EPA · ECHO, read editorially Compare

Volkswagen diesel fleet vs Prince William Sound 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 ~$1 billion
  • More recent case Volkswagen AG 2016 vs 1991
  • 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 · 1991 Public record

Prince William Sound spill
Exxon (Exxon Valdez) · Alaska
~$1 billion
settlement · log scale, $16.5M to $14.7B

The settlement that reset the price of an oil spill.

After the 1989 tanker grounding fouled 1,300 miles of Alaskan coastline, the 1991 settlement combined a $900 million civil recovery paid over ten years with $100 million in criminal restitution.

Source: U.S. DOJ / EPA / State of Alaska settlement, 1991

Both cases, in numbers
Field Volkswagen AG Exxon (Exxon Valdez)
Program Clean Air Act Clean Water Act
Operator Volkswagen AG Exxon (Exxon Valdez)
Location Nationwide (imported vehicles) Alaska
Year 2016 1991
Settlement / penalty $14.7 billion ~$1 billion
Source U.S. DOJ / EPA / CARB consent decrees, 2016-2017 U.S. DOJ / EPA / State of Alaska settlement, 1991

⇆ 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.