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SALT LAKE CITY — Saying that the county is no longer going to be quiet when it comes to crimes against the environment, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against auto giant Volkswagen for allegedly polluting Salt Lake County's air during its well-publicized emissions scandal.
Volkswagen is responsible for air quality violations that have "caused or contributed to Salt Lake County’s significant air pollution" due to the company's "use of vehicle emissions testing 'defeat devices' in thousands of vehicles sold or operated in Salt Lake County over the last six years," according to a statement from Gill's office.
In September, Volkswagen admitted it had installed computer software known as "defeat devices" in some vehicles designed to alter the results of emissions testing.
"(They) purposely mislead the emissions testing," Gill said. "(These) devices were purposely put in there to give false readings."
The devices allegedly allowed vehicles to pass emissions testings "when, in fact, the vehicles emitted as much as 40 times more nitrogen oxide and other harmful pollutants than what is permitted by federal, state and local regulation," Gill said.
The actions of Volkswagen greatly contributed to a "public health crisis" that Salt Lake County is facing due to its air pollution, he said.
“Just this morning, the (American Lung Association) issued its 2016 annual report, in which it found that Salt Lake City is the sixth worst city in the country for short-term particle pollution. We believe the actions of Volkswagen and its subsidiaries in delivering and selling thousands of vehicles in and around Salt Lake County that were equipped with these ‘defeat devices’ significantly caused or contributed to the county’s air pollution problem and the serious health risks that come with it," the district attorney said.
Salt Lake County Health Department Executive Director Gary Edwards issued a prepared statement Wednesday supporting the lawsuit.
“We asked the district attorney to file this action not only to preserve the integrity of our emissions testing process, but also to protect the most vulnerable members of the county’s population from unnecessary risks of respiratory problems, damage to lung tissue, and even premature death," Edwards said.
The suit was filed against the Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. and Audi of America LLC. It alleges that the vehicles that had the "defeat devices" comprised of "Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche vehicles in model years 2009-2016 — all had 2.0 or 3.0-liter diesel engines," according to the civil suit.
RELATED: Volkswagen CEO steps down, takes responsibility for scandal
Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday, days after admitting that the world's top-selling carmaker had rigged diesel emissions to pass U.S. tests during his tenure.When the scandal was uncovered in September, Volkswagen estimated the devices were installed in 11 million vehicles worldwide, including 600,000 in the United States.
Gill says an estimated 2,600 vehicles with the devices were sold or were for sale in Salt Lake County, and approximately 4,200 certificates of successful emissions testing have been handed out to vehicles with the devices.
As part of the injunctive relief the county is seeking in its suit, Volkswagen may have to pay up to $5,000 for every vehicle with the device for every day that the vehicle was in Utah, Gill said.
Protecting the environment, he said, is "within the wheelhouse for enforcement" for the district attorney's office.
"That's part of my job. So we're not going to sit idly by when we identify that and there's a harm being committed in our community which is degrading our environmental quality, which is polluting our air and we are authorized by law to pursue this," he said.
"We're not going to sit quietly while people continue to pollute," the district attorney added. "From my perspective and from the health department's prescriptive, this is a health crisis."
Contributing: Nicole Vowell
