EPA, VW mum after meeting on cheating

WASHINGTON — Officials at Volkswagen and the nation’s environmental watchdog are keeping mum about whether any progress was made during a closed meeting on the German automaker’s emissions-cheating scandal.

VW global Chief Executive Officer Matthias Mueller met Wednesday with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy in Washington. Both VW and the agency declined to provide further details, including how long the two spoke.

The meeting came a day after California air-quality regulators rejected a recall plan proposed by VW for its most popular diesel models, and the EPA backed the action.

Volkswagen admitted last year that about 600,000 vehicles nationwide were sold with illegal software designed to trick government emissions tests. Those controls deactivated during real-world driving, causing the cars to emit up to 40 times more pollution than allowed.