Traffic along Interstate 84. (Rocky Burnside)
In recent years, many Portlanders have been distraught to find their vehicles’ catalytic converters surreptitiously removed. Meanwhile, truck owners have paid Hillsboro mechanics to do the operation for them. Catalytic Converter Universal
That, at least, is what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is claiming in a criminal case filed in U.S. District Court on June 1. Prosecutors accuse Pure Addiction Diesel Performance of charging hundreds of customers upwards of $2,000 each to remove their diesel emissions systems—and the company’s owner, Travis Turner, of covering it up.
Willfully defeating car and truck emissions systems is illegal. They’re mandated by the Clean Air Act and substantially reduce emissions.
But some truck owners prefer to “delete” the section of tailpipe that contains the catalytic converter and other emissions equipment and replace it with what’s known as a “straight” or “race pipe.” It’s supposed to make trucks faster. “These modifications are often marketed to diesel vehicle owners as improving the horsepower, torque, maintenance, and other characteristics of diesel engines,” the legal filing alleges.
Pure Addiction Diesel Performance “deleted and tuned approximately 245 diesel vehicles,” earning $400,000 between 2018 and 2020, according to the legal filing. When the EPA confronted Turner, he provided the agency with “inaccurate or incomplete information,” leaving out invoices for illegal work. He’s now charged as an “accessory” to the crime, a misdemeanor.
The EPA has been aggressively prosecuting tuners across the country, dishing out multiple seven-figure penalties last year.
WW has reached out to Turner and Pure Addiction Diesel Performance for comment and has yet to hear back.
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