitted with “illegal emissions control software defeat device features.”

The California Attorney General’s office said Cummins’ engines emitted “smog-forming NOx in excess of the legal limit.”

“This pollution contributes to the formation of ozone and particulate matter and can aggravate health problems such as asthma and cardio-pulmonary disease,” the office said in a press release.

The settlement also calls for Cummins to fully offset nitrogen oxide, or NOx, emissions from the Ram trucks.

Cummins will pay more than $175 million to the California Air Resources Board to fund mitigation measures. To satisfy its obligations to the rest of the country, the company will pay to swap out 27 “old, high-emitting diesel locomotive engines” for “new, low-emitting diesel or electric engines,” in addition to 50 other train-related projects aimed at reducing fuel use and emissions.

In a written statement, a Cummins spokesman said, “We are looking forward to obtaining certainty as we conclude this lengthy matter and continue to deliver on our mission of powering a more prosperous world. We remain committed to advancing our Destination Zero strategy — Cummins’ vision for achieving a zero-emissions future — which is driven by decarbonization and aimed at promoting economic growth while using fewer of the world’s resources.”

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