Hogan Administration pursues penalties, repairs from Volkswagen

 

Baltimore, MD – The Hogan Administration announced today its intention to seek penalties and correctives actions from automaker Volkswagen for installing devices that allowed thousands of vehicles to pollute Maryland’s air at up to 40 times the federal emissions standard.

Maryland intends to join with other states in asserting environmental enforcement claims against Volkswagen and pursuing joint settlement negotiations to require the carmaker to take corrective actions and pay financial penalties. Volkswagen has admitted to installing software known as “defeat devices” to circumvent emissions standards. Such action violates Maryland law.

“Maryland is working hard to cut smog from power plants in Maryland and from upwind states – and from the cars and trucks that travel our roads,” said Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles. “We will work to make sure that Volkswagen cleans up its act.”

In September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Notice of Violation of the Clean Air Act to Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. That Notice alleges that four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 include software that circumvents emissions standards for pollutants. Those defeat devices allow cars to meet emissions standards in a laboratory or a testing station, but during normal operation those vehicles emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times federal standards. Nitrogen oxides, or NOx, contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, or smog.

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