Navistar Inc. fined $250,000 for violating state air emissions regulations

Navistar Inc. fined $250,000 for violating state air emissions
regulations

$62,500 to help clean up school buses throughout the state

SACRAMENTO - Navistar Inc. paid $250,000 in penalties to the Air
Resources Board for failing to follow proper testing procedures
for one of its diesel exhaust filters, as required by state law.

“Companies that are in the business of providing pollution
control technology for vehicles must make sure that their
products actually do what they say they will do,” said ARB’s new
Enforcement Chief, Todd Sax.  “Navistar sold diesel particulate
filters in California without proper testing at specified
intervals, in violation of our air quality laws. To their credit,
once they were notified of these infractions, they took prompt
action and cooperated fully with ARB.”

The state’s Verification Procedure requires compliance testing
for each category of diesel particulate filters after a certain
number of units are sold or leased in the California market.
Results of these tests must be submitted to ARB’s Executive
Officer after each phase of testing in the form of a compliance
report.

Navistar failed to follow the in-use compliance requirements of
the Verification Procedure for the DPX™ Catalyzed Soot Filter
System. The company had sold more than 200 in California, with
many installed on school buses in the San Diego County region,
which should have triggered the required testing.

Illinois-based Navistar has agreed to follow all required
procedures and paid $187,500 to the Air Pollution Control fund to
support air quality research, and $62,500 to the San Joaquin
Valley Air Pollution Control District to clean up school bus
fleets throughout the state.

Diesel exhaust contains a variety of harmful gases and more than
40 other known cancer-causing compounds. In 1998, California
identified diesel particulate matter as a toxic air contaminant
based on its potential to cause cancer, premature death and other
health problems.