U.S. Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Tim Murphy (R-PA) sought information this week related to a partial consent decree reached in the case involving Volkswagen AG’s efforts to cheat on federal emissions tests.
In letters to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Upton and Murphy requested information connected with the company’s clean diesel marketing, sales practices and products liability litigation.
The congressmen specifically requested information about a requirement that Volkswagen invest $2 billion in zero emission vehicles (ZEV) over a 10-year period. They also renewed a request for EPA assessments of excess emissions in the case.
Upton, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Murphy, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, raised concerns about the ZEV investment requirement’s tight deadlines, EPA’s oversight role and implications for the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
“For example, under the structure of the ZEV Investment Commitment, VW may be able to obtain substantial competitive benefits, if not a monopoly on electric vehicle infrastructure, under the required investments,” the lawmakers wrote.
“It appears that, just as the company plans to enter the EV market, it will be consenting to a court-required $2 billion investment — potentially into its own infrastructure and to support its own newly entered market. This is a curious outcome for the settlement of a cheating scandal,” the letter said.
Upton and Murphy sought clarification on the mechanisms of the ZEV Investment Commitment and information about how the process would impact the existing ZEV marketplace.
In a second letter, the lawmakers noted that the partial consent decree outlines $2.7 billion as the amount that would be sufficient to mitigate total lifetime excess nitrogen oxide emissions from the vehicles involved in the case.
“The committee asked EPA to provide a detailed explanation or description of any assessment EPA has conducted to evaluate the real-world effect of these emissions,” the letter said, noting the EPA declined at the time due to the ongoing investigation.