Sharp County Sheriff Shane Russell posted an advertisement on Facebook yesterday offering a 2015 GMC Sierra 2500 for sale for $38,500:
What is notable about this ad — aside from being about $12,000 above the Kelly Blue Book price for this particular make and model — is the description of the vehicle as “deleted and tuned.”
“Deleted,” in the context of a diesel engine, refers to the removal of part or all of the emissions control system, such as the exhaust-gas-recirculation valve, the diesel-particulate filter, or other emissions-reducing devices that have been required on new diesel engines since 2010. Diesel owners remove some or all of these devices to increase horsepower and/or to improve fuel economy, though testing of deleted vs. intact diesel engines shows that removing the equipment does neither of these things.
Even if emissions control deletion did improve gas mileage or horsepower, however, it would still be prohibited under federal law. Section 203(a)(3)(A) of the Clean Air Act makes it illegal “for any person to remove or render inoperative any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine in compliance with [EPA] regulations.” Violations carry a number of potential consequences, including civil fines of up to $2,500 per violation and criminal penalties of up to two years in prison.
The Environmental Protection Agency has prosecuted the deletion of emissions-control components multiple times in recent years, often for modifying more than one vehicle. In September, a Springfield, Missouri , business owner was sentenced to two years in federal prison for removing the emissions-control equipment from multiple trucks owned by his towing company. Three companies and eleven individuals in Grand Rapids, Michigan, pleaded guilty to similar violations in April. And just last week, a federal judge sentenced an Alaska man to three years’ probation and a $50,000 fine for illegally altering the emissions-controls in “at least 144 diesel trucks.”
Russell did not respond to questions emailed to him this morning. As of 10:45 a.m., the Facebook group where Russell posted the ad showed that the post has (also) been deleted.