 | Home > Off Topic > $850,000 Fine for Tampering With Truck Emissions |
 
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018   
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I'd like to say only in America, but I think it could come closer to home:
The stars of Discovery Channel's Diesel Brothers television show are being ordered to pay $851,451 for their role in producing and selling modified diesel pickups that wreaked environmental havoc in the state of Utah. David "Heavy D" Sparks, Joshua Stuart, Keaton Hoskins, and Dave Kiley—a.k.a. "Diesel Dave"—were the targets of a case that reached a federal judge after being initiated by Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. It was then ruled that the defendants must pay the aforementioned dollar amount to the United States government and Davis County with additional restitution potentially on the way. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby announced in his ruling Friday that the plaintiffs may also submit their attorney fees to be paid by Sparks and Co. Per Cole Cannon, a lawyer for the "Diesel Brothers," the opposing party claimed $1.2 million in fees when speaking with the judge. Shelby decisively and formally confirmed that the defendants must pay $761,451 to the U.S. government with the remaining $90,000 going to Davis County. This comes less than a year after Shelby found those involved with the television program guilty of violating the Clean Air Act and Utah state law by stripping diesel pickups of their legally required emissions equipment. This includes components such as diesel particulate filters (DPF) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems, both of which have been the focus of multiple regulation enforcement operations by the Environmental Protection Agency.  Click image to enlarge Court documents show that none of the fines can be avoided or dismissed in bankruptcy, according to KSL. Cannon explained to The Tribune that his clients wished for more of the court-ordered payout to benefit the state of Utah. His explanation as to why, though, was more than questionable. “My clients have always been committed to restoring air quality in Utah,” he said. In direct contradiction to Cannon's statement, the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment found the pickups built and modified by the "Diesel Brothers" to be grossly over-polluting. The plaintiffs actually purchased a truck from Sparks Motors and promptly sent it to Denver for testing, in which the results showed it emitted 36 times more pollution and 21 times more particulate matter than if it was equipped with proper emissions systems. Sparks and Kiley originally made names for themselves with their online truck marketplace, DieselSellerz. The website provides a platform for customers to buy and sell their diesel pickups, many of them modified in the same way that the "Diesel Brothers" are now being punished for. That said, this was before environmental activist groups and regulation agencies declared all-out war on vehicles that "roll coal," spewing unburned fuel into the air. Reed Zars, an attorney representing Utah Physicians, previously questioned Sparks about his company's social presence that was largely centered around heavily polluting trucks. There was one video in particular with a description that read, "What do you do when you see a dorky Prius driver? Watch the #BuiltDiesel smoke out a Prius." Sparks explained that the video was "created by an employee I fired after I saw that video.” The video, which has racked up nearly 797,000 views at the time of publishing, was never removed. The duo and their fellow defendants are banned from removing diesel emissions equipment as well as selling vehicles that have been modified as such. From here on out, if they violate pollution standards they could be found in contempt of court." https://www.thedrive.com/news/32533/diesel...-emissions |
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11th Mar 2020 6:57am |
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| markb110 Member Since: 22 May 2010 Location: Guildford Posts: 2629  
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The problem has been the whole ‘rollin coal’ scene.
It was way to visual and could not be ignored especially as it moved away from tractor pulls to the street. My wife is back from the States and bought me back a pile of filthy magazine, one of which is Diesel Power. There are a few pictures of vehicle blowing out black smoke. From what I understand that anyone that was doing these mods, has pretty well stopped in one fell swoop. Using the vehicle only on private land is also illegal. Mind you, you can still top up on ammunition at Walmart and buy a gun at Cabellas that can take out an Elephant which is useful when trying to get a raccoon off the bins..... Clearly the clean air act is not affected by lead poisoning  |
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11th Mar 2020 9:49am |
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| Huttopia Member Since: 23 Feb 2016 Location: West Midlands Posts: 1972
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Does that legislation differ from state to state? I imagine there are a whole host of car / truck building shows now a 'little bit' concerned about their builds and possible fines.
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11th Mar 2020 9:53am |
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| markb110 Member Since: 22 May 2010 Location: Guildford Posts: 2629
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Hi, not sure about the State to State changes but as most of these trucks are fairly new they have had to be built to comply with the State of California.
Therefore if it was on the vehicle from new it must stay there. The US does not have the annual MOT as we do so it is not something that would get picked up. I read in one of the US mags that Utah are introducing an out of State tax for vehicles wishing to drive Moab. Let’s it be known that the highest rates of underage marriage in 2010 was in Idaho, Utah. As much as I love the US , some things are a little weird...... |
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11th Mar 2020 10:06am |
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| miker Member Since: 13 Sep 2015 Location: Surrey Posts: 1763 
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The whole "rolling coal" thing is stupid. I've got no issues with people modifying vehicles, but never understood the motivation of pouring so much diesel into an engine that most of it doesn't get burned, just dumped straight out the exhaust.
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11th Mar 2020 10:06am |
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| andydef90 Member Since: 09 Feb 2015 Location: yorkshire Posts: 617 
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there's a few American shows showing huge amounts of unburnt fuel coming out of exhausts I wondered what its all about .personally I don't like it . its another bullet for the eco warrior . iv seen a report today saying tyre smoke is ten times more polluting than exhaust emissions .please do not get me wrong I want my grandchildren to have long lives . but that finger point at us the motorist must be getting arthritic by now
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12th Mar 2020 1:41pm |
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| diesel_jim Member Since: 13 Oct 2008 Location: hiding Posts: 6092 
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As Miker says... why is there the need to pump out clouds of smoke?
My Td5 is tuned, a friends TDci 110 is tuned, and I have numerous mates with G wagens with OM606 and mechaincal FiP's in them giving 200+ BHP, none of the above smoke (much, maybe a puff or 3 when flooring it) during normal driving. Mind you, that diesel_brothers program is quite hard to watch in the first place. lets get any truck and stick it on "military" (or just HD truck) axles and huge tyres then do doughnuts around the yard.... |
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12th Mar 2020 6:39pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 20334
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The “rolling coal” thing is fairly minority over there I think, a bit like the stereotypical British boy racer.
As pointed out already, such things will be used against others even if it’s not that common. There is no excuse creating emissions for the sake of it, I do however feel that manufacturers have created emissions systems that are not fit for purpose in many cases. Many have done this, and that is not good enough. There was the VW and other brands emissions scandal that very quickly died out, with very little said. However, had that been a US or U.K. manufacturer a lot lot would have been made about it. Probably the manufacturer being pilloried so much that they would hope they’d be driven bankrupt. Russia operates in many ways much the same as the US. And other counties like Africa etc etc. In my opinion it’s all just an excuse to have a pop at others and or different countries. ⭐️⭐️God Bless the USA 🇬🇧🇺🇸 ⭐️⭐️ |
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12th Mar 2020 6:55pm |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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"An emissions problem that seems worse than Dieselgate may be brewing in the United States, and it would likely take a perception shift to battle it well. As indicated by a new federal report from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Enforcement, over half a million owners and operators of diesel pickup trucks in the US have been illegally disabling their vehicles’ emissions control technology during the past decade. This trend, which continues to be popular, have allowed excess emissions equivalent to around 9 million extra trucks on the road. "
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-cybertruck...ieselgate/ |
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28th Nov 2020 5:36pm |
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| 90 Dreamer Member Since: 13 Jul 2019 Location: Oop North Posts: 2147
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So Tesla is promoting their truck to 'solve' the emissions issue..........what a suprise
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28th Nov 2020 6:19pm |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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Where you getting that from?
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28th Nov 2020 6:54pm |
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| 90 Dreamer Member Since: 13 Jul 2019 Location: Oop North Posts: 2147
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Its a website pi&&ing up Musks back........
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28th Nov 2020 7:48pm |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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Let's just ignore the fact the report is from the EPA then.
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29th Nov 2020 7:01am |
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| Rashers Member Since: 21 Jun 2015 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3496 
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Well that’s Richard Rawlings locked up for life if they ever start prosecuting  |
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29th Nov 2020 8:11am |
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