Letter to the Hon. Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney General - Take Strong Civil and Criminal Actions Against Volkswagen for Any Violations
Letter
Dear Attorney General Lynch:
We write to you today deeply concerned about Volkswagen's willful evasion of U.S. emission standards on nearly 500,000 Model Year 2009-2015 Volkswagen and Audi diesel passenger vehicles. Volkswagen developed and installed a "defeat device" in these vehicles, which artificially lowered emission standards, deceiving consumers and endangering public health. According to The Guardian, Volkswagen's actions resulted in the emission of tens of thousands of tons of additional pollution. Just as important, Volkswagen appears to have misled hundreds of thousands of customers about the car they were purchasing.
The notice of violation of the Clean Air Act issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicates that Volkswagen has been installing defeat devices to specifically circumvent environmental testing in some of their diesel vehicles since 2009 and continued to do so through 2015 models. Such a blatant violation of the Clean Air Act must be met with an appropriately strong response.
We are particularly concerned that Volkswagen and individual executives appear to have made multiple false statements to the government, which would violate 18 USC Sec. 1001. Officials at Volkswagen should be granted no get out of jail free card, and the Department should accept no plea agreement with Volkswagen that does not ensure any and all information regarding criminal acts by high level officials is provided to the Department.
We urge the Department of Justice's criminal investigations to be thorough but expeditious. Additionally, we encourage the Department of Justice, in coordination with other agencies, to take strong civil and criminal actions against Volkswagen and any individual for any violations.
The recent criminal and deceptive actions by some automakers is unacceptable. The U.S. government needs to make it clear that these actions, whether involving safety defects, consumer deception, or regulatory violations, will not be tolerated by the American public.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and we look forward to your full and thorough investigation.
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