What started on 18 September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Volkswagen Group, that had an American attorney, specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution oversee their U.S. compensation of VW diesel owners affected?
Volkswagen emissions scandal The Volkswagen emissions scandal (also called "emissionsgate" or "dieselgate") started on 18 September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Volkswagen Group. The agency had found that Volkswagen had intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate some emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing. The programming caused the vehicles' NO output to meet US standards during regulatory testing but emit up to 40 times more NO in real-world driving. Volkswagen deployed this programming in about eleven million cars worldwide, and 500,000 in the United States, during model years 2009 through 2015.
National Ambient Air Quality Standards The US National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, pronounced \'naks\) are standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under authority of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) that apply for outdoor air throughout the country. Primary standards are designed to protect human health, with an adequate margin of safety, including sensitive populations such as children, the elderly, and individuals suffering from respiratory diseases. Secondary standards are designed to protect public welfare (including effects on soils, water, crops, vegetation, man-made materials, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility, and climate), damage to property, transportation hazards, economic values, and personal comfort and well-being from any known or anticipated adverse effects of a pollutant. A district meeting a given standard is known as an "attainment area" for that standard, and otherwise a "non-attainment area".