Truck engine maker Cummins Inc. has agreed in principle to pay a $1.675 billion civil penalty for installing devices on hundreds of thousands of engines to allow them to emit excess pollution. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), it was the largest civil penalty ever assessed for a Clean Air Act violation. The DOJ alleged Cummins installed so-called "defeat devices" on 2013-2023 Dodge RAM 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks to bypass or disable emissions controls such as emission sensors and onboard computers. Cummins said it expects to take a nearly $2.04 billion charge in the fourth quarter to resolve regulatory claims by DOJ and the California Air Resources Board relating to nearly one million RAM engines. The formal settlement, which needs court approval, will be made public as early as next month.
Health officials in Contra Costa County on Tuesday made an unannounced visit to a Martinez refinery that has been under scrutiny following multiple flaring incidents and hazardous materials releases. The agency visited Martinez Refining Company to request records and observe its operation, focusing on safety programs and equipment reliability. According to health officials, the refinery, owned by PBF Energy, has had twenty-one documented releases or spills of hazardous materials so far in 2023. Officials said the inspection also included staff from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which recently joined the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office in a civil enforcement action against the refinery.
Los Angeles leaders have taken another step aimed at addressing public health and environmental threats posed by oil extraction in the city. In a 12-0 vote, the Los Angeles City Council called on the city’s petroleum administrator to terminate as soon as possible an expired pipeline franchise agreement at the West Pico oil drill site located on Pico Boulevard just west of Doheny Drive. If that occurs, Pacific Coast Energy Co., which owns and operates the drill site, won’t be able to transport oil from the facility. The motion also directs the petroleum administrator to investigate twenty years of alleged violations at the site and to impose appropriate fines.
In response to a ruling by the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expects to propose a rule allowing chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that has been linked to developmental delays in children, to go back on the market for many of its most common uses. EPA had banned the use of the pesticide in 2021, but the federal court tossed that ban in November. EPA said Tuesday that it would “expeditiously” propose a new rule to ban all uses of the chemical, except for eleven that were identified in the court ruling. EPA noted those eleven uses comprise fifty-five percent of chlorpyrifos’s total usage between 2014 and 2018.
With the recovery of sea life seen in the last decade, environmental groups are petitioning the California Fish and Game Commission to access Marine Protected Areas along Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar, and Bolsa Chica for more research opportunities. The state’s program of Marine Protected Areas, or “MPAs” as they are commonly called, was created to help restore heavily fished and impacted sections of the California coastline that are now teeming again with marine life and have become a model for addressing the degradation of sensitive areas globally.
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