Bill would penalize companies like Volkswagen who cheat on emissions tests

Environment America

Washington, D.C. – Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), along with Reps. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), yesterday introduced the “CLEAN-UP Act” ,” which would penalize automakers such as Volkswagen who violate the Clean Air Act.

“This bill rests on a simple principle,” said Aminah Zaghab, advocate for Environment America’s Clean Cars program, “We should invest in clean vehicles, clean school buses for our children, and clean air – not car companies who cheat and pollute.”

The International Council on Clean Transportation discovered Volkswagen had been cheating on emissions tests for the last six years. Nearly half a million cars in the U.S. were programmed to meet laboratory emissions tests, even though their actual pollution was as much 35 times that allowable by law. Volkswagen not only violated the standards; they obtained Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) credits for complying.

The bill introduced yesterday will deny Volkswagen and any other automakers the benefit of these fraudulently obtained CAFE credits. It also allows the Department of Transportation to levy additional fines , and use the funds for investments in clean transportation such as electric vehicles and retrofitted school buses.