DIESEL OPS

Diesel Ops LLC is a privately held Waterford Township, Michigan company owned by Nicholas Piccolo and classified under NAICS 441310 (automotive parts retail). In August 2022, a federal judge in Detroit's Eastern District entered a proposed $10 million civil penalty against Diesel Ops and its affiliated entity Orion Diesel LLC — both Piccolo-controlled — for manufacturing, selling, and installing aftermarket 'defeat devices' engineered to disable or bypass vehicle emissions controls in violation of the Clean Air Act [source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2022/09/02/683653.htm]. EPA ECHO attributes approximately $4.18 million in pro-rated 24-month penalty exposure to the single registered facility (FRS ID 110070205434), a figure derived from the five-year total scaled to a 24-month window [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

The headline number is larger. Press coverage places the combined court-ordered civil penalty against the Piccolo-controlled entities at $10 million. An additional ~$1.46 million was assessed against Piccolo individually — for ignoring federal information requests under Clean Air Act Section 208 and for asset movements that occurred after EPA issued its Notice of Violation [source: https://magbia.com/michigan-companies-fined-10m-for-selling-diesel-defeat-device/]. That distinction matters for analysts: the ECHO figure is a formula output, not the judgment total.

ECHO records show zero quarters of non-compliance in the trailing 24 months and no active permits on file as of May 4, 2026. That profile is consistent with a company whose December 2021 federal complaint resolved through final judgment rather than through ongoing operational permitting [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. No 10-K or 10-Q filings exist. The company is private and carries no SEC CIK. No sustainability report surfaced on any public search index. The dominant disclosure signal for this issuer is therefore the Department of Justice and EPA civil action, together with the asset-transfer allegations described in trade press [source: https://www.emissions.co.uk/news/emissions-defeat-device-supplier-fined-10m-after-dieselgate/].

The core compliance event driving Diesel Ops' ECHO footprint is the December 2021 civil complaint filed by the United States in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. That complaint alleged Clean Air Act Section 203 violations tied to the manufacture, sale, and installation of aftermarket defeat-device parts designed to disable or bypass required emissions controls on diesel light- and medium-duty trucks [source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2022/09/02/683653.htm]. Both Diesel Ops LLC and Orion Diesel LLC — each a Waterford, Michigan entity owned by Nicholas Piccolo — were named defendants. The matter proceeded to a proposed $10 million civil penalty resolved on the court docket in late August 2022 [source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2022/09/02/683653.htm].

The trailing 24 months are dominated by post-judgment collection and asset-tracing questions, not new operational violations. Trade coverage reports that, following EPA's information request and issuance of Notices of Violation, Orion Diesel allegedly liquidated inventory and transferred approximately $979,818 to Piccolo personally — a transfer the government characterized as an attempt to shield assets from the forthcoming penalty [source: https://www.emissions.co.uk/news/emissions-defeat-device-supplier-fined-10m-after-dieselgate/]. A separate ~$1.46 million sanction landed on Piccolo individually for failure to respond to EPA information requests under Section 208 of the Clean Air Act [source: https://magbia.com/michigan-companies-fined-10m-for-selling-diesel-defeat-device/]. ECHO's penalty field, pro-rated across the five-year look-back, surfaces as $4,182,370 for the 24-month display window [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

The Diesel Ops matter sits within EPA's continuing National Compliance Initiative targeting tampering and aftermarket defeat devices. Under that initiative, the agency and Environmental Appeals Board have resolved parallel consent agreements with comparable small aftermarket vendors. Those include Double R Diesel LLC (Docket CAA-2024-8453, Final Order September 24, 2024) [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-10/double-r-diesel-final-order-2024.09.24-1055_public.pdf], Alligator Diesel Performance LLC of Hayden, Idaho (Docket CAA-10-2020-0044) [source: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/sites/static/files/2020-03/documents/alligatordieselperformancellc.pdf], and Full Force Diesel Performance Inc. (Docket CAA-04-2023-0053(b)) [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-06/fullforcedieselperformanceinc24.pdf]. ECHO reports no active permits for the Diesel Ops facility and no quarterly non-compliance flags in the most recent eight quarters. That record indicates the enforcement posture has shifted from active operations oversight to judgment satisfaction [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

Action 1 — United States v. Diesel Ops LLC, Orion Diesel LLC, and Nicholas Piccolo (E.D. Mich., complaint filed December 2021; judgment entered late August 2022). Program: Clean Air Act Sections 203 and 205, mobile-source defeat-device prohibition. Facilities: Waterford Township, Michigan headquarters. Outcome: proposed $10 million civil penalty against the two corporate defendants for manufacture, sale, and installation of aftermarket parts designed to disable or bypass required vehicle emissions controls [source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2022/09/02/683653.htm].

Action 2 — Individual assessment against Nicholas Piccolo. Program: CAA Section 208 (information-request compliance). Outcome: approximately $1.46 million sanction for ignoring federal information requests. The government separately alleged that approximately $979,818 in corporate assets were transferred to Piccolo personally after the Notice of Violation was issued [source: https://magbia.com/michigan-companies-fined-10m-for-selling-diesel-defeat-device/] [source: https://www.emissions.co.uk/news/emissions-defeat-device-supplier-fined-10m-after-dieselgate/]. That transfer allegation is central to the government's post-judgment collection theory.

Action 3 — ECHO pro-rated penalty exposure. ECHO Exporter records $4,182,370 in 24-month penalty exposure for FRS ID 110070205434, derived via the standard ECHO formula (five-year total × 24/60). No discrete new administrative orders or consent decrees post-judgment appear in the ECHO record for this facility. Active permits count is zero [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

No Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Clean Water Act (CWA), or stationary-source CAA Title V actions are recorded against the Waterford facility in the 24-month window [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. Pattern context is instructive. EPA's September 24, 2024 consent agreement with Double R Diesel LLC and its 2024 consent agreement with Full Force Diesel Performance Inc. show that comparable aftermarket-parts vendors are now being resolved through the Environmental Appeals Board administrative track rather than through district-court civil penalty actions of the Diesel Ops scale [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-10/double-r-diesel-final-order-2024.09.24-1055_public.pdf] [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-06/fullforcedieselperformanceinc24.pdf].

Diesel Ops — Waterford Township, Michigan (FRS ID 110070205434). This is the only facility of record in ECHO. Zero active permits exist as of May 4, 2026. Zero quarters of non-compliance appear in the trailing 24 months. The $4,182,370 pro-rated 24-month penalty exposure ties directly to the 2022 federal civil judgment [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. EJ Screen index average returns 0.0 in the ECHO extract. For a retail-coded (NAICS 441310) site carrying no air or water permit, that result is expected: the facility is not a stationary source and therefore lacks the pollutant-load inputs that drive EJ index computation [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

Orion Diesel LLC — Waterford Township, Michigan. Co-defendant in the same December 2021 federal complaint, Orion Diesel is not separately enumerated in the single-facility ECHO count but appears in court records as jointly and severally liable for defeat-device sales [source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2022/09/02/683653.htm]. Press coverage describes post-NOV asset liquidation at this entity, including the alleged $979,818 transfer to Piccolo personally [source: https://www.emissions.co.uk/news/emissions-defeat-device-supplier-fined-10m-after-dieselgate/].

No additional facilities appear in the ECHO extract for this issuer. Three peer facilities provide regulatory comparators within the aftermarket-diesel defeat-device enforcement docket: Double R Diesel LLC (EAB Docket CAA-2024-8453, Final Order September 24, 2024) [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-10/double-r-diesel-final-order-2024.09.24-1055_public.pdf]; Alligator Diesel Performance LLC, Hayden, Idaho (Docket CAA-10-2020-0044) [source: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/sites/static/files/2020-03/documents/alligatordieselperformancellc.pdf]; and Full Force Diesel Performance Inc. (Region 4, Docket CAA-04-2023-0053(b)) [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-06/fullforcedieselperformanceinc24.pdf]. These are separate respondents, not Diesel Ops facilities, but they define the enforcement band in which Diesel Ops sits.

The Diesel Ops enforcement matter centers on mobile-source emissions released when heavy-duty diesel trucks operate with defeat-device-modified emission control systems. Three pollutant categories are implicated when aftermarket parts tamper with diesel particulate filters (DPF), selective catalytic reduction (SCR), and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems: particulate matter (PM2.5), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon monoxide alongside unburned hydrocarbons.

PM2.5 from tampered diesel vehicles carries documented respiratory and cardiovascular exposure pathways. Its concentration near freight corridors is the primary driver of diesel-related environmental-justice burden in Michigan. Southwest Detroit has been the subject of sustained community air-quality work through the Michigan Clean Diesel Collaborative and Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision. In December 2024, a $3.2 million federal grant was awarded to a Southwest Detroit nonprofit specifically to replace diesel trucks with cleaner alternatives — a direct response to documented PM2.5 exposure in that corridor [source: https://bridgedetroit.com/3-2m-federal-grant-aids-southwest-detroit-nonprofit-in-replacing-diesel-trucks-with-cleaner-options] [source: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018AGUFMGH32A..05O/abstract].

NOx emissions from SCR-defeated trucks act as a precursor to ground-level ozone and secondary PM2.5 formation. That chemistry makes each defeated truck a compounding source rather than a simple point emitter. EPA's EAB consent agreements with comparable aftermarket vendors cite NOx excess-emissions calculations as the statutory penalty basis under CAA Section 205 [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-10/double-r-diesel-final-order-2024.09.24-1055_public.pdf] [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-06/fullforcedieselperformanceinc24.pdf]. Environmental-justice exposure in Detroit is compounded further by adjacent permitted stationary sources. State regulators granted Stellantis an increased particulate-matter air permit at the Detroit Mack plant in November 2024 — a decision that drew a civil-rights complaint against EGLE before EPA closed the matter [source: https://www.bridgedetroit.com/epa-closes-civil-rights-complaint-against-egle/].

No NAICS 441310 peer benchmark was returned by the ECHO extract, so the peer set is constructed from EPA's Environmental Appeals Board aftermarket-diesel defeat-device docket rather than from retail-automotive-parts comparators. Dollar penalties in the administrative EAB track are not disclosed in the public final-order excerpts and are shown as 0 pending document review. The enforcement pattern is nonetheless clear. EPA resolved Double R Diesel through a September 24, 2024 Final Order [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-10/double-r-diesel-final-order-2024.09.24-1055_public.pdf], Full Force Diesel Performance through a 2024 Region 4 consent agreement [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-06/fullforcedieselperformanceinc24.pdf], and Alligator Diesel Performance through a 2020 Region 10 consent agreement [source: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/sites/static/files/2020-03/documents/alligatordieselperformancellc.pdf]. Diesel Ops is an outlier within this peer set. Its matter was litigated in U.S. District Court rather than resolved administratively, and the headline $10 million civil penalty sits materially above the typical EAB consent-agreement range [source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2022/09/02/683653.htm].

No 10-K, 10-Q, or registration statement exists for Diesel Ops LLC. The company is private and carries no SEC CIK, so Item 1A forward-looking risk-factor disclosure is unavailable [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The closest proxy for forward-looking environmental risk in the public record is EPA's continuing National Compliance Initiative against aftermarket defeat devices. The September 24, 2024 Final Order against Double R Diesel LLC signals that the agency's enforcement pipeline against CAA Section 203 tampering remains active [source: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-10/double-r-diesel-final-order-2024.09.24-1055_public.pdf]. Residual collection efforts and post-judgment compliance monitoring against Diesel Ops-controlled entities and their principal would fall within that same pipeline. The $979,818 asset-transfer allegation and the individual $1.46 million sanction against Piccolo suggest that collection activity — not new operational violations — is the primary forward risk vector for this issuer.