{"id":49077,"date":"2026-07-04T19:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T19:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/49077\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T19:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T19:08:20","slug":"trump-pardons-9-convicted-of-clean-air-act-diesel-tune-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/49077\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump pardons 9 convicted of Clean Air Act diesel tune violations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doug Burgum praises Trump\u2019s leadership on rolling back regulations<\/a> <\/p>\n

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum thanks President Trump for his leadership in rolling back ‘job-killing, community-killing’ regulations impacting the fishing industry. He emphasizes that Trump’s actions have supported American citizens and businesses in territorial waters, from the Pacific to other regions, ensuring healthy food for the nation and creating fifth-generation family businesses.<\/p>\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> pardoned nine people convicted of violating the Clean Air Act by tampering with diesel vehicle emissions-control systems.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Trump announced<\/a> six of the pardons on Truth Social, arguing that the men he granted clemency to were “persecuted by the Biden Administration” and punished for “fixing their car.”<\/p>\n

Eight of the people Trump pardoned were diesel mechanics or car tuners who were prosecuted for selling and installing so-called “defeat devices” into trucks, according to a Fox News review of federal court records.<\/p>\n

These devices reprogram trucks to bypass federally required emissions controls and suppress diagnostic warnings. Without them, many diesel trucks can enter a “limp” mode that limits speed \u2014 sometimes to as little as 5 mph \u2014 until the emissions system is restored.<\/p>\n

\"trump-july-3 <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 3, 2026, in Keystone, South Dakota. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

FORMER INDIANA REP STEPHEN BUYER RECEIVES FULL PARDON FROM TRUMP FOR 2023 INSIDER TRADING CONVICTION<\/a><\/p>\n

Trucks can also enter this limp mode when emissions controls fail. These failures are extraordinarily common and have been causing massive headaches for truckers and farmers for years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

People are more than willing to pay top dollar to mechanics who can do the job of disabling the emissions-limiting systems.<\/p>\n

Matthew Geouge, one of the pardon recipients, ran two companies that sold illegal tuning devices. Just from the sale of those devices alone, his firms grossed more than $10 million, according to his December 2021 plea agreement.<\/p>\n

Emissions-capping technology<\/a>, specifically Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) systems, is also prone to malfunctions in extremely cold weather.<\/p>\n

\"diesel-truck <\/p>\n

A tractor trailer refuels with diesel fuel at a Kwik Star gas station in Mitchellville, Iowa, on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Bryon Houlgrave\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

TRUMP WILL WELCOME FARMERS AND RANCHERS TO WHITE HOUSE DINNER TO CELEBRATE TRADE, TAX WINS<\/a><\/p>\n

Brad Bylsma, a state equipment fleet manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF), said<\/a> in March that DEF systems account for a “significant portion of our maintenance issues and costs” with state-owned diesel vehicles.<\/p>\n

Frederic Sifuentes, the president of Alaska-based transportation service, put it more bluntly.<\/p>\n

“The percentage of breakdowns we have here in Alaska with the DEF systems is roughly 85 percent of the time,” he said.<\/p>\n

Another pardon recipient, MacKenzie “Mac” Spurlock, was a mechanic in Alaska who modified emissions controls on vehicles for exactly this reason, according to Senator Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.<\/p>\n

“Four years ago, about 30 armed EPA agents conducted a military-style tactical raid of Matanuska Diesel, owned by Mac Spurlock \u2014 a devoted husband and father, small business owner, and veteran of the Alaska Air National Guard,”\u00a0Sullivan said in a statement celebrating Spurlock’s pardon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"dan-sullivan <\/p>\n

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) speaks during a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 30, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“His shop had assisted trucking businesses by modifying several diesel emissions-control systems mandated by a one-size-fits-all Obama-era emissions regulation, ensuring the vehicles wouldn\u2019t shut down in Alaska\u2019s harsh, subzero conditions,” Sullivan added.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

The other men who received pardons for similar conduct included Ryan and Wade Lalone, Tim Clancy, Joshua Davis, Barry Pierce, Aaron Rudolf, and Jonathan Achtemeier, a White House official confirmed to Fox News.<\/p>\n

In late January 2026, the Trump administration announced<\/a> it would no longer pursue criminal charges for manufacturers, distributors and users of defeat devices. Civil penalties could still apply.<\/p>\n

James Cirrone is a writer on the Breaking\/Trending News team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to james.cirrone@fox.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Doug Burgum praises Trump\u2019s leadership on rolling back regulations Interior Secretary Doug Burgum thanks President Trump for his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7819,38,8,1505,9,67,7134,7],"class_list":["post-49077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-diesel","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-justice-department","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-pollution","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116863284368133086","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}