Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Adrenaline Performance LLC of Shelley, Idaho has agreed to pay a $48,600 Clean Air Act penalty for illegally selling and installing vehicle emissions-control defeat devices to businesses and individuals in southeast Idaho.

EPA alleges that from approximately January 1, 2018 to June 17, 2020, the company sold, marketed, or installed at least 671 parts or components that bypass, defeat, or render inoperative the manufacturers’ technology and design necessary to reduce vehicle emissions to meet federal Clean Air Act standards and tampered with the emission control systems of at least 248 highway vehicles. The Agency estimates that the defeat devices led to 38,000 pounds of excess emissions from the tampered vehicles for each year of sales.

EPA estimates that -- in terms of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) -- the emissions impact of removing emission controls from just one pickup truck is equivalent to putting about 300 new pickup trucks on the road.

“This company sold and installed hundreds of aftermarket defeat devices, and as a result, hundreds of trucks now operate without the filters, catalysts and other emissions controls that help keep our air clean,” said Ed Kowalski, Director of EPA Region 10’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “Our hope is that this and similar enforcement actions will deter other companies from selling and installing products that defeat required emission control devices.”

Tampered diesel pickup trucks emit large amounts of NOx and particulate matter, both of which contribute to serious public health problems in the United States. These problems include premature mortality, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, aggravation of existing asthma, acute respiratory symptoms, chronic bronchitis, and decreased lung function. Numerous studies also link diesel exhaust to increased incidence of lung cancer.