Trump administration to drop $3M Harley-Davidson pollution fine: report

The Justice Department is expected to drop a requirement that Harley-Davidson Inc. pay $3 million to mitigate air pollution, a key component of a 2016 settlement between the motorcycle maker and the Obama administration, Reuters reports.

Harley-Davidson Inc. last year agreed to pay a $12 million fine and spend $3 million on air pollution reduction efforts to settle Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims that it sold 340,000 vehicles that emitted more pollution than federal standards allow.

As part of the settlement, the company also agreed to work with the American Lung Association to replace wood-burning appliances in the Northeast.

{mosads}But a federal court never signed off on the agreement. Reuters reports that the Justice Department could announce its decision to reverse the $3 million mitigation agreement as early as this week and refile a new consent decree without it.

Such a reversal would be the first time the Trump administration has gone back on an Obama administration emissions settlement.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the Reuters report.

Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ended the practice of allowing settlements won in federal cases to be donated to community organizations or other third-party groups.