Houston shorted in VW emission payout

San Antonio area would benefit the most, draft shows

The Houston area, with nearly a quarter of Texas’ population and some of its worst air quality, might receive just 13 percent of the state’s $209 million share of the Volkswagen emissions settlement handed down two years ago.

Under a draft plan released this week by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, two-thirds of the settlement money would go to the San Antonio, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Beaumont and El Paso areas. San Antonio’s share would be 35 percent, and Dallas-Fort Worth would receive about 14 percent.

This lopsided funding is one of many reasons environmentalists are worried about the proposed disbursement of the funds, which Volkswagen paid for lying about how much some of the company’s diesel-engine vehicles pollute.

“The plan today is concerning, at best,” said Bay Scoggin, state director of the Texas Public Interest Research Group.

In June 2016, Volkswagen entered into a $15 billion settlement over claims it violated the Clean Air Act by fabricating emissions

results on its vehicles. Most of that money was funneled to individuals who purchased the cars, but some was turned over to states to lessen any environmental damage that may have occurred.

The amount given to each state is based on how many vehicles in the affected group were registered there. Adrian Shelley, director of the Texas office of Public Citizen, a national public policy advocacy group, took issue with the way TCEQ is proposing to slice the pie within Texas.

The populous Houston and Dallas areas have some of the worst emissions-related problems in the state, he said, and Austin residents purchase more Volkswagens per capita than any other Texas city. Yet Austin didn’t get any funding, and Houston and Dallas got disproportionately little.

Officials in the draft report said heavy investment in San Antonio, Beaumont and El Paso could improve the air to the point they fall back in line with federal standards.

Also concerning is that the plan appears to lack key details, like how money will be awarded to eligible projects, Scoggin said.

The state plan would hand out money on a “first come, first serve” basis, a research group statement said, and that cost-effectiveness will be a key determinate in the competition for project funding.

“The lack of clear guidelines for the competitive process … leads to problematic uncertainty on whether communities or gas corporations will benefit,” Scoggin said.

Under Texas’ plan, nearly $170 million of the $209 million settlement would be stretched across the five metro areas — Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Beaumont and El Paso — where air quality isn’t within national standards.

It also would make about $31 million available for installing electric charging stations and other options to replace gasoline vehicles. Grants also would be made available through TCEQ to fund up to 60 percent of the cost cities face when replacing fleet vehicles with electric cars and trucks.

“A goal of the plan is to prepare for increased and sustained use of zero-emission vehicles,” the TCEQ said in the draft. “It is appropriate that funds for these projects be made available not only in certain metropolitan areas, but also to provide for electric vehicle charging or hydrogen fuel cell vehicle fueling along major transportation routes and in areas around the state.”

Both Shelley and Scoggin applauded TCEQ for focusing money on electric vehicles. The Volkswagen settlement permits states to use 15 percent of the funds — in Texas’ case, about $31 million — for infrastructure to support the charging of electric vehicles.

“Clearly, zero-emissions vehicles are the best way to benefit from this,” Scoggin said. “The No. 1 goal of this mitigation plan is to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and hazardous air pollutants.”

The plan is open for public comment until Oct. 8.