In August 2016, Harley-Davidson got into some deep water with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for roughly 340,000 “super tuners” that were sold, which ran afoul of the emission standards for on-road vehicles.
For its misdeeds, Harley-Davidson was slapped with a $12 million fine, along with an agreement to spend $3 million on efforts to mitigate air pollution. It should be noted, that all of this occurred on the heels of Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” scandal – and timing is everything.
However in July 2017, news came out that Harley-Davidson wouldn’t have to pay the $3 million in pollution mitigation, as the Bar & Shield brand saw some mercy from the Trump Administration’s new EPA.
That didn’t sit so well with 10 states, and the District of Columbia.
With the decision to rollback the $3 million penalty still in the hands of U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, the Attorneys General from the following states have lodged complaints with the EPA: Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.
Will the states prevail in their motions? That’s hard to say.
Harley-Davidson has become one of President Trump’s favored brands, with the motorcycle-maker often propped-up by Trump as an archetype of American manufacturing success, with the EPA clearly following the President’s lead on this issue.
Recent news hasn’t been good for Harley-Davidson though. The brand’s sales are constantly falling, and Harley-Davidson is currently in the midst of closing its Kansas City plant.
We’ll see how this one plays out.
Source: Vermont Biz via Cyril Huse Blog
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