State seeks ideas for VW settlement

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality seeks input on how it should spend $14.6 million in funds from a consent decree reached in federal court over the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

The state received its money based on how many Volkswagen vehicles are driven in the state, said Stuart Spencer, department associate director in charge of the Office of Air Quality.

In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discovered Volkswagen had installed devices that would mask their vehicles’ emissions to make them appear as though they were environmentally compliant when they were not. The EPA and Volkswagen later reached a consent decree to pay the agency for projects that states will implement to offset the emissions Volkswagen’s vehicles unlawfully produced, Stuart said.

The funds are limited in their use. Only transportation-related projects can be conducted, such as the replacement of medium and large trucks and the acquisition of zero-emission vehicle supply equipment.

The Environmental Quality Department is accepting input through Nov. 1 on its plan, which proposes spending 60 percent of the funds on compressed natural gas projects. Another 25 percent would go toward statewide compressed natural gas and electric vehicle grants, and the final 15 percent would go toward electric vehicle infrastructure.

The department does not have an estimate of what the impact of those projects would be on vehicle emissions in the state.

Spencer said the money can be used for buying new compressed natural gas vehicles but cannot be used to create infrastructure for those vehicles. He said the state hopes it could leverage private investment in that infrastructure through this project. Spencer added that it’s the other way around for electric vehicles: the money can’t be used to buy them, but it can be used for infrastructure such as charging stations.