Volkswagen’s diesel scam
Public can comment on uses for $166.3 million in penalty proceeds
sends nearly $3 billion for states to spend on antipollution efforts, and Florida officials want the public to comment on where and how to spend the state’s portion of the windfall.
Volkswagen’s diesel scam has netted nearly $3 billion for states to spend on low- or no-pollution cars, buses, trucks, locomotives and other vehicles from forklifts to ships.
Florida’s share of VW’s penalty proceeds is $166.3 million and competition for the cash is fierce and diverse.
“$166 million sounds like a lot until you realize that you could spend it all very quickly on one of the eligible actions,” said Preston McLane, deputy director for air resources at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. “When you slice the pie, it’s easy to eat it up.”
The department is seeking public comment through May 11 on where and how to spend the windfall. The state’s survey can be found online at http://bit.ly/fdepvw.
Orlando’s director of sustainability, Chris Castro, said the city is eyeing the settlement money as potentially financing conversion of the city’s free, downtown bus system, Lymmo, into an electric fleet.
That may cost about $8 million, with the price of each of 16 Lymmo buses at $500,000.
Also on the city’s list are 150 charging stations for electric cars at nearly $10,000 per unit.
“Our hope is that out of the $166 million, we could position Orlando to get about $15 to $20 million,” Castro said. “It would not be just to the city but also to our various partners such as Lynx, the airport, the public school system and OUC.”
Volkswagen agreed to federal penalties in 2016 and 2017 for putting nearly 600,000 diesel-engine cars on U.S. roads equipped with “defeat devices.”
The cars’ engines behaved properly during emissions tests and reverted to peppier, dirtier performance for street driving.
Diesel-engine pollution can include microscopic droplets of toxic chemicals, while some of its ingredients contribute to smog.
The health threat includes worsened asthma, respiratory distress, cancer and heart disease. Among the most exposed to diesel exhaust are children in school buses.
The car maker must spend $11 billion to buy back or modify most of the cars it rigged to cheat exhaust rules.
Volkswagen also is paying the federal government $2 billion for promotion of zero-emissions vehicles.
The $2.9 billion for states was allocated primarily by the number of illicit Volkswagens in each state.
Of top recipients, $423 million
will go to California, $209 million to Texas and $127 million to New York.
As the transportation industry, from bus manufacturers to fleet operators, cajoles Florida with myriad recommendations, the state must come up with a methodology for how it would spend the $166 million.
“I’m not here shilling for any particular kind of project,” McLane said, meeting recently in Orlando to explain to industry and government representatives and environmentalists how the state will prepare to allocate what some have dubbed as “diesel-gate” money.
Among those lobbying for VW money are hydrogen-fuel proponents, makers of “clean” diesel engines and solar-energy advocates.
A provider of electric-vehicle charging systems, ChargePoint, is calling for Florida to spend the maximum it can on charging infrastructure.
“Florida has the opportunity to put itself in the driver’s seat to transform communities across the state and lead the global trend toward electrification,” said David Schatz, the California company’s director of public policy.
Jessica Wright, a project manager at ecoPreserve, a sustainability consultant in Orlando, is encouraging a comprehensive approach that would include plans from local governments and businesses, showing their intended approach and investment in reducing air pollution. That would lessen opportunity for “bandwagon jumpers,” those who would target Florida’s $166 million as fast money, Wright said.
McLane said the VW money will not gush from state oversight overnight.
“We won’t be able to spend all of this money immediately,” McLane said. “It will take a while to develop the projects and programs that allow the money to flow to the ultimate end-user.”