Caterpillar Inc. will pay $2.55 million to the federal government and California to settle claims it sold engines without proper emissions controls and violated emission control reporting and engine labeling regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Thursday, EPA said Caterpillar sold more than 590,000 on- and off-road diesel engines that did not have the same emissions control technology the engine-maker told the agency they would have.
Of those engines, sold to original equipment manufacturers between February 2002 and November 2006, about 925 were installed in vehicles that were later sold to end users, the U.S. Justice Department said in the lawsuit it filed on EPA’s behalf.
The suit alleges Caterpillar violated the Clean Air Act in selling the engines to more than 50 OEMs. Under the settlement, Caterpillar will pay $2.04 million to the U.S. government and $510,000 to the state of California, EPA said.
Caterpillar stopped making truck engines in the United States in 2009 (6-16-08, p. 1).
“The enforcement of vehicle emissions standards, labeling and reporting requirements is critical to protecting the air we breathe and ensuring that companies play by the rules,” Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a statement announcing the settlement.
