Milwaukee-based The Manitowoc Company, a crane manufacturer and provider of other lifting solutions, along with its two subsidiaries, Grove U.S. LLC and Manitowoc Crane Group Germany, will pay a $42.6 million civil penalty for violating the federal Clean Air Act.
Specifically, Manitowoc will pay the civil penalty to resolve allegations that the company violated the Clean Air Act’s mobile source emission standard regulations, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The DOJ alleges the company imported and sold heavy nonroad cranes with diesel engines that were not certified to meet applicable Clean Air Act emission standards and violated related Clean Air Act regulatory requirements. These violations led to the release of excess carcinogenic diesel exhaust containing nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, the DOJ says.
“This agreement concludes a matter announced in a press release dated Jan. 17, 2022, in which Manitowoc announced that an internal investigation indicated the company may not have met all requirements of the TPEM program for a portion of engines mounted on Manitowoc mobile cranes sold in the U.S. between 2014 and 2017,” according to an announcement from The Manitowoc Company. “Manitowoc has booked a financial reserve for the settlement of this matter.”
As part of the agreement, Manitowoc will begin a project to mitigate harm from the alleged unlawful emissions. The project involves retrofitting a short-line locomotive currently in service in the Sparrows Point, Maryland, area. This area is near the Port of Baltimore where Manitowoc had imported cranes with the illegal engines.
Retrofitting of the locomotive includes removing, destroying and replacing the locomotive’s old engine, which was manufactured before locomotive emission standards were in place, with a new engine equipped with present-day emission controls.
The DOJ’s initial complaint alleges that Manitowoc imported and sold nonroad cranes with at least 1,032 diesel engines that were not covered by EPA-issued certificates of conformity. Many of the engines also did not qualify for a limited exemption. Manitowoc also failed to comply with Clean Air Act labeling, bonding and reporting requirements.
