Filed under: Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, USA
How’s this for a peek into the Las Vegas underworld? The U.S. Department of Justice indicted ten men in Vegas Friday for falsifying vehicle emissions tests. Some men allegedly falsified about 250 vehicles, but one did over 700. Because the air in some parts of Nevada, including Las Vegas, has levels of carbon monoxide and ozone that are higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standards, the state is required to test vehicles and make sure they’re not adding too much to the problem. It should be a simple process: bring your car to a check station, the inspector runs some tests and finds our if your ride passed or failed the check. If your mechanic is shady, though, there are ways around the system.
Here’s how the scheme is supposed to have worked: The emissions inspector manually types a vehicle’s VIN into the computer before testing the vehicle. Because the computer doesn’t know which vehicle is then actually connected, the inspector can hook up a vehicle that is certain to pass after entering the VIN of a dirty car. Even though the result of these cheats means dirtier air for everyone, the inspectors named in the indictment were paid, in some cases, just $10 (up to $100 in other cases) for their dishonesty.
Even though the men named in the indictment now face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if they’re found guilty, the numbers seem to say that there are easily thousands of people in Las Vegas who would gladly pay a few extra bucks to drive around in a dirty car. Thanks, jerks.
[Source: U.S. Department of Justice | Image: Rishabh Mishra (possible248) - C.C. License 2.0]
Continue reading Sin City’s illegal activities include falsifying vehicle emissions tests
Sin City’s illegal activities include falsifying vehicle emissions tests originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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