Last month, after a meeting with executives from US auto manufacturers, US President Trump brought up what he called a man who got seven years in jail for fixing his own car. Now, thanks to a series of pardons, we know what the President was referring to. He has just pardoned eight individuals and six companies for offenses against the Clean Air Act and related statutes. They were all involved with large-scale diesel emissions delete device operations.
Diesel Defeat Sellers Issued Pardons
2018 Ford F-150 Power Stroke Diesel. Fuel Gauge. DetailFord
These were individuals who had been sentenced to long terms and big fines for various violations of the Clean Air Act, including conspiracy to violate and conspiracy to defraud the US.
There were four fines in excess of $1 million on the list, along with several individuals receiving a year or more probation and one, Matthew Sidney Geouge of Hendersonville, NC, who had received one year and one day’s imprisonment.
Geouge was sentenced in 2022 for “conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act by selling more than 14,000 illegal devices that defeat required vehicle emissions control systems.” He was also sentenced for tax evasion, though it’s not clear at this time if that was part of the pardon. Geouge created software with emissions deletes that were sold through a company that developed the tuner device. Geouge pleaded guilty to the charges in 2022.
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While that was one of the larger violations of the act, the other individuals and companies given clemency by the President had pleaded guilty to similar offenses.
‘If You’re A Polluter, You’re Protected’ Says Environmental Group
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It’s part of President Trump’s complete reversal on the Clean Air Act, originally passed under President Nixon and expanded over the decades since. Earlier this year, the Justice Department ordered prosecutors to drop any pending investigations and prosecutions against emissions cheats.
Last year, an EPA administrator appointed by Trump declared that greenhouse gases were not a danger to public health, a reversal of a 20-year-old finding. The EPA is also reversing fuel economy and emissions standards for vehicles, including cars and trucks.
In a press conference in the Oval Office, the President said that he was involved in these cases “because [he] noticed they were arresting people for fixing their car.” The statement is a gross misrepresentation of EPA and Justice Department actions, which focused on emissions tampering device sellers, not individual vehicle owners.
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“As the Midwest and Atlantic coast sweltered through a blistering ‘heat dome’ intensified by climate change this weekend, President Trump was once again doing polluters’ bidding,” Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All Director Katherine García said in a statement. “From pardoning criminals that illegally tampered with vehicle pollution controls to dismantling clean vehicle standards, this administration has made one thing clear: if you’re a polluter, you’re protected.”
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
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Emissions controls on modern engines, including Diesel Particulate Filters and Exhaust Gas Recirculation, are seen as unpopular because they can fail. Internet comment sections can make it seem as though failures are universal, while reliability studies suggest otherwise.
Whatever your feelings, there is certainly a better solution than allowing unchecked particulate emissions, oxides of nitrogen, and carbon monoxide from tailpipes on top of CO2.
Source: US Department of Justice
