Caterpillar Inc. to Pay $2.55 Million to Resolve Clean Air Act Violations

Environmental Protection Agency ^ | July 28, 2011 | Re: Stacy Kika

[hapnHal]

FORGET ALL THE EPA BS

THIS QUESTION NEEDS TO BE ASKED TO THE EPA REGULATOR’s........

TELL ME WHERE THESE DIESEL ENGINES ARE OPERATING AND ASK, HOW MANY DAYS OR HOURS WAS THE AIR QUALITY OUT OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEDERAL GUIDELINE STANDARDS?

[conservativeimage]

Way to fine those shovel ready jobs, EP f-ing A.

[Revel]

2.55 million is a lot of jobs gone out the window.

[Rabin]

jim, “another example of EPA overreach. They are mandating an expensive recall in order to fix a non-existent problem.”

Over-reach? Me thinks you are to kind.

R.

[catfish1957]

The punk president just loves stabbing the last few of the sucessful industries we have left.

[meatloaf]

That is correct.

[P-Marlowe]

Don't worry Cat, like all large corporations, will not pay the EPA fines or cost. Their customers will eventually, down the line, pay it though.

There is too much competition in the heavy equipment business from Asia. They are probably operating on a shoe string. This will be eaten by the company and may spell the end of another American icon. There will be no more customers to pass this cost on to. They will pass this on to their employees, when they lay them off.

[BipolarBob]

TSO was fined $500,000 this week for refining Californias gas. The gas companies should just leave California high and dry for a month and say choose between us or the EPA.

[Dr.Deth]

That’ll save some American jobs, right Barry ol’ pal?

[Carry_Okie]

I believe Caterpillar recently quit making tractor trailer engines altogether because of the emissions requirements.

I happened to be attending a spray droplet symposium at Carnegie Mellon in 1995. One of the two major groups of attendees was dominated by Caterpillar engineers and consultants. They were basically trying to make do with an inherently incapable injector nozzle design. It was a management decision; not an engineering decision; all about higher pressures and smaller holes, guaranteed to either clog or erode. No wonder the EPA leaned on the fuel suppliers.

Frankly, I didn't think much of the design team. Neither the professor in charge nor I thought it was going to work, but then, my experience in such things was limited to fixing the damned things when I was working my way through engineering school doing (among other things) mechanical repair of marine diesels with differential pressure injectors. Funny that.

[Rabin]

Bp, “The gas companies should just leave California high and dry for a month and say choose between us or the EPA.”

Eric would RICO in a heart beat.

Keep the powder dry, Rab

[The Cajun]

Ain't no way Cat is going down, would have to throw half my caps away.

Seriously, I hope not because it truly is an American icon.

[P-Marlowe]

Ain't no way Cat is going down, would have to throw half my caps away.

They might go down to Mexico.

[dennisw]

Here is the foreign born useless eater parasite EPA apparatchik who made the announcement on Caterpillar and (maybe?) worked behind the scenes to screw this great American company

 

Ignacia S. Moreno (2010-present)

Early History/Schooling:
Ignacia Soledad Moreno was born on May 8, 1961 in Cartagena, Colombia and raised in Washington Heights, New York. She received her bachelor’s and law degrees from New York University in 1986 and 1990, respectively.

Tenure as AAG:
President Obama nominated Moreno to be Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division on June 8, 2009. She was confirmed by the Senate on November 6, 2009 and sworn in on November 16, 2009.

Career:
After receiving her law degree, Moreno joined Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C. and worked in the firm’s environmental and litigation practice groups.  In 1994, President Clinton appointed Moreno to the Department of Justice, where she served with distinction as Special Assistant (1994-1995), Counsel, and then Principal Counsel to Lois Schiffer, the AAG of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. In this capacity, she led significant environmental enforcement initiatives and expanded ENRD’s international program.  In 2001, Moreno reentered the private sector and joined Spriggs & Hollingsworth in Washington, D.C. She became a partner in 2004 and specialized in environmental and mass tort litigation.  In September 2006, she became Counsel, Corporate Environmental Programs at the General Electric Company.  She held this position until her confirmation as AAG in 2009.

Ms. Moreno served pro bono as General Counsel to the Hispanic National Bar Association from 2008-2009. From 2000-2001, she was President of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia, where she also served for many years as a member of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board. Ms. Moreno has also served on the Board of Advisors for the Center for International Environmental Law, on the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees for the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and on the Advisory Board for BNA’s Environmental Due Diligence Guide. She has held leadership positions in the American Bar Association, including in the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, and has served on committees of the District of Columbia Bar.

 

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[KoRn]

....And the political class all act puzzled as all of our jobs go off overseas....

[nikos1121]

I find it hard to believe, having worked in the engine division of Cat, that they would be shipping dirty engines, therefore can we assume that the fine is over improper labeling?

Here is an American Co that employs tens of thousands once again kicked in the teeth....

[Venturer]

No doubt.

They spent over $1800 dollars on tow fee’s alone to get the things to the Cat warranty center.

[ilovesarah2012]

Why doesn’t CAT stand up to the EPA and just say no? What power does the EPA have? Can they put them in jail? What if they refuse to pay the fines? Is there any way to fight the EPA?

[Immerito]

It’s a shame Caterpillar caved.

I hope the Caterpillar employees are updating their resumes and preparing themselves for the very real chance that they may need to find work elsewhere.

[Newtoidaho]

This issue has been going on since about 2002, EPA has mandated a decade worth of BS emmissions rules on all the engine manufacturers. Caterpillar being one of the main manufacturers tried to engineer a solution for the new rules, but were not able to profitably do so. They continued to make and sell engines with their old technologies for a few years then announced they were getting out of the truck-engine market, sometime around 2005 or 2006. The EPA even back then was threatening to fine them and eventually did.

By the way, the new engines for trucks (in their 3rd or 4th generation now of the new technologies for emissions) get worse fuel economy than ever, cost more to repair and are far more unreliable than engines of 10 years ago. They cost about $15,000 more per truck also. But, their emissions are cleaner. So, as usual, the government tries to solve one problem and creates a 100 more that are far worse.