The enormous fines paid by Volkswagen AG and criminal indictment of 7 executives are a “really strong deterrent” to cheating by other automakers, a senior career Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official stated on Wednesday.
Christopher Grundler, director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, informed press reporters after comments to a meeting of automotive engineers in Washington that the penalties have had a huge effect.
“It gets everybody’s attention,” he stated.
Asked if EPA under President Donald Trump might reverse the Obama administration’s decision to settle the 2022-2025 vehicle greenhouse gas emissions limits in its final days, Grundler noted that EPA nominee Scott Pruitt told a Senate panel earlier this month he would evaluate the decision.
“We will be prepared to inform him and his team on the work we did,” Grundler stated, keeping in mind that a new EPA administrator can review a regulation however must follow the same process.
The German automaker earlier this month accepted plead guilty and pay $4.3 billion in U.S. civil and criminal fines to solve its diesel emissions scandal. In total, Volkswagen has now accepted to spend as much as $22 billion in the United States to address claims from owners, ecological regulators, U.S. states and dealers.
Grundler stated aggressive enforcement is crucial to automakers abiding by emission guidelines.
Grundler stated the EPA prepares to post publicly more non-business confidential information on automobile testing, including emissions recalls and defect reports to enhance transparency.
He included that EPA wants vehicles to carry out the very same in the laboratory as on the road. “We want to discourage producers from simply developing to the tests,” Grundler stated.
