Ebay (NASDAQ;EBAY) could be on the hook for as much as $2 billion in fines for allegedly allowing hundreds of thousands of “rolling coal” pollution devices and other products that violate environmental laws to be sold on its platform.
Rolling coal is the practice of installing a tampering device to pump more diesel into a vehicle’s engine than it can handle, leading it to spew out sooty black clouds of exhaust that pollute the air.
The practice is sometimes used as a form of anti-environmental protest. Coal rollers, or the drivers who engage in the action, may intentionally target Teslas, Priuses or other electric or hybrid vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, filed a lawsuit claiming that the e-commerce giant enabled the sale of more than 343,000 rolling coal devices. Each sale could spur a fine of up to $5,580 under the Clean Air Act.
Rolling coal devices are among several tools that can be used to disable or tamper with a vehicle’s pre-installed emissions control systems, which the EPA requires of all vehicles.
Under the Clean Air Act, tampering with a vehicle’s emissions control systems and selling those tampering tools are illegal. Only some states, like New Jersey, Maryland and Maine, have banned the practice in their own jurisdictions.
EBAY shares hesitated 40 cents to $42.65.
Related Stories
