Judge's OK Unlikely to Settle Matter of Engine Decrees
U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. in Washington, D.C., reviewed the consent decrees between Caterpillar Inc., Cummins Engine Co., Detroit Diesel Corp., Mack Trucks, Navistar International and Volvo Truck Corp. and the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department and concluded they were “fair, reasonable and consistent with public policy.”
Kennedy’s one-page decision, which was quietly filed July 1, made the agreements official, but it doesn’t mean the engine makers are free and clear quite yet. Hundreds of truckers represented by a California attorney are preparing to file a lawsuit against the companies, and environmentalists and state attorneys general have threatened to do the same.
The settlements grew from government charges that the manufacturers had installed “defeat devices” in their engines that kept emissions within legal limits while the engines were being tested but not during real on-road conditions. The government charged that pollution levels as much as tripled on the highway.
The agreements don’t include any admission of guilt, however. In fact, the engine makers denied they were ever out of compliance with federal emissions regulations, but signed the settlement with the government to put the matter behind them and avoid a costly legal battle.
That wish is unlikely to come true however.
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