Power Performance Enterprises, Inc., and Kory Blaine Willis, Clean Air Act Settlement

Washington, DC –March 15, 2022) – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Department of Justice have announced a settlement with Power Performance Enterprises, Inc. (PPEI), and Kory Blaine Willis, to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act’s prohibition against the sale or manufacture of devices that bypass, defeat, or render inoperative emissions controls. PPEI and Willis also pleaded guilty to criminal charges in federal court in Sacramento, California. Both defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act and to violating the Clean Air Act by tampering with the monitoring devices of emissions control systems of diesel trucks. Under the criminal plea agreements and a proposed civil consent decree, PPEI and Willis agreed to pay a total of $3.1 million in criminal fines and civil penalties. Under the civil settlement, the company agrees not to manufacture, sell, or install any device that defeats emissions controls.

This civil case resolution is part of the EPA’s National Compliance Initiative for the EPA, entitled Stopping Aftermarket Defeat Devices for Vehicles and Engines. EPA is vigorously pursuing enforcement against those who violate the defeat device and tampering prohibitions of the Clean Air Act. For examples of other similar civil judicial settlements, see the EPA’s settlements with Xtreme Diesel Performance, LLC, and Advanced Flow Engineering, Inc. To report a violation, send an email to tampering@epa.gov or submit the information through the EPA’s website.

• Overview
• Violations
• Compliance Requirements
• Pollutant Impacts
• Health Effects and Environmental Benefits
• Civil Penalty
• Comment Period
• Contacts

Overview of Company

PPEI manufactures, markets, and sells aftermarket automotive products for diesel pickup trucks nationwide. PPEI is a Louisiana company located in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Kory B. Willis is PPEI’s President and owner. PPEI conducts its business by selling to downstream retailers and also directly to individual customers through its website.

Violations

PPEI and Willis manufactured and/or sold numerous aftermarket defeat devices designed for diesel pickup trucks. More specifically, between 2013 and 2018, PPEI and Willis manufactured and sold no fewer than 59,135 electronic tunes or tuning devices that disable filters, catalysts, EGR systems, and other critical emissions control devices equipped on diesel pickup trucks. PPEI and Willis also marketed and sold numerous other devices designed to disable or bypass exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems equipped on diesel pickup trucks, electronic tuning products that manipulated certified stock fueling calibrations, and empty exhaust pipes (a.k.a., “straight pipes”) designed to remove emissions aftertreatment systems.

The Clean Air Act (CAA) and its regulations aim to protect human health and the environment by reducing harmful emissions from mobile sources of air pollution. The CAA authorizes the EPA to establish emissions standards and requires manufacturers of on-highway engines to apply for and obtain a certificate of conformity demonstrating compliance with emissions standards prior to introducing an engine into U.S. commerce. Certificates of conformity cover only those engines produced within a single model year. A model year for an engine family of engines ends either when the last such engine is produced, or on December 31 of the calendar year for which the model year is named, whichever date is sooner.

These emissions control devices were installed on motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines by original equipment manufacturers (i.e., truck manufacturers) in order to comply with Clean Air Act emission standards. PPEI and Willis’s aftermarket products were designed for use with numerous models of vehicles, including diesel trucks manufactured by Ford and GM. Accordingly, the EPA alleges that each act of manufacturing and each sale constitutes a civil violation of Section 203(a)(3)(B) of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. § 7522(a)(3)(B).

Compliance Requirements

The Consent Decree specifies steps PPEI and Willis must take to prevent future violations. The Consent Decree contains the following compliance requirements:

Under the Consent Decree, PPEI and Willis must not manufacture, sell, offer to sell, distribute, or install in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine any of the 323 subject products identified in Appendix A to the Consent Decree. The Consent Decree also requires PPEI and Willis to destroy subject products left in their possession or control. In addition, the Consent Decree requires PPEI and Willis to:

• cease providing technical support for the subject products;
• deny all warranty claims for the subject products;
• instruct authorized dealers to no longer provide technical support or honor warranty claims pertaining to the subject products;
• revise all marketing materials to strike any information relating to replacing, defeating, bypassing, or rendering inoperative any emission control;
• not sell or transfer any intellectual property associated with the subject products;
• notify authorized dealers and known customers of the subject products of the settlement using specified language that informs the authorized dealers and known customers that the products at issue violate the Clean Air Act;
• notify PPEI and Willis’s officers and employees of the Clean Air Act prohibitions using specified language which explains the Clean Air Act’s defeat device prohibition;
• require PPEI and Willis to offer to buy back all subject products possessed by each of PPEI and Willis’s officers and employees, which PPEI and Willis must then destroy; and
• provide Clean Air Act compliance training for all of PPEI and Willis’s officers, employees, contractors, and consultants.

In addition to the list of identified subject products, the above requirements apply to any product that bypasses, defeats, renders inoperative, or deletes the function of an emissions control. Products that are exempt from the above requirements include those for which the California Air Resources Board has issued an Executive Order.

Pollutant Impacts

Today’s vehicles emit far less pollution than vehicles of the past. This is made possible by careful engine calibrations, and the use of filters and catalysts in the exhaust system. Aftermarket defeat devices undo this progress and pollute the air we breathe. The emissions impact depends on the original vehicle design and the extent of the vehicle modifications. EPA testing has shown that a vehicle’s emissions increase drastically (tens or hundreds of times, depending on the pollutant) when its emissions controls are removed.

Here, PPEI and Willis’s defeat devices enabled the removal of the EGR systems, filters, catalysts, and other emissions control systems from diesel trucks that are necessary to treat air pollution formed in the engine before it is emitted into the ambient air. Diesel emissions include nitrogen oxides (NO_x), particulate matter (PM), hazardous air pollutants, and other pollutants.

Health Effects and Environmental Benefits

The Clean Air Act aims to reduce emissions from mobile sources of air pollution, including NO_x. Mobile sources of air pollution contribute approximately 58% of the nation’s NO_x emissions. EPA testing demonstrates that installing aftermarket parts can result in increased NO_x emissions from mobile sources.

NOx emissions pose significant health and environmental concerns. NO_x form when fuel burns at high temperatures. NO_x can travel long distances, causing a variety of health and environmental problems in locations far from their emissions source, including ozone and smog. NO_x also contributes to the formation of PM through chemical reactions in the atmosphere, and PM can cause asthma, difficult or painful breathing, and chronic bronchitis, especially in children and the elderly. It is also a major cause of substantial visibility impairment in many parts of the United States.

The key health effects categories associated with ambient PM include premature mortality, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, aggravated asthma, and acute respiratory symptoms including aggravated coughing and difficult or painful breathing, chronic bronchitis, and decreased lung function that can be experienced as shortness of breath. Symptoms of immunological effects such as wheezing and increased allergenicity have also been observed. Diesel exhaust PM is of special concern. The EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee has concluded that diesel exhaust is likely carcinogenic to humans.

EPA estimates that the products PPEI and Willis sold between 2013 and 2018 may result in more than 100 million pounds of excess NO_x emissions and 800,000 pounds of excess PM emissions over the anticipated remaining life of the diesel pickup trucks equipped with PPEI and Willis’s defeat devices. This enforcement action will prevent additional excess emissions that would have resulted from the continued sale of these illegal products.

Civil Penalty

PPEI and Willis will pay a civil penalty of $1,550,000 in three payments (plus interest) over approximately two years due to its financial inability to pay a higher penalty.

Comment Period

The proposed settlement, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.  Information on submitting comment is available at the Department of Justice.

Contact Information

Ed Kulschinsky
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2242A)
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20460
kulschinsky.edward@epa.gov