Utah Harley dealer says Clean Air Act lawsuit against them is bogus
A lawsuit recently filed against Utah Harley-Davidson dealerships for noise and air pollution is nonsense, according to Joe Timmons, owner of the dealerships named in the suit. The suit was filed by a group of doctors who work under the non-profit name of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE).
A federal judge in Utah ruled that the environmental nonprofit has standing to pursue most of its claims against Harley-Davidson dealerships that sell motorcycles without catalytic converters in the Wasatch Front area of the state are polluting the air. However, the judge ruled that the nonprofit can’t continue its claim that the motorcycles are too loud and violate federal law.
PSB recently spoke with Timmons about the lawsuit, which he says is a total fabrication about what they did and that the environmental group made up claims against his dealerships.
Timmons says a report that was put out by UPHE is not accurate. “We had most of the rulings in our favor. But [UPHE] is not going to say that. They’re saying that we installed exhaust systems from aftermarket companies such as Vance & Hines, Reinhardt, and others are not legal.”
However, Timmons contends that they didn’t remove any emissions control parts and that Utah does not enforce motorcycle emissions tests like passenger cars and trucks.
“UPHE thinks that every state in the Union ought to comply with everything the California Air Resources Board does, and it’s not going to happen. And the judge said that’s not going to happen, but that’s darn sure not what they said in their little press release.” Timmons asserts.
Timmons says that UPHE is comprised of about six doctors and lawyers who hate internal combustion engines. They make it their life to ruin everybody’s life that has anything to do with them.
Timmons claims that UPHE acted unethically in that they duped his dealerships to make a lawsuit. “They sent in somebody to buy a motorcycle. They talked us into putting things on it. Then they said that we violated all this stuff, and then they changed it and said that we did it. They couldn’t be more dishonest.”
Timmons wants other dealers and the industry to be aware of UPHE’s tactics. The group gained notoriety in a high-profile case in 2017 against the Diesel Brothers, a performance shop in Utah that was also featured on a reality television show.
Timmons says the industry has enough challenges to deal with right now, and this is just another example of a frivolous lawsuit for financial gain. “They’ve started with us, and we think that we’re just the stepping stone.”
He says that experts have proven motorcycles are not a big contributor to pollution. “There’s just not enough of us [motorcycles] to make a difference. Lawnmowers and leaf blowers make more pollution than we do.”
