Overview
- Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche directed prosecutors to drop or forgo Clean Air Act charges tied to tampering with onboard diagnostic systems, a shift the department announced publicly.
- The change is expected to affect more than a dozen pending cases and over 20 ongoing investigations across multiple districts.
- Justice officials said they will still pursue civil penalties in coordination with EPA, and EPA enforcement chief Jeffrey Hall told staff to stop pursuing criminal cases related to OBD tampering.
- The policy relies on a novel claim that onboard diagnostic systems are not “required to be maintained” under the law, a position career EPA attorneys contest as a related 9th Circuit appeal remains unresolved.
- The move followed President Trump’s pardon of diesel mechanic Troy Lake and pressure from Sen. Cynthia Lummis, and it does not make broader emissions tampering legal or relax enforcement of hardware removals.