EPA · ECHO, read editorially Compare

Volkswagen diesel fleet vs Dan River coal-ash spill

Two real, published enforcement settlements, lined up. Every figure below is public record; the head-to-head is computed at build time over those real numbers. Penalty bars share one log scale, so they read across the gutter.

Head to head · real figures only
  • Larger settlement Volkswagen AG $14.7 billion vs $102 million
  • More recent case Volkswagen AG 2016 vs 2015
  • Regulatory program differ Clean Air Act vs Clean Water Act
Clean Air Act · 2016 Public record

Volkswagen diesel fleet

Volkswagen AG · Nationwide (imported vehicles)
$14.7 billion
settlement · log scale, $16.5M to $14.7B

Defeat devices that cheated emissions tests on ~580,000 U.S. diesels.

The October 2016 partial settlement totaled about $14.7 billion, including a $2.7 billion environmental mitigation trust and $2 billion for zero-emission-vehicle investment. A separate 2017 resolution added a $1.45 billion Clean Air Act and customs civil penalty on top of criminal fines.

Source: U.S. DOJ / EPA / CARB consent decrees, 2016-2017

Clean Water Act · 2015 Public record

Dan River coal-ash spill
Duke Energy · North Carolina
$102 million
settlement · log scale, $16.5M to $14.7B

A pipe under a coal-ash pond let go into a drinking-water river.

Duke Energy subsidiaries pleaded guilty to nine Clean Water Act violations across North Carolina plants and paid $102 million in fines, restitution, and community service after the 2014 Dan River release.

Source: U.S. DOJ, 2015

Both cases, in numbers
Field Volkswagen AG Duke Energy
Program Clean Air Act Clean Water Act
Operator Volkswagen AG Duke Energy
Location Nationwide (imported vehicles) North Carolina
Year 2016 2015
Settlement / penalty $14.7 billion $102 million
Source U.S. DOJ / EPA / CARB consent decrees, 2016-2017 U.S. DOJ, 2015

⇆ Swap sides · All cases & states

These are landmark settlements, not live ECHO facility records. Day-to-day compliance metrics - quarters in noncompliance, formal-action counts, last inspection - are not part of a settlement figure; they join per facility from the ECHO Exporter (loadFacilities() in src/lib/source.ts). See the Methodology for what is real versus illustrative on this site.