(A NEW VIEW)

(By Joe Koletar) We frequently have a tendency to gloss over Letters to The Editor, since they are usually over-heated opinion pieces. Some of them, however, are worth our attention.

In the October 10, 2015 edition of The Economist magazine there is such a letter on page 18, titled “What VW Knew.” It was written by Andrew Morriss, Dean, Texas A&M School of Law. Dean Morriss brings a new slant to the issue of corporate and executive compliance; a view little discussed to date.

The good Dean notes that while VW has suffered the consequences of its actions with regard to emissions controls, the regulators are “…still at their desks.” Like any good attorney he sets forth the basis for his argument.

In 1998 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached a $1 billion settlement with diesel engine manufacturers over their use of technology to mask emissions performance. In essence, the same actions VW was caught using over fifteen years later. These misdeeds, he notes, were widely reported and discussed in the popular and trade media, so they were hardly a state secret. He further notes that as far back as 1994 an EPA representative was present at a meeting and described in detail how emissions readings could be “controlled.” This took place fully twenty years before the VW issue “broke.” The Dean opines that is “impossible” for any competent regulator to have been unaware of such industry practices long before the VW incident.

This raises the logical issue of why they apparently did not act. Complacency? Diverting attention to other matters of the moment? Resignation that this was just business as usual? Lack of resources? Fear of up-setting the apple cart? Who knows, but the evidence Dean Morriss presents seems clear: regulators were forewarned, but apparently did not take action of any significant magnitude for twenty years.

The Dean also asks a logical and fair question. In a period when many call for corporate
executives caught in misdeeds to face jail, should not regulators be held to at least some standards of vigilance and conduct?

It is a sad state of affairs. Where were the media; where were the legislators; where were the citizen watchdog groups; where is Ralph Nader when you need him?

All fair questions which raise the key issue: Why did it take a Law School Dean to do the job so many others could and should have done?

Thank you, Dean Morriss.

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