This case addresses violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) by Northern Tool & Equipment Company, Inc. ( Northern ), a chain of hardware stores based in Burnsville, Minnesota. Between February 2007 and February 2011, Northern imported 2,161 uncertified cutoff saws, 1,854 uncertified chainsaws, 104 uncertified recreational vehicles, 208 uncertified on-highway motorcycles and 44 unlabeled gasoline engines. The CAA requires, among other things, that nonroad equipment be covered by an EPA issued Certificate of Conformity, and that it bear an EPA emissions label readily visible to the average person.
As part of the settlement with EPA, Northern paid a $400,000 civil penalty.