Unintended consequences of emissions

 The New York Times posted an article on November 25, 2020, titled Illegal Tampering by Diesel Pickup Owners Is Worsening Pollution, E.P.A. Says. The article explains that in 2015 Volkswagen was caught manufacturing vehicles with "defeat devices." NYTimes explains that the defeat devices "sensed when the car was being tested and then activated equipment that reduced emissions, but the software turned the equipment down during regular driving increasing emissions far above legal limits" (Gates). NYTimes explains that these defeat devices are installed to increase fuel efficiency, acceleration, and torque (Gates). Volkswagen ended up having to pay $14.7 billion to settle the scandal in the U.S. But the NYTimes explains that the problem today is not with a specific car manufacturer rather diesel truck owners who are installing aftermarket defeat devices and tuning their diesel trucks to beat the emissions checker.

Over the past decade, the E.P.A. has been investigating the installation of defeat devices on diesel trucks in the U.S. The study focuses on heavy pick-up trucks, but the problem is perceived to affect many types of vehicles. Vehicle owners are tuning their cars with defeat devices to trick emissions tests since the test only checks the vehicle's computer and not the actual tailpipe emissions. Once the car's computer tells the emissions test everything is okay, drivers are free to pollute the air. The NYTimes explains that the E.P.A. reports "diesel tuners will allow the trucks to release more than 57,000 tons of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant linked to heart and lung disease and premature death, over the lifetime of the vehicles" (Davenport). The trucks are also estimated to release "5,000 excess tons of industrial soot" (Davenport). Keep in mind that 57,000 tons of nitrogen and 5000 of soot only include the pollution from the perceived trucks to be breaking emissions and not all the other cars and S.U.V.s that have similar modifications. Reading through the article, I noticed that this issue is an unintended consequence and how the market for defeat devices and tuning has risen due to the emissions regulations.

Unintended consequences, also known as the Cobra Effect, are the reactions from imposed government action. The government will try to combat a problem. In response, people are incentivized to act against the set government action, and the problem is often exacerbated. A famous example of unintended consequences is from a case from India. The cobra population was high, so government officials put a bounty on cobras. People were getting paid to kill cobras and turn them in. The cobra population went down but then began to rise again as people figured to bread the cobras and kill them for bounty rewards. Soon the government caught on stopped paying bounty, and the breeders released the cobras back into the streets. The cobra population was larger than before the intervention.

We can see similar unintended consequences in the case of the E.P.A. and private vehicle owners. The E.P.A. has set emission regulations to combat the amount of nitrogen dioxide and soot released into the air, but car manufacturers and private vehicle owners want higher vehicle performance. Out emerges the market for illegal defeat devices and tuning and consequently higher amounts of pollution. The emissions issue was resolved with Volkswagen because the E.P.A. was able to target one offender and sued for a large sum, considering how large Volkswagen is. That is not the case with the trucks. Many small manufactures are providing defeat devices, and many of them can be purchased on Amazon. Small mechanic shops can tune the vehicles, there for the E.P.A. can not sue these small companies for huge settlements like Volkswagen. In all, it is hard to say, would there be less pollution in the air without emission regulations? Is there a way to correct unintended consequences without more unintended consequences!?

References

Davenport, C. (2020, November 25). Illegal Tampering by Diesel Pickup Owners Is Worsening Pollution, E.P.A. Says. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/climate/diesel-trucks-air-pollution.html

Davies, A. (2019, September 06). The Cobra Effect: Lessons in Unintended Consequences: Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://fee.org/articles/the-cobra-effect-lessons-in-unintended-consequences/

Gates, G., Ewing, J., Russell, K., & Watkins, D. (2015, October 08). How Volkswagen's 'Defeat Devices' Worked. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/business/international/vw-diesel-emissions-scandal-explained.html?action=click