The hosts of a Discovery Channel show about their custom truck business could face a multi-million dollar tab stemming from violations of air quality regulations.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the stars of “Diesel Brothers” were ordered by a judge to pay more than $760,000 to the federal government and another $90,000 to Davis County, home to their suburban Salt Lake City shop.
The federal district judge also said that the group that originally sued the business, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, could submit their attorneys’ fees for payment by the defendants — which could reportedly add another $1.2 million to the penalty.
The physicians group alleged in its complaint that the shop illegally removed pollution control equipment from trucks and installed defective controls before their operating or selling them. The group’s testing showed one modified truck emitted 36 times more pollution than it would have ordinarily.
A court order banned the shop from modifying or reselling vehicles that could violate the Clean Air Act in 2018, and the judge found them liable for air quality violations last spring.
The attorney for the defendants said his clients were committed to restoring the state’s air quality, while the shop itself had said the lawsuit involved concept trucks that were never driven.
The physicians group, meanwhile, said the order would hold the business accountable for profiting from — and glorifying — “plumes of pollution.”
