Engine maker agrees to pay $1.67B to California and EPA to settle record pickup truck pollution case

California and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday finalized a $1.67 billion settlement with truck engine maker Cummins — the largest civil penalty ever assessed under the federal Clean Air Act — after the company installed devices on more than 600,000 RAM pickup trucks that regulators said illegally bypassed emission tests, resulting in ten of thousands of tons of excess pollution.

The penalty is the second largest the EPA has ever recovered under any environmental law, behind the $20 billion settlement in the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and oil spill, which killed 11 people and dumped 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the

EPA, the U.S. Justice Department, and the California Air Resources Board, Cummins, a multinational corporation based in Columbus, Indiana, illegally installed “defeat devices” in the engines of 630,000 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickup truck engines in the model years 20132019.

The devices enabled the engines to pass EPA emissions tests. But during normal driving, they defeated emission controls systems like sensors and onboard computers. That allowed the trucks to emit more pollution than federal and state health laws allow, often increasing mileage or engine power, the EPA said.

As part of the settlement, the company is required to recall the trucks so the engines can be fixed, and to fully offset the excess emissions from the 2013-2019 RAM trucks that were equipped with defeat devices. The latter will require Cummins spending an additional $325 million to fund projects to reduce air pollution in California and across the United States, including replacing old locomotive engines with newer, cleaner ones.

“We won’t let greedy corporations cheat their way to success and run over the health and well being of consumers and the environment,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

The repair involves free software updates for the truck owners, EPA officials said. Cummins has said it already has begun the recall and repair program required by the settlement.

The settlement agreement’s broad outlines were first announced last month. Details were filed in federal court in Washington D.C., on Tuesday. Under it, the federal government will receive $1.478 billion, and the California attorney general’s office and Air Resources Board will receive $197 million.