Emanuele Palma, a senior manager at the FCA USA automaker group, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Palma pleaded guilty to Count 1 of the Superseding Indictment – originally fined in 2019 – charging him with conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. He will be sentenced on October 17. Palma conspired with others to withhold pertinent information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This information related to the design, calibration, and function of the emissions control systems on more than 100,000 diesel vehicles. This includes Model Year 2014, 2015 and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500.
Palma and others developed and calibrated FCA US’s new 3.0-liter diesel engine for use in Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500. The vehicles’ emissions control systems were to be calibrated to meet emissions standards for nitrogen oxides (NOx). Allegedly, these control systems were purposely calibrated to produce less NOx emissions on the federal test procedures than when driven by customers.
In a recent quote, Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said, “Senior auto officials at FCA US, including Mr. Palma, conspired to circumvent pollution standards and obtain EPA certifications for hundreds of thousands of SUVs and pickup trucks under false pretenses. Today’s actions reflect the Justice Department’s continued and steadfast commitment to enforcing the Clean Air Act and holding individuals accountable for attempting to circumvent our Nation’s pollution standards.”