Environmental prosecutions under Trump projected to be the lowest in two decades
Harley-Davidson motorcycles on display at the company’s headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. An EPA penalty of $15 million for selling emissions defeat devices was decreased by $3 million under the Trump administration in December 2017.
In 2008, Harley-Davidson started selling the Screamin' Eagle line of motorcycle tuners. The small, neon-orange box, when put on a regular motorcycle, allowed owners to “tune” the efficiency of their bikes, making them louder, faster and more powerful. But it also caused the motorcycles to emit more pollution than Environmental Protection Agency regulations allowed, and in August 2016, Harley-Davidson agreed to pay $15 million in fines and buy back all 340,000 Screamin’ Eagle tuners from consumers. Last August, under EPA director Scott Pruitt, that penalty was quietly decreased by $3 million — removing a requirement to work with the American Lung Association to mitigate pollution.
The revised Harley-Davidson settlement is just one example of how the EPA under President Donald Trump is pursuing fewer cases and smaller fines. According to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), fines collected by the EPA from polluters in 2017 summed up to less than one-half of the amount collected during the first year of the Obama administration.
The story you just read is not locked behind a paywall because listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World. Can we count on you?