In a sweeping environmental justice crackdown, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Cummins Inc., the engine manufacturer, has agreed to cough up $1.675 billion to settle allegations of cheating on emissions testing. This deal marks the highest-ever Clean Air Act civil penalty, and the second-largest environmental fine in history, a stark reminder of the government's intolerance for corporate environmental malfeasance.
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that Cummins was found to have willfully altered engines reportedly to illegally pass emission tests. "Today, the Justice Department reached an initial agreement with Cummins Inc. to settle claims that, over the past decade, the company unlawfully altered hundreds of thousands of engines to bypass emissions tests in violation of the Clean Air Act," Garland confirmed in a statement obtained by the Justice Department. These allegations brought the environmental hammer down on Cummins, committing them to compensation for their purported corner-cutting tactics.
Specifically, the engines in question — 630,000 units fitted in RAM 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks from model years 2013 to 2019 — included illegal defeat devices. These components, or software, are designed to undermine emissions control systems, a tactic that the Justice Department says Cummins used to unjustly sidestep legal requirements. An additional 330,000 engines from model years 2019 to 2023 were also implicated for undisclosed auxiliary emission control devices.
"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," Garland added, emphasizing the real-world repercussions of Cummins' alleged actions. The nitrogen oxide emissions produced by these modified engines can over time contribute to respiratory illnesses and other health issues for unsuspecting individuals who breathe the compromised air.
"Violations of our environmental laws have a tangible impact – they inflict real harm on people in communities across the country. This historic agreement should make clear that the Justice Department will be aggressive in its efforts to hold accountable those who seek to profit at the expense of people’s health and safety," Garland's statement concluded.
The prospective consent decree, which will lay out the settlement terms, still needs the approval of a federal court. If consented, it will anchor this landmark agreement firmly in the terrain of American corporate law, setting a quintessential precedent for future environmental governance.
