Air Destruction Case Study: Built Not Bought Automotive and Its Impact on Public Health

The air we breathe is a shared public trust, protected by laws designed to shield communities from harmful pollution. The modern motor vehicle is a marvel of engineering, not just for its power, but for the complex emission control systems that prevent it from spewing dangerous pollutants like particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) into the atmosphere.

From a garage in Chesapeake, Virginia, a company called Built Not Bought Automotive, LLC systematically sold devices with one primary purpose: to destroy those protections. For over three years, they sold parts designed to render these critical public health systems inoperative, unleashing an unquantified amount of pollution into the air we all share.

The Corporate Playbook: How the Harm Was Done

Between January 2019 and March 2022, Built Not Bought Automotive engaged in the sale of 1,079 “Defeat Devices.” These are aftermarket parts or software tunes specifically engineered to bypass, defeat, or render inoperative the essential pollution-control components installed by vehicle manufacturers.

These systems—including Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR), Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs), and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)—are not optional accessories. They are legally mandated elements of design, certified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure vehicles meet the standards of the Clean Air Act.

By selling these 1,079 devices, Built Not Bought Automotive was not merely serving a niche market of performance enthusiasts. They were knowingly enabling the active dismantling of public health protections on a massive scale, one vehicle at a time. Each sale represented a conscious act to violate the Clean Air Act, a law that exists to prevent the very pollution these devices are designed to create.

A Cascade of Consequences: The Real-World Impact

The sale of 1,079 defeat devices is not a victimless crime. It has direct, tangible consequences for the health of our communities and the integrity of our environmental laws.

Public Health & Safety

The pollutants controlled by EGRs, DPFs, and SCR systems are not benign. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are a primary contributor to smog, acid rain, and the formation of ground-level ozone, which can cause or worsen respiratory diseases like asthma. Particulate matter (PM), the fine soot produced by diesel engines, can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, and is linked to a host of serious health problems, including heart attacks, strokes, and premature death.

Every one of the 1,079 devices sold by Built Not Bought Automotive contributes to an increase in these dangerous pollutants in the air that people breathe every day—in their neighborhoods, on their commutes, and in the school pickup line. This is a direct threat to public health, with the burden often falling heaviest on children, the elderly, and communities located near high-traffic corridors.

Environmental Degradation

Beyond the immediate human health impacts, the excess pollution enabled by these devices contributes to broader environmental harm. NOx contributes to the nitrogen loading that creates toxic algal blooms in waterways like the Chesapeake Bay. It is a key ingredient in acid rain, which damages forests, soils, and buildings. This is an attack on the entire ecosystem.

A System Designed for This: Profit, Deregulation, and Power

This is an analysis.

The business model of Built Not Bought Automotive exists within a larger political and economic system that often prizes individual profit over collective well-being. This neoliberal framework champions deregulation and minimal government oversight, creating a fertile ground for “gray markets” that operate in direct opposition to public health goals.

The demand for defeat devices is fueled by a desire to increase a vehicle’s horsepower or fuel economy by removing what are seen as performance-hindering—but legally required—pollution controls. Companies like Built Not Bought Automotive step in to service this demand, performing a simple cost-benefit analysis: the profits from selling these illegal devices are weighed against the relatively low risk of getting caught by an under-resourced regulatory agency. The health of unseen, anonymous community members does not factor into this equation. This is a business model born from a systemic failure to make the consequences of polluting more costly than the profits of doing so.

Dodging Accountability: How the Powerful Evade Justice

After an investigation, the EPA determined that an appropriate civil penalty for Built Not Bought Automotive’s 1,079 violations was $257,507. However, the outcome of this case is a shocking and profound failure of accountability.

Based on confidential financial information submitted by the company, the EPA concluded that Built Not Bought Automotive was “unable, and therefore is not required, to pay any penalty in this matter.”

The fine was reduced from a quarter of a million dollars to zero.

This is the ultimate moral hazard. A company can profit from over a thousand individual acts of pollution, be caught, have a substantial penalty calculated, and then simply claim poverty to escape all financial responsibility. The EPA also notes that the company “neither admits nor denies the specific factual allegations.” They pay nothing and admit nothing, leaving the public to bear the full cost of the pollution they enabled.

Reclaiming Power: Pathways to Real Change

A $0 fine for over a thousand violations is essentially an open invitation for others to do the same. Preventing this requires a fundamental shift in our approach to environmental enforcement.

Real change would mean that an “inability to pay” can no longer be a get-out-of-jail-free card. This could involve placing liens on company assets, holding individual owners personally liable for penalties, or requiring violators to fund community-based health monitoring programs in lieu of cash payments. Furthermore, we need to attack the demand side by increasing penalties and inspections for vehicle owners who install these illegal devices.

Our late-stage capitalistic system must be re-engineered to ensure that the cost of polluting is always greater than the profit.

Conclusion: A Story of a System, Not an Exception

The case of Built Not Bought Automotive isa glaring example of a late-stage capitalist system that has become adept at socializing costs while privatizing profits. A company profited from selling pollution, and when the bill came due, the public was left to pay it in the form of increased healthcare costs and a degraded environment. The fact that a polluter can walk away with a $0 fine is a wholeass a feature that demonstrates where our society’s priorities truly lie.

All factual claims in this article were derived from the public document: EPA Docket No. CAA-03-2025-0113, In the Matter of: Built Not Bought Automotive, LLC.

The consent agreement used to write this article can be found on the EPA’s website: https://yosemite.epa.gov/OA/rhc/EPAAdmin.nsf/Filings/6901FD2ED6B682D985258CD1006FBC04/$File/Built%20Not%20Bought%20Automotive%20LLC_CAA%20CAFO_July%2024%202025_Redacted.pdf