Posted on 01/25/2013 9:58:02 AM PST by conservative98
In a court settlement with the EPA, Edge Products, a manufacturer of electronic power modules for diesel engines, has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine for manufacturing and selling electronic devices that allowed owners of Chevy, GMC, Ford and Dodge/Ram diesel pickup trucks (2007 and later) to remove the programming for diesel particulate filters from their vehicles.
The Ogden, Utah, company is reported to have sold more than 9,000 units from January 2009 through April 2011. This is said to have resulted in an estimated 158 tons of excess particulate matter emissions — the equivalent of 422 new long-haul semitrailers operating for 29 years, according to the EPA.
The civil penalty of $500,000 is based on the United States’ determination that Edge Products has a limited ability to pay a penalty in this matter.
In addition to the fine, Edge Products is required to offer to buy back the devices. To sell the device back to the company, the truck from which the device came must be returned to its original factory programming. Edge Products is also required to spend at least $157,600 to implement an emission mitigation project to offset the excess particulate matter emissions it caused. Edge Products will use the additional funds to offer rebates to individuals who own old wood-burning stoves and wish to replace them with cleaner burning appliances such as new pellet stoves or EPA-certified wood stoves.
Shortly after the U.S. introduction of diesel particulate filters in the in 2007, a number of suppliers started offering DPF removal kits (also known as “DPF delete” kits). These kits allow for the removal of the DPF without triggering any engine trouble codes, with potential side benefits being improved vehicle mileage and performance. The kits were also popular with diesel truck racers who wanted to run their daily driver at the track.
Most of the kits targeted three-quarter- and one-ton turbodiesel engines (mostly Duramax and Powerstroke). The case against Edge Products appears to be the first instance of an enforcement action by the U.S. against the sales and installation of DPF delete kits.
To our knowledge, there are no companies selling these types of kits at this date. For more EPA information on the case and settlement, click here.
With the Fracking Revolution the latter ones are coming on strong in their own right, as I am sure you have read.
Gasoline.
This is small stuff like concrete finishers, etc where the engine cost is a big % of the finished product cost.
The compliant diesels are just too expensive.
EFI-Live tuning is where it’s at now. The EPA can’t do crap to them since they’re kiwis.
They can make one with a toggle or easily swapable with a working one the only way they could check is with a warrant...
“So if I go out in the garage, crawl under the car with a cut-off wheel and chop out the catalytic converter, and replace it with straight pipe - does the EPA intend to sue GM?”
Actually, I’d recommend just hollowing out the cat instead of replacing it with a test pipe - harder to detect from the outside.
In certain states where they don;t do emission testing there are plenty of shade tree mechanics who will kindly “fix” a plugged up convertor for free....
They get to keep the “leavings” of course.
I can tell you about lead based paint "protections". It used to be the standard was 40 mu/DL. Lead paint has been disappearing for a long time and particularly during the building boom starting in the 90s it's out of many houses or so covered in modern paint as to be encapsulated.
Over that time lead based problems with children's blood plummeted. Just what you'd expect and a good thing. Although, you have to keep in mind that dose makes the poison and some lead dust may have a powerful effect on a baby, but as it grows that effect drops. Few American kids are lead poisoned in a way that affects their growth or cognitive skills. Most poor children lack cognitive skills because they're in an environment populated by imbeciles, government schools and drug abusers. All those factor in, plus imagine a household in which a toddler is so hungry and uncared for that it has time to gnosh on a lead painted window sill. Something else is desperately wrong with that kid, but that's another story of government incompetence and failure.
So things are quickly getting better and the lead problem is fading away rapidly. It's no longer a problem and the measurements show it. Out of no where and without any science to back it up the stardard is lowered to 20 mu/DL of blood. Lead "poisoning" suddenly skyrockets and bureaucratic jobs are saved. Is that the kind of protection we needed? Is it even real or just a bogeyman?
Without some objective stop on the "protection" you get crazy nonsense. At what stage of earth's development to you set your standard? These regulatory agencies suffer two major diseases: regulatory capture - where the regulated control the regulators to such an extent that the "regulation" works to keep out competition; the other is mission creep - where the agencies purpose is no longer relevant or they've "won" and should be shut down.
No one will ever be safe enough, but we're not spewing lead into the air like we used to. Furthermore, despite the massive reduction in lead in the US atmosphere and environment (it's hard to absorb the low-toxic metallic form of lead) there's little evidence we're smarter or healthier.
At what point do you declare victory and move on?
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