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EPA upping its game amid Volkswagen probe

In the wake of the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal, the Environmental Protection Agency vowed to crack down on the auto industry with renewed vigor. That process has started. Janet McCabe, the agency's assistant administrator, said Tuesday that the EPA has already obtained a range of vehicles for testing purposes and that its enforcement staff is working as quickly as possible to determine whether other automakers are gaming emission results. "That's another detail we'd rather be obscure about, so that we can make sure people don't know what we're doing." For now, she said the agency is focused on diesel vehicles. But the scope of the new examinations could broaden to include gasoline-powered cars. The renewed efforts could include more light-duty vehicles or focus on heavy-duty trucks. The testing procedures could use dynamometers or portable emissions equipment. Right now, pretty much everything is a possibility. "We're going to become unpredictable, we're upping our game and we're going to use the whole range of technology that we have," she said. That technology now includes a heavy-duty truck chassis dynamometer at the EPA's national Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI. Officials unveiled the $3 million piece of equipment Tuesday and hailed it as the first of its kind in North America. A Freightliner Super Truck, which boosted its fuel efficiency to 12 miles per gallon with the help of a $40 million federal grant, rolled onto the dynamometer in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday. McCabe said the new dynamometer will allow the EPA to assess the performance of the entire truck – not just its engine – and help engineers test 18-wheel tractor trailers measure, hydrocarbons, greenhouse gases, carbon monoxide and more. In the past, it took about a week for engineers to remove an engine from a truck and prep it for testing. With the new equipment, drivers can open a garage door and drive the rigs straight onto the dynamometer. A wealth of new, real-time data will be helpful as the EPA works with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in planning for the second phase of the government's greenhouse gas emission and fuel-efficiency standards for medium and heavy-duty engines and vehicles – a process now underway. While there's been a crush of attention on Volkswagen's scheming to circumvent emissions test, in the real world, it's these medium and heavy-duty trucks that are the bigger polluters.

VW stock delisted from Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Because of the company's years-long diesel emissions evasions, Volkswagen AG is being removed from the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices effective October 6, according to a joint statement by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and RobecoSAM. After looking at reports of the automaker's cheating software, the DJSI has decided that the company shouldn't be part of the index anymore. According to The Detroit News, the DJSI is meant to track the top 10 percent of companies that are considered leaders environmentally and socially in each industry among the 2,500 largest companies in the S&P Global Broad Market Index. This de-listing means that VW is no longer considered an industry leader by this group for its economic, environmental and social performance. As of this writing, VW AG's stock price sits at 97.75 euros ($109.14), and the figure has been largely in freefall since the emissions evasions reports first surfaced. It was considered shocking on September 21 when the shares plunged almost 18 percent to end the day at 132.15 euros ($147.57). According to The Detroit News, the automaker has lost about $30.8 billion in value since the EPA put out its notice of violation on September 18. Related Video:   Volkswagen AG to be Removed from the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices New York and Zurich, September 29, 2015 Effective October 6, 2015, Volkswagen AG (VW) will be removed from the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). A review of VW's standing in the DJSI was prompted by the recent revelations of manipulated emissions tests. Per the published and publicly available methodology for the DJSI, potential problematic issues relating to any DJSI component company automatically trigger a Media & Stakeholder Analysis (MSA), which examines the extent of the respective company's involvement and how it manages the issue. Following the MSA, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Committee (DJSIC) reviews the issue and decides whether the company will remain in the index, based on DJSI Guidelines. In VW's case, the DJSIC reviewed the situation and ultimately decided to remove the Company from the DJSI World, the DJSI Europe, and all other DJSI indices. The stock will be removed after the close of trading in Frankfurt on October 5, 2015, thus making the removal effective on October 6, 2015. As a result, VW will no longer be identified as an Industry Group Leader in the "Automobiles & Components" industry group.

Winterkorn kept diesel scandal secret, letter claims

Former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn allegedly kept quiet for two weeks about emissions defeat devices in the company's models. US officials eventually made the automaker's deception public on September 18th. "In the conversation on 03.09.2015 with the regulator CARB (California Air Resources Board), the defeat device was admitted," an employee told Winterkorn on September 4, according to Reuters citing Germany's Bild am Sonntag. Based on this information, Winterkorn had plenty of time to admit the problem. Evidence like this letter continues to suggest top figures knew about the emissions problem. In addition, a separate Bild am Sonntag report recently claimed that an employee emailed Winterkorn in May 2014 to tell him US regulators could discover the cheating. In the lower echelons of the company, the deception was allegedly an open secret among engineers as early as 2006, and people kept quiet even after workers tried to admit what was happening. This culture of secrecy seems to go even deeper than just the diesel emissions scandal. For example, engineers admitted that they cheated on CO2 tests to meet the company's strict standards. According to Green Car Reports, these problems also affected the US. In 2004, an Audi worker in America allegedly discovered an issue with the exhaust gas temperature sensor in some vehicles, but a German executive said not to admit the problem to US regulators. It's not clear whether any high level employees tried to fix the diesel emissions issue or if they simply kept the problem hidden. The company's internal report, which is due in the latter half of April, might address that concern. So far, the VW Group has said only a small group of people caused the scandal. However, these many allegations to the contrary make that claim difficult to believe. Related Video: