General Motors (GM) has agreed to pay a penalty of $145.8 million and take other steps to resolve excess emissions from nearly 6 million vehicles on the roads in the United States. This action, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Transportation Department, is a significant step towards ensuring compliance with President Biden’s climate rule regarding carbon dioxide emissions limits for cars.
The EPA’s investigation found that these vehicles were emitting more than 10% higher CO2 on average than GM’s initial compliance reports claimed. GM spokesman Bill Grotz stated that the automaker is not admitting any wrongdoing, but this resolution is seen as the best course of action to swiftly resolve issues with the federal government.
The vehicles in question are model years 2012 through 2018, and they include popular SUVs under GM’s Chevrolet brand, such as the Chevrolet Equinox with front-wheel drive. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a division of the Transportation Department, will impose the $145.8 million penalty.
In addition to the penalty, GM has agreed to retire millions of credits that it has received for complying with federal rules. The automaker will cancel 50 million metric tons of greenhouse gas credits from the EPA and approximately 30.6 million gas mileage credits from NHTSA.
Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign, emphasized the importance of federal laws and oversight, stating that this action underscores the need for laws rather than just trusting automakers to make cleaner, more efficient vehicles.
This action pales in comparison to the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal, also known as “Dieselgate,” in which VW admitted to equipping around 11 million cars worldwide with software designed to cheat emissions tests. The German automaker later agreed to pay total fines of roughly $20 billion.
The Biden administration has been seeking to step up enforcement of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws. Last year, the Justice Department and the state of California reached an agreement with the truck engine manufacturer Cummins to resolve claims that the company installed devices to defeat emissions controls on hundreds of thousands of engines. The $1.6 billion penalty was the largest ever under the Clean Air Act.
