The Corporate Governance Initiative (CGI), an organization committed to assisting organizations to adhere to a system of guidelines, practices, and procedures by which a company is directed, has announced the selection of Paul Pelosi Jr. as its new executive director. The selection was made after a national search and selection process, during which Paul rose to the forefront with his ringing endorsement of CGI’s mission to shed light on improper corporate governance worldwide while questioning the role of Independent Directors in Tata Sons, one of the largest companies in India with brands the likes of Jaguar, Landrover and Starbucks.
Mr. Pelosi, son of U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, was a founding member of Cisco Systems Connected Urban Development team under the direction of Cisco CEO John Chambers and also currently advises a number of companies including the NASA Ames Research Center. Mr. Pelosi graduated Cum Laude from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Arts and holds an MBA with an emphasis in International Business. Mr. Pelosi has been a member of the California State Bar since 1996.
“We are tremendously pleased to announce this appointment,” reported Aric Reutlinger, BSEAE, MBA, and Media Relations Director for CGI. “Paul will bring leadership and creativity to CGI’s programs and his strong sense of commitment to our goals and overall mission. He has served organizations at the executive and leadership levels, and has a wide scope of perspective and understanding.” Mr. Pelosi has extensive experience advising Fortune 500 companies and has been a key speaker at conferences across the globe for environmental sustainability, public policy as well as corporate ethics and best corporate practices.
Mr. Pelosi commented, “I’m looking forward to working with the CGI staff as we look to strengthen and create new alliances with corporate governance projects and businesses around the world.” When asked how he arrived at the decision to become the new Executive Director for the CGI, Paul said “A few months ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal where David Larcker, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, postured a remarkably enlightened question in an interview with Risk & Compliance Journal: “Are you concerned about the shareholder base and if you are what actions do you take to actually shift it?” That question made me think even further about corporations here in the US and abroad in regards to their true concern, if any, for all the stakeholders in their company. So when the opportunity to give voice to this issue presented itself, I felt it was my obligation to step up and assist in any way possible.”
When asked how he will address the difficult task of helping companies create policies to find balance between the interests of a company's many stakeholders as well as coalition build for CGI, Paul said “I recently met an amazing Communication Specialist, Michael Bernoff, who put me through his course called “Call 2 Action” which helps you learn how to do more in 5 days than you did in 5 months, so I think I’m up to the challenge, plus I have an amazing team at CGI that will help make the mission a success.”
Verde Science, Inc. (Formerly known as Rango Energy Inc.) was an E&P company based in United States. The company is Publicly Quoted. In the second quarter of 2014 the company divested all its oil & gas assets and changed its business operations to medical marijuana. As the company is no longer involved in the E&P business Evaluate Energy has ceased coverage.http://www.evaluateenergy.com/.../company/rango_energy_inc
Mr. Pelosi went on to say, “The true objective in selecting new board members and creating partnerships is to be sure to have voices with multiple perspectives on the corporate governance issue. It is only then that we have spirited discussions that will eventually create cohesive solutions that will truly benefit a company and all of its stakeholders such as shareholders, management, patrons, providers, investors, government and the public.
The Corporate Governance Initiative promotes self-governing corporate strategies that are transparent with all stakeholders, maximize mutually beneficial transactions, and establish long-term relationships, and respect laws and local communities.
Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law Chairman David N. Cicilline (D-RI) released the following statement on reports that the Department of Justice opened an antitrust investigation into automakers who reached an agreement with California regarding state emissions standards:
“President Trump has repeatedly misused his office to punish perceived adversaries—in this case companies who cooperate with state government pursuing strong environmental protection policies. The Department’s antitrust investigation into the four major automakers who reached an emissions control agreement with California is only the latest in a profoundly troubling pattern of abuse of power that has flourished under the Trump presidency.
“As a policy matter, California’s agreement with the four major automakers to reduce emissions will safeguard the public and the environment while providing the industry with regulatory certainty. The President sees that as a threat to his assault on the environment. So, it is no surprise that his Administration is again threatening to wield federal antitrust laws in response. There is virtually no antitrust theory that the Justice Department can use to prove that this agreement will unreasonably restrain trade or otherwise violate the antitrust laws.
“The House Judiciary Committee is examining allegations of obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by the President. Using the Department of Justice to investigate or attack perceived political enemies—whether they are individuals, states, or major corporations—is another example of this President’s disregard for the rule of law. The Committee will broaden its investigation into the President’s unprecedented criminality, corruption, and cover-up to include these latest revelations and will take further investigative steps regarding this decision by the Department, including scheduling hearings and requesting documents from the Department and the White House. We look forward to hearing what rationale, if any, the Justice Department has for its latest attempt to score political points at the expense of the American people.”
Washington — The Trump administration is escalating its battle with California over gas-mileage rules by launching an antitrust investigation into Ford Motor Co. and three other automakers that have agreed to higher fuel-economy rules than President Trump has pushed for.
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Ford, Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Co. and BMW AG for reaching a deal with California to voluntarily increase the average fuel economy of their fleets to about 50 miles per gallon by the end of the 2026 model year, Ford, Honda and BMW confirmed Friday. The Justice Department declined comment.
In a letter obtained by The Detroit News, the Justice Department said it is concerned the agreement between the auto companies and California "may violate federal antitrust laws." The agency said it is inviting the carmakers to meet with federal regulators "in order to help us determine whether that is a possibility and what are the appropriate next steps we should take" and is planning to review communication between the carmakers concerning the formation of the pact.
Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a letter sent Friday to the California Air Resources Board, which negotiated the deal with the carmakers, that the proposed agreement "appears to be inconsistent with federal law."
"Congress has squarely vested the authority to set fuel economy standards for new motor vehicles, and nationwide standards for [greenhouse gas] vehicle emissions, with the federal government, not with California or any other state," Steven Bradbury and Matthew Leopold, general counsels for the EPA, wrote in a letter to CARB Administrator Mary Nichols.
EPA's lawyers urged CARB to immediately disassociate itself from the commitments made by the four automakers. "Those commitments may result in legal consequences given the limits placed in federal law on California's authority," the letter said.
The California Air Resources Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The office of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra declined to comment.
Ford said in a statement: "We have received a letter from the Department of Justice and will cooperate with respect to any inquiry.”
Honda said it will "work cooperatively with the Department of Justice with regard to the recent emissions agreement reached between the State of California and various automotive manufacturers, including Honda."
BMW said: "We can confirm receipt of an inquiry from the Department of Justice and will respond appropriately."
Volkswagen declined to comment, saying: “We are in regular contact with U.S. authorities on a number of matters, but do not comment on specific private communications we may or may not receive.”
The investigation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which cited anonymous sources, is the latest front in a battle over mpg rules between the Trump administration and California that has ensnared automakers in a fight that is likely to end up in a lengthy court battle.
The move by the carmakers to agree separately with California to higher mpg standards flew in the face of the Trump administration's two-year push to freeze fuel-mileage rules at about 39 mpg for model years 2021 to 2026.
The Trump administration has responded by moving forward with a plan to revoke part of California's right to set its own gas mileage rules for cars, setting up a likely protracted legal fight.
The Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is planning to submit a proposed "One National Program" rule that prohibits states from setting their own gas mileage rules in a bid to ensure a single national level for fuel economy standards that would directed by Congress, a source familiar with the interagency process who was not authorized to speak on the record said Thursday.
The "One National Program" rule will not be final until it is submitted to the Federal Register and approved under the federal government's traditional rulemaking process after the White House review process is complete.
At the same time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is planning to revoke aspects of a Clean Air Act waiver that has been used for years by California to set its own emission standards, according to the source that is familiar with the internal administration discussions. That would undo California's Advanced Clean Car Rule, which calls for automakers to reduce pollution from new cars from 2012 model year levels by 40% by 2025.
The Trump administration's plan would leave in place California’s low-emission vehicle standards that have been in place since the 1990s.
The White House and California have locked horns over gas mileage rules since the earliest days of Trump's presidency. His administration announced last year its intention to ease stringent gas-mileage rules that would have required fleets averaging nearly 55 miles per gallon by 2025. The administration proposed a freeze in the mandate after 2020, touching off a fierce battle with California, which helped craft the Obama-era rules.
The two sides attempted to negotiate a potential agreement, but the White House announced in February it was pulling out of the talks and moving forward with its proposed freeze.
Thirteen states and Washington, D.C., have adopted California’s mileage rules, meaning automakers could be left with one set of rules for a quarter of the country and another set for the remaining states unless the Trump administration and California can come to an agreement. Congress gave California the right to set its own standards years ago under the Clean Air Act.
Carmakers have consistently pushed for one national fuel-economy standard. They have pressed the Trump administration to go back to the negotiating table with California.
Environmentalists have decried the Trump administration's efforts to roll back the Obama-era fuel economy standards as an attack on the environment from a hostile administration.
“The Trump administration is trying to bully automakers into accepting a rule rollback the companies don’t want,” said Luke Tonachel, director of clean vehicles and fuels at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It’s bizarre — but not surprising — that this Environmental Protection Agency is attacking companies that want to cut pollution.”
DETROIT, Jan. 3— John Conyers Sr., a retired union official who was the father of Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, died Wednesday at his Detroit home. He was 80 years old. Mr. Conyers had been an international representative for the United Automobile Workers.
In addition to his son John, Mr. Conyers is survived by his wife, Lucille, and another son, Nathan.
DETROIT – Between the two World Wars, the groundwork was laid in this city’s Black community that culminated in the 1941 organizing of the world’s most powerful corporation: the Ford Motor Company.
That piece of Detroit’s rich labor and civil rights history was brought to life by professors Beth Bates and Quill Pettway in a Department of Africana Studies Black History Month celebration at Wayne State University here.
Bates’ research has focused on political, social, and economic developments within the 20th century African American community. Pettway is both a student and maker of history. He was helped organize the huge Ford Rouge plant and continued working there for 27 years before becoming a professor. Now almost 90, he continues to teach math at Wayne County Community College.
The two traced the origins of Detroit’s Black population. Escaping what for many was life as a Southern sharecropper, Black migration north took place at record levels in the early part of the last century. From 1916 to1917, Black migration to Detroit averaged 1,000 a month. “Simply put, they came looking for a better life, better education, security and to escape lynching” said Pettway.
By the early 1920s, 45 percent of Black men in Detroit worked at Ford.
Bates said those jobs at Ford gave hope to Blacks, but Henry Ford “extracted more than his pound of flesh in speed-ups.” She quoted the late autoworker Dave Moore who said “there was nothing liberal in the bastard – Ford’s strategy was simply different than GM or Chrysler,” where cleaning rest rooms and mopping floors was the best Blacks could expect.
Interwoven in Ford’s strategy was a paternalistic philosophy. Bates said Ford imagined Blacks might be “the perfect workers for his open shop movement, what he called his American Plan.” However, Bates said, Blacks also had their own American Plan, one that grew more incompatible with Henry Ford as time went by. Contrary to what many scholars have written, it was Black workers who paved the way for unionization at Ford, she said.
Throughout the 1930s the old AFL autoworkers union missed opportunities to support the Black community in their fight for civil rights and against police brutality, and did not work to develop a broader-based union organizing drive. “Black workers not initially signing union cards had less to do with allegiance to Ford than wanting to be treated as equals” by the union, said Bates.
She credited the role played by the Communist Party and other radicals in organizations like the unemployed councils and the International Labor Defense (which led the fight to save the Scottsboro Boys) because they facilitated a “cross-fertilization” and politicalization within the Black community, between workers at Ford and community members, on issues like racism, civil rights and jobs.
“By 1935, Black Detroiters considered Communists friends you could count on,” said Bates.
Unlike the old AFL union, the CIO’s United Auto Workers had a policy of racial equality that gave it an advantage, Pettway said.
He noted the role played by white Ford worker and lead union organizer Bill McKie. McKie’s job in Ford’s maintenance department allowed him to circulate amongst different workers. The fact that McKie was a known Communist did not hurt his ability to organize. He was “second to none, highly respected by everyone. Elected as a trustee his first year,” said Pettway.
The CIO saw to it that a broad base of union support was built within the Black community and on three occasion organized rallies with Paul Robeson.
Pettway said the last rally, in Detroit’s downtown Cadillac Square, drew 60,000 people. “Regardless of race, creed or color, they came to hear Robeson, Walter Reuther, former City Council President Erma Henderson,” among others.
On May 21, 1941, Ford workers overwhelmingly voted for the union.
The vote shook the automotive industry and shaped it for decades to come.
During discussion, retired UAW activist General Baker pointed to the “high level of solidarity” still seen within UAW Ford Local 600. At its peak there were 17,000 Black workers and even today, most top UAW national leaders come out of Local 600 he said.
Pettway said “the unity needed to organize Ford was the same unity that elected Barack Obama. This is what is necessary to move forward.”
DETROIT (AP) - The automotive business world has lost a titan.
Lee Iacocca, the auto executive and master pitchman who put the Mustang in Ford's lineup in the 1960s and became a corporate folk hero when he resurrected Chrysler 20 years later, has died in Bel Air, California. He was 94.
Two former Chrysler executives who worked with him, Bud Liebler, the company's former spokesman, and Bob Lutz, formerly its head of product development, said they were told of the death Tuesday by a close associate of Iacocca's family.
In his 32-year career at Ford and then Chrysler, Iacocca helped launch some of Detroit's best-selling and most significant vehicles, including the minivan, the Chrysler K-cars and the Ford Escort. He also spoke out against what he considered unfair trade practices by Japanese automakers.
The son of Italian immigrants, Iacocca reached a level of celebrity matched by few auto moguls. During the peak of his popularity in the '80s, he was famous for his TV ads and catchy tagline: "If you can find a better car, buy it!" He wrote two best-selling books and was courted as a presidential candidate.
But he will be best remembered as the blunt-talking, cigar-chomping Chrysler chief who helped engineer a great corporate turnaround.
Liebler, who worked for Iacocca for a decade, said he had a larger-than-life presence that commanded attention. "He sucked the air out of the room whenever he walked into it," Liebler said. "He always had something to say. He was a leader."
In recent years Iacocca was battling Parkinson's Disease, but Liebler was not sure what caused his death.
He remembers that Iacocca could condemn employees if they did something he didn't like, but a few minutes later it would be like nothing had happened.
"He used to beat me up, sometimes in public," Liebler remembered. When people asked how he could put up with that, Liebler would answer: "He'll get over it."
In 1979, Chrysler was floundering in $5 billion of debt. It had a bloated manufacturing system that was turning out gas-guzzlers that the public didn't want.
When the banks turned him down, Iacocca and the United Auto Workers union helped persuade the government to approve $1.5 billion in loan guarantees that kept the No. 3 domestic automaker afloat.
Liebler said Iacocca is the last of an era of brash, charismatic executives who could produce results. "Lee made money. He went to Washington and made all these crazy promises, then he delivered on them," Liebler said.
Iacocca wrung wage concessions from the union, closed or consolidated 20 plants, laid off thousands of workers and introduced new cars. In TV commercials, he admitted Chrysler's mistakes but insisted the company had changed.
The strategy worked. The bland, basic Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant were affordable, fuel-efficient and had room for six. In 1981, they captured 20% of the market for compact cars. In 1983, Chrysler paid back its government loans, with interest, seven years early.
The following year, Iacocca introduced the minivan and created a new market.
The turnaround and Iacocca's bravado made him a media star. His "Iacocca: An Autobiography," released in 1984, and his "Talking Straight," released in 1988, were best-sellers. He even appeared on "Miami Vice."
A January 1987 Gallup Poll of potential Democratic presidential candidates for 1988 showed Iacocca was preferred by 14%, second only to Colorado Sen. Gary Hart. He continually said no to "draft Iacocca" talk.
Also during that time, he headed the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, presiding over the renovation of the statue, completed in 1986, and the reopening of nearby Ellis Island as a museum of immigration in 1990.
But in the years before his retirement in 1992, Chrysler's earnings and Iacocca's reputation faltered. Following the lead of Ford and General Motors, he undertook a risky diversification into the defense and aviation industries, but it failed to help the bottom line.
Still, he could take credit for such decisions as the 1987 purchase of American Motors Corp. Although the $1.5 billion acquisition was criticized at the time, AMC's Jeep brand has become a gold mine for now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as demand for SUVs surged.
Iacocca was born Lido Anthony Iacocca in 1924 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His father, Nicola, became rich in real estate and other businesses, but the family lost nearly everything in the Depression.
After earning a master's degree in mechanical engineering at Princeton University, Iacocca began his career as an engineering trainee with Ford in 1946. But the extrovert quickly became bored and took the unconventional step of switching to sales.
He said a turning point in his career came in 1956, when he was assistant sales manager of the Philadelphia district office ranked last in Ford sales nationwide. Iacocca's devised a financing plan called "56 for 56," under which customers could buy a 1956 Ford for 20% down and payments of $56 a month for three years. The district's sales shot to the top, and Iacocca was quickly promoted to a national marketing job at company headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
By 1960, at age 36, Iacocca was vice president and general manager of the Ford division.
"We were young and cocky," he recalled in his autobiography. "We saw ourselves as artists, about to produce the finest masterpieces the world had ever seen."
Iacocca's first burst of fame came with the debut of the Mustang in 1964. He had convinced his superiors that Ford needed the affordable, stylish coupe to take advantage of the growing youth market.
He broke from tradition by launching the car in April rather than the fall. Ford invited reporters to a 70-car Mustang rally from New York to Dearborn, which generated huge publicity. The car made the covers of Time and Newsweek the same week.
In 1970, Iacocca was named Ford president and immediately undertook a restructuring to cut costs as the company struggled with foreign competition and rising gas prices. Iacocca's relationship with Chairman Henry Ford II became strained, and in 1978, Ford fired Iacocca. Henry Ford II later described Iacocca as "an extremely intelligent product man, a super salesman" who was "too conceited, too self-centered to be able to see the broad picture," according to interview transcripts published by The Detroit News.
The Mocca Cocca Crew
Iacocca got the last laugh. He was strongly courted by Chrysler, and he helped cement its turnaround in the 1980s by introducing the wildly successful Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager minivans.
In July 2005, Iacocca returned to the airwaves as Chrysler's pitchman, including a memorable ad in which he played golf with rapper Snoop Dogg.
Chrysler wasn't faring well. In his 2007 book "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" Iacocca criticized Chrysler's 1998 sale to the Germany's Daimler AG, which gutted much of Chrysler to cut costs.
As the recession began, sales worsened, and soon Chrysler was asking for a second government bailout. In April 2009, it filed for bankruptcy protection.
"It pains me to see my old company, which has meant so much to America, on the ropes," Iacocca said.
Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy protection under the control of Italian automaker Fiat. In a 2009 interview with The Associated Press, he urged Chrysler executives to "take care of our customers. That's the only solid thing you have."
Iacocca was also active in later years in raising money to fight diabetes. His first wife, Mary, died of complications of the disease in 1983 after 27 years of marriage. The couple had two daughters, Kathryn and Lia.
Iacocca remarried twice, but both marriages ended in divorce.
Bill Ford, Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company released a statement:
"Lee Iacocca was truly bigger than life and he left an indelible mark on Ford, the auto industry and our country. Lee played a central role in the creation of Mustang. On a personal note, I will always appreciate how encouraging he was to me at the beginning of my career. He was one of a kind and will be dearly missed."
Fiat Chrysler also released a statement on his death:
"The Company is saddened by the news of Lee Iacocca's passing. He played a historic role in steering Chrysler through crisis and making it a true competitive force. He was one of the great leaders of our company and the auto industry as a whole. He also played a profound and tireless role on the national stage as a business statesman and philanthropist.
Lee gave us a mindset that still drives us today -- one that is characterized by hard work, dedication and grit. We are committed to ensuring that Chrysler, now FCA, is such a company, an example of commitment and respect, known for excellence as well as for its contribution to society. His legacy is the resiliency and unshakeable faith in the future that live on in the men and women of FCA who strive every day to live up to the high standards he set."
IAV GmbH (IAV), a German company that engineers and designs automotive systems, has agreed to plead guilty to one criminal felony count and pay a $35 million criminal fine as a result of the company’s role in a long-running scheme for Volkswagen AG (VW) to sell diesel vehicles in the United States by using a defeat device to cheat on U.S. vehicle emissions tests required by federal law.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Schneider of the Eastern District of Michigan, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jean E. Williams of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine of the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater of FBI’s Detroit Division made the announcement.
IAV is charged with and has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and VW’s U.S. customers and to violate the Clean Air Act by misleading the EPA and U.S. customers about whether certain VW- and Audi-branded diesel vehicles complied with U.S. vehicle emissions standards. IAV and its co-conspirators knew the vehicles did not meet U.S. emissions standards, worked collaboratively to design, test, and implement cheating software to cheat the U.S. testing process, and IAV was aware the VW concealed material facts about its cheating from federal and state regulators and U.S. customers. Under the terms of the plea agreement, which must be accepted by the court, IAV will plead guilty to this crime, will serve probation for two years, will be under an independent corporate compliance monitor who will oversee the company for two years, and will fully cooperate in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation and prosecution of individuals responsible for these crimes. Pursuant to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, IAV’s $35 million fine was set according to the company’s inability to pay a higher fine amount without jeopardizing its continued viability. IAV is scheduled to appear for a change of plea hearing before the Honorable Sean F. Cox of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Jan. 18, 2019 at 9:30 a.m.
“Today’s guilty plea shows that this scheme to evade automotive emissions tests and cheat the American public and the U.S. government extended well beyond Volkswagen,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Cronan. “Our investigation into emissions cheating is ongoing and we will follow the evidence wherever it leads.”
“By helping VW cheat on U.S. emissions tests in violation of the Clean Air Act, IAV put its corporate success over public health and unfairly disadvantaged its competitors,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Williams. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with its law enforcement partners to ensure that companies like IAV play fair and that all Americans can enjoy the protections of our nation’s environmental laws.”
“IAV participated in Volkswagen’s deception of American regulators and fraud on American consumers,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider. “As this guilty plea demonstrates, our office will continue to aggressively prosecute corporate criminals, even when they work at some of the world’s largest, most prominent companies.”
“IAV designed the software that allowed VW to cheat U.S. air emissions standards,” said EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine. “EPA and its law enforcement partners will not tolerate actions like this that put profit above public health and environmental protection.”
“Americans rightly expect corporations to operate honestly,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Slater. “This case sends a clear message that the FBI and its partners will hold corporations accountable when they defraud consumers and violate federal laws.”
The guilty plea of IAV represents the most recent charges in an ongoing investigation by U.S. criminal authorities into unprecedented emissions cheating by VW. In March 2017, VW pleaded guilty to criminal charges that it deceived U.S. regulatory agencies, including the EPA and the California Air Resources Board, by installing defeat devices in diesel vehicles emissions control systems that were designed to cheat emissions tests. As part of its plea agreement with the Department, VW paid a criminal fine of $2.8 billion and agreed to an independent corporate compliance monitor for three years. Eight individuals were previously indicted in connection with this matter, two of whom have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. The other six charged defendants are believed to reside in Germany.
According to the statement of facts that will be filed with the court in IAV’s case, in 2006, VW engineers began to design a new diesel engine to meet stricter U.S. emissions standards that would take effect by model year 2007. This new engine would be the cornerstone of a new project to sell diesel vehicles in the United States that would be marketed to buyers as “clean diesel.” When the co-conspirators realized that they could not design a diesel engine that would both meet the stricter standards for nitrogen oxides (Nox) and attract sufficient customer demand in the U.S. market, they decided they would use a software function to cheat the U.S. emissions tests.
VW delegated certain tasks associated with designing its new “Gen 1” diesel engine to IAV, including parts of software development, diesel development and exhaust after-treatment. In November 2006, a VW employee requested that an IAV employee assist in the design of defeat device software for use in the diesel engine. The IAV employee agreed to do so and prepared documentation for a software design change to recognize whether a vehicle was undergoing standard U.S. emissions testing on a dynamometer or it was being driven on the road under normal driving conditions. If the software detected that the vehicle was not being tested, the vehicle’s emissions control systems were reduced substantially, causing the vehicle to emit substantially higher NOx, sometimes 35 times higher than U.S. standards.
By at least 2008, an IAV manager knew the purpose of the defeat device software, instructed IAV employees to continue working on the project and directed IAV employees to route VW’s requests regarding the defeat device software through him; the manager was involved in coordinating IAV’s continued work on it.
Starting with the first model year (2009) of VW’s new “clean diesel” Gen 1 engine, through model year 2014, IAV and its co-conspirators caused defeat device software to be installed on all of the approximately 335,000 Gen 1 vehicles that VW sold in the United States.
This case was investigated by the FBI and EPA-Criminal Investigation Division. The prosecution and corporate investigation are being handled by Trial Attorneys Philip Trout, Mark Cipolletti and Gary Winters of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section; Senior Trial Attorney Jennifer Blackwell of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section; and White Collar Crime Unit Chief John K. Neal of the Eastern District of Michigan. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also assisted in the case. The Justice Department also extends its thanks to the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Braunschweig, Germany.
Detroit, MI – Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) released the following statement in response to Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant’s anti-union remarks:
Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives John Conyers, Jr.
“Detroit paved the first mile of road, made the automobile a household good, and built the Middle Class. General Motors, Ford, and FCA are only three of the more than a dozen auto makers in America—but they employ two-thirds of American autoworkers. They have invested billions of dollars over the past few decades in Southeast Michigan. They do the majority of their design, manufacturing, and surrounding services right here in America—and they offer their employees a much larger voice in their workplace than Governor Bryant apparently wants for his own citizens.
“Governor Bryant’s statements are a typical cheap shot. I would be offended if he was not so transparent: he is simply parroting what the anti-worker special interests he serves want him to say.
“As someone whose own family fled Jackson, MS for opportunity in Detroit—and who still has some family in Mississippi—I wonder why is it that Bryant does not think workers in his state should have a voice? The Mississippians I know are smart and sharp. They should have the same say in their workplace as anyone else. Perhaps as the Governor of a state ranked 51st in household income—Bryant should focus more on empowering workers—and less on doing the bidding of anti-union billionaires who reward him for keeping wages low and workers silent in his state.”
Dean of the U.S. House of
Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.
Throughout the 1920s, Congress was focused on slashing taxes on the wealthy and eliminating business regulations, arguing that a free market could govern itself and that a rising tide would lift all boats.
The results were devastating: Wall Street ran amuck, resulting in the 1929 stock market crash. Wealth became highly concentrated at the top, leaving everyday consumers with too few resources to fuel a meaningful post-crash recovery. Industrial pollution began accelerating, setting the stage for an era of smog and even flammable rivers.
Fast-forward 90 years, and you'll wonder: Why haven't we learned our lesson?
Today -- with majorities they've touted as their largest since the 1920s -- congressional Republicans are pushing the most aggressive deregulatory agenda in nearly a century. My colleagues in Congress should look to both history and to current affairs to learn a simple lesson: Smart regulation is not only necessary for society but can be good for growth.
This is something our constituents inherently understand -- with 70 percent of the general public supporting rules to protect our climate from greenhouse gases, including 56 percent of Republicans. They trust in the power of markets to deliver solutions when regulations properly incentivize reform.
House Republicans' headline bill for this week -- the deceivingly named Regulatory Accountability Act ("RAA") -- exemplifies the wrong-headed approach of the 1920s. The RAA (H.R. 185) would require that all laws implemented through federal regulations be implemented in the weakest and cheapest manner possible with maximum input from industry. The bill would decrease the effectiveness of our landmark environmental protections, create delays that are costly to both consumers and good corporate citizens, and derail many of our most dynamic domestic industries. This is to say nothing of the bill's awful impacts on workplace safety, financial protections, and consumer product safety
.
The laissez-faire environmental standards of the 1920s remained largely in place for decades until people could no longer afford to avert their eyes. In 1969 -- the same year of the famous Cuyahoga River fire -- the Rouge River in my own hometown also caught fire. These fires and others in several major cities across the country were a direct consequence of the failure to regulate the use of freshwater systems as sewers, harbors, and dumps. While it's troubling that it took such a conspicuous fiery accident to generate action, Congress finally came to its senses and adopted a smart regulatory response -- the Clean Water Act -- in 1972. Two years later, we passed the bipartisan Safe Drinking Water Act. Both were signed by Republican Presidents.
But the decades of neglect and abuse could not be cleaned up overnight. Thirteen years after the Clean Water Act was passed, a young man died of a rare waterborne disease after falling in the Rouge River and ingesting a mouthful of water. Now, 30 years after his death the Rouge River Basin is in vastly better condition, but it's still recovering -- in spite of decades of work and hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs.
H.R. 185 could erase those decades of environmental progress by forcing agencies and courts to defer to the environmental regulations found in nations like China -- where air pollution cuts life expectancy by five years in the north of the country and 16,000 dead pigs recently filled one Shanghai River. These environmental hazards have direct economic consequences -- easily measured in the responses of the two-thirds of wealthy Chinese who have left China or a planning to do so.
So much money, time, and effort could have been saved with regulations that preempt or quickly address environmental impacts. Unfortunately, too many people want to govern by crisis -- acting only when they are forced to by a catastrophe like a flaming river. This is of course a natural inclination -- we all from time to time refuse to do more than the bare minimum. The GOP's bill this week exemplifies this sort of short-sighted thinking, preferring a pound of cure to an ounce of prevention.
The US public is paying for regulatory inaction with their lives, their health, and ultimately their taxes when the consequences become so egregiously apparent that Congress finally acts. The GOP's 1920s-style deregulation, including bills like H.R. 185, threatens our economy by reducing businesses' expected consequences when they take shortcuts and shirk responsibilities, instead placing the burden on citizens who pay for cancer treatment, and waterway clean-up, and other costs that the polluters should have picked up.
The GOP deregulation agenda also places good corporate citizens at a competitive disadvantage to the greedy and unethical. Every time the good corporate players clean up their mess, source responsible raw materials, and refuse to pass the buck, they fall behind the companies that cut corners to maximize profits. Many of those good guys are eventually forced to play dirty too, or they go out of business.
H.R. 185 and the GOP's broader deregulatory agenda aren't pro-business -- they're pro-bad business. They reward antiquated business models and intransigent managers. As Harvard Business School management guru Michael Porter hasdemonstrated, US firms have shown again and again that they can and will respond with hard work and innovation when regulations offer them flexibility and a fair playing field. Consider how increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards have empowered Motor City to develop cleaner manufacturing processes, build aluminum F-150s, and develop a $30,000 plug-in hybrid that can drive from Detroit to Lansing on a single gallon of gas. Crucially in a global marketplace, adopting energy-efficiency and consumer safety standards ahead of foreign competitors secures an important first-mover advantage. Any company that can make it in a free market isn't going out of business because they -- and their competitors -- have to reduce ozone emissions or prevent fracking fluids from entering aquifers.
Smart environmental regulations are both good ethics and good economics.
The GOP deregulation agenda is about shifting the burden of responsibility from businesses to taxpayers. It's about shamefully low expectations for US industry. In short, it's about a return to the 1920s economic model that yielded unprecedented inequality, mass pollution, and the worst financial crisis of the 20th century.
H.R. 185 is just the beginning. In the months ahead, congressional Republicans will continue to build on their recent actions to approve the Keystone Pipeline (the perfect economic strategy for an aspiring Russian-style Petro-State) and to deregulate Wall Street derivatives (the recipe for an automatic taxpayer bailout for the riskiest gambling). Let's stand up for the lessons of history and defend the prudent role of government.
(WASHINGTON) – Today, dozens of House members and Senators are sending a letter to President Obama later today raising the alarm about Japan’s possible interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations between the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and several Pacific Rim countries. The letter, still circulating for signatures, will go to President Obama later this afternoon. Current signatories are below. After signing the letter, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement:
U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr.
“With the auto industry just now regaining its fiscal footing and profitability, it’s a very serious development that USTR is considering opening the domestic auto industry up to unfair competition from one of the most restrictive markets for automobiles in the world,” said Conyers.
“It is incumbent that USTR carefully scrutinize Japan’s potential entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership. American auto workers and manufacturers can’t afford another free trade deal that adds to our country’s $76 billion annual trade deficit with Japan.”
Contact: Matthew Morgan – 202-226-5543
Conyers Calls on U.S. Government to Contest Unfair Chinese Duties on American Cars
(WASHINGTON) – Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI 14.) joined Representative Gary Peters (D-MI 09) and 25 of their House colleagues in a letter urging President Obama to work with the United States Trade Representative to initiate a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute contesting the recent trade duties China imposed on American vehicles. This latest set of tariffs levied on American cars, which are in addition to existing taxes and duties that already could add up to 25% more to the cost of an American vehicle, represents the Chinese government’s continuing engagement in unfair trade practices in regards to American imports.
“Despite being a member of the WTO for over 10 years, China has consistently employed unfair trade practices at the expense of American manufacturers,” said Conyers. “The U.S has every right to press its case before the WTO. China is obligated to allow American car manufacturers and autoworkers to compete in their markets on a level playing field.”
For Immediate Release Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 Contact: Matthew Morgan – 202-226-5543
Conyers: Republican Spending Bill Holds Disaster Relief Hostage to Partisan Politics, Destroys Green Manufacturing Jobs in the Auto Industry
(WASHINGTON) – Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) issued the following statement opposing the government funding bill put forward today by House Republicans. The bill, H. J. Res. 79, pays for disaster relief for communities devastated by flooding, tornados, and hurricanes by cutting funds from a vital green jobs manufacturing program – The Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program.
“This is a false choice. We can provide relief to victims of natural disasters and continue to spur economic growth that ensures the future of American green manufacturing jobs,” said Conyers. “The government funding bill put forward by House Republicans today is a direct attack on a program with a demonstrated record of success and job creation. The Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program is helping companies in Michigan manufacture energy-efficient cars that can compete in the global economy.
“I fought to fund this loan program in the Recovery Act because I knew that it would lay the groundwork needed to help us “Make It In America” again. Three years later, the proof is in the numbers. We’ve created or saved 41,000 jobs nationally and there are tens of thousands of additional jobs in the pipeline.
“House Democrats and Senate Democrats are united in our opposition this bill and this job-killing cut. We are going to fight this bill and make certain that neither disaster relief nor our economic future is held hostage to partisan politics.”
The Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program, also known as the Section 136 loan program, has already been used to make six loans totaling $9.2 billion that created or saved 41,000 jobs in Tennessee, California, Indiana, Michigan, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio. It is expected that before the end of the year $2.5 billion will be awarded to eleven more companies in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Louisiana creating or saving an additional 35,000 to 40,000 jobs. There are already twelve projects competing for the remaining available loan authority and the Department of Energy continues to receive new applications every month. These projects could create more than 10,000 jobs, but not if the $1.5 billion cut to the program is signed into law.
