Didn't see this coming - EPA shift

[oilhammer]

Probably unchecked cow farts.

 

[lemoncurd]

Probably unchecked cow farts.

sorry, i might have set off a couple methane detectors after my taco bell run last night. this one is on me folks

 

[oilhammer]

Shoot, this is what happens when I eat Taco Bell:

 

[pro51492]

I told my co worker they probably crawled under our cars and were looking for emissions equipment. We both drive dieted TDI’s. Not sure what the actual emergency was? I couldn’t find any thing on the local news.

 

[TurboABA]

Probably unchecked cow farts.

You could be onto something.... wasn't the presidential debate on last night? At least that's what I saw in my igloo up here....

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

If that's a diesel, it'd be a good one to watch for on GSA auctions.

 

[BEWtheDEW]

Amazing. Gov tyranny at its finest lmao. Still ordering my kit regardless.

 

[BEWtheDEW]

The decline in EU new diesel passenger car registrations is quite dramatic. From 89% in 2019 to about 15% in 2023. End of an era.

Yep. Honestly on the same note, I’ve been noticing more of an interest in TDIs here in the states, and especially because of how much power they can make whist still being fuel-efficient. Not sure of activity has picked up much here on the forums, but Ive been noticing more of a resurgence. There is still a potential, I wish to fill that stopgap, and I am not sure if it will take hold, since the current market is volatile, especially with EVs in the mix. I love these cars and I want to see that resurgence lmao.

 

[jimbote]

North Carolina Auto Parts Seller and its Owner to Pay $10M for Making, Selling and Installing Emissions Defeat Devices on Motor Vehicles | US EPA

EPA News Release: North Carolina Auto Parts Seller and its Owner to Pay $10M for Making, Selling and Installing Emissions Defeat Devices on Motor Vehicles

www.epa.gov

 

[oilhammer]

$10M fine after $33M in revenue, I'd be OK with that, LOL.

I wonder how the actual numbers played out. Pretty interesting, anyway.

I just wish I'd have purchased everything to delete my CR, as now it looks like I'm going to have to smuggle it in myself.

 

[pro51492]

You could be onto something.... wasn't the presidential debate on last night? At least that's what I saw in my igloo up here....

North Carolina Auto Parts Seller and its Owner to Pay $10M for Making, Selling and Installing Emissions Defeat Devices on Motor Vehicles | US EPA

EPA News Release: North Carolina Auto Parts Seller and its Owner to Pay $10M for Making, Selling and Installing Emissions Defeat Devices on Motor Vehicles

www.epa.gov

Boy they sure are proud of the work they are doing!

 

[Dwmorrissey17]

North Carolina Auto Parts Seller and its Owner to Pay $10M for Making, Selling and Installing Emissions Defeat Devices on Motor Vehicles | US EPA

EPA News Release: North Carolina Auto Parts Seller and its Owner to Pay $10M for Making, Selling and Installing Emissions Defeat Devices on Motor Vehicles

www.epa.gov

Shame, Rudy's has been a leader in the 6.4 Powerstroke stuff for a while, had the record for the highest hp Powerstroke for a while to.

 

[atc98002]

$10M fine after $33M in revenue, I'd be OK with that, LOL.

If it was $33M profit, then yeah it pencils out. But if that's gross revenue, chances are his actual pocket money was less than the fine.

 

[oilhammer]

Yeah, that's what I mean by wondering how the actual numbers worked out.

Big companies get to pay fines all the time, be nice if little ones could, too. I'd gladly pay a $1000 fine instead of a $5000 repair.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Much of the problem is that the average EPA employee (except the folks who do useful stuff like clerical and janitorial work) is a liberal arts major with a $100K+/year salary= They can afford new EVs every couple years. They have no understanding of the rest of us with long commutes to lower paying jobs so we have to make cars last 20+ years. They think they're saving the world, and we're supposed to junk our 10+ year old TDIs and buy new EVs like they do... Ain't gonna happen!

 

[oilhammer]

And they also force the older cars to be kept on the road longer than they would have otherwise, which also doesn't necessarily make the case for the environment to their way of thinking.

This is why pre-DPF diesel trucks are like gold mines now, and people are pulling them out of weeds after sitting for years and resurrecting them. And that's peanuts compared to what older OTR trucks can sell for now. I watched a 2017 Pete 389 with low miles (rural, seasonal farm use) sell for six figures OVER what it sold for new.... and it was a day cab!!! And there were 20+ bidders!

 

[wxman]

This may have mentioned before, but EPA acknowledges that a shift to more electrification in medium- and heavy-duty trucks will result in an increase in primary (direct) PM2.5 emissions at least through 2055. The increase in PM2.5 emissions from electricity generation units (EGUs) more than offsets the decrease in "downstream" (i.e., emissions from the vehicle) and "refinery" PM2.5 emissions.

Direct quote from an RPA technical document:

"...In 2055, we estimate the final standards will result in a net decrease of 61 million metric tons of GHG emissions. We also estimate net decreases in emissions of NOX, VOC, and SO2 in 2055. However, we estimate a net increase in PM2.5 emissions...." ("Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles: Phase 3 Regulatory Impact Analysis ," page 617)

It should also be noted that EPA doesn't anticipate a reduction in SO2 emissions until 2048 (page 626 of the RIA).

The trade-off of lower GHG emissions at the expense of an increase in some criteria air pollutants seems dubious.

 

[TurboABA]

Those who know and understand the tech will always gravitate towards the best option available....
Just fly under the radar as much as possible... just like the ones who are getting burned now with EPA fines and such did until they didn't anymore...

 

[atc98002]

Much of the problem is that the average EPA employee (except the folks who do useful stuff like clerical and janitorial work) is a liberal arts major with a $100K+/year salary

I don't think you're being fair to government employees in general and EPA employees in particular. I have 40 years in the FAA, and yes I am highly paid. And I don't have a degree of any kind. But I have a very specialized job that not everyone can do. The same applies to many government positions. And the ones that don't require special skills probably aren't even making $100k. My daughter is a state employee (working for one of the state universities) with a Masters from Cambridge and she barely makes $50k.

 

[K5FAL]

I don't think you're being fair to government employees in general and EPA employees in particular. I have 40 years in the FAA, and yes I am highly paid. And I don't have a degree of any kind. But I have a very specialized job that not everyone can do. The same applies to many government positions. And the ones that don't require special skills probably aren't even making $100k. My daughter is a state employee (working for one of the state universities) with a Masters from Cambridge and she barely makes $50k.

Dude, I gave a pilots license and I’m a locomotive engineer for a RR, so I appreciate what the DOT does. But we were never meant to live under a system in which government agencies make law. That’s what I hate. If Congress wrote the law, then by all means the executive branch should enforce it. But it all went sideways when they started pulling stuff out of their ass (like when the ATF ruled that a shoelace is a “machine gun”).

As far as TDI’s, I confess I have never read the Clean Air Act or anything that Congress has passed regarding emissions. Is the EPA sticking to that or are they pushing it much further?

 

[lemoncurd]

Is the EPA sticking to that or are they pushing it much further?

much further. so much so that the supreme court had to step in

The Supreme Court curbed EPA’s power to regulate carbon emissions from power plants. What comes next?

Harvard Chan School experts discuss the implications of a Supreme Court ruling limiting the EPA’s power to curb power plant emissions.

www.hsph.harvard.edu

 

[K5FAL]

What I’m trying to say is that we don’t need an “expert class” running the country. If there is a problem, it should be addressed by Congress. They are elected officials and can be held accountable for their actions. When they create these agencies and give them regulatory power, they give up their own authority to bureaucrats who aren’t accountable and can’t be voted out (the statist believe this is a feature not a bug).

I know there are specific areas of modern life that have to be regulated, like air traffic and safety. But look how many agencies there are and the scope of their power pretty much covers everything. So we now have a micromanaged society led by “experts” who manage to dumb down and ruin everything they touch, from gasoline cans to toilets, and even the diesel engine.

 

[K5FAL]

much further. so much so that the supreme court had to step in

The Supreme Court curbed EPA’s power to regulate carbon emissions from power plants. What comes next?

Harvard Chan School experts discuss the implications of a Supreme Court ruling limiting the EPA’s power to curb power plant emissions.

www.hsph.harvard.edu

Figures. It’s bound to happen when you have an agency full of activists.

 

[lemoncurd]

What I’m trying to say is that we don’t need an “expert class” running the country. If there is a problem, it should be addressed by Congress. They are elected officials and can be held accountable for their actions. When they create these agencies and give them regulatory power, they give up their own authority to bureaucrats who aren’t accountable and can’t be voted out (the statist believe this is a feature not a bug).

I know there are specific areas of modern life that have to be regulated, like air traffic and safety. But look how many agencies there are and the scope of their power pretty much covers everything. So we now have a micromanaged society led by “experts” who manage to dumb down and ruin everything they touch, from gasoline cans to toilets, and even the diesel engine.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf

mainly:
All that
backs today’s decision is the majority’s belief that Chevron
was wrong—that it gave agencies too much power and
courts not enough.

 

[oilhammer]

And these "experts" seem to get things wrong all the time, and there seems to be no mechanism to hold them accountable.

But hey, we're burning wind turbine blades for fuel, now... so at least there's something good to come of all that nonsense....

 

[jmodge]

Actually there is a mechanism to hold them, not necessarily accountable, but in control. It's called money, because they don't make their own. Government can only force it's will upon those who can't afford to manipulate them.

As far as buying into statistics, back in the day there was a scholastic course named as such. The main message of this course was that you can use statistics to uphold as fact or disregard as fiction whatever you set your sights on, and there will always be parties that accept both arguments as truth.

 

[turbodieseldyke]

I don't think you're being fair to government employees in general and EPA employees in particular.

Do you think they were "being fair" to the guy with the $10mil fine? Or to maskedman469?

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

I don't think you're being fair to government employees in general and EPA employees in particular. I have 40 years in the FAA, and yes I am highly paid. And I don't have a degree of any kind. But I have a very specialized job that not everyone can do. The same applies to many government positions. And the ones that don't require special skills probably aren't even making $100k. My daughter is a state employee (working for one of the state universities) with a Masters from Cambridge and she barely makes $50k.

Been there, done that, got the TSP poor excuse for a pension. I've got no problem paying real scientists and engineers $100K+ for their expertise, but paying liberal arts majors that kind of $$$ for their opinions is unjustified.

 

[Lightflyer1]

I wonder if they are going after the customers now too?

 

[turbodieseldyke]

I wonder if they are going after the customers now too?

I don't believe it. I had ordered a DPF and EGR delete kit from Rawtek in Ontario on 8/20/24 and due to BO it was shipped 8/26/24 and arrived in New York on 8/28/24 and was intercepted by EPA and my order was returned to the Mfgr. Seems like the EPA police are on the warpath again...