VW settlement funds to support electric school buses for some communities
Connecticut is using more than $12 million from a legal settlement in the Volkswagen emissions scandal to fund five electric vehicle projects, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The agency made the announcement Wednesday, saying that $12.7 million will go toward 43 new electric school buses that will run in Middletown, New Britain, Hamden, Stamford, Bethel, Ansonia and Griswold.
DEEP said the funds will also help cover the cost of replacing a nearly 50year-old diesel-powered crane with a new electric one at the Port of New Haven.
These efforts are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is the third round of fund allocation.
In 2015, Volkswagen publicly admitted it deliberately installed a defeat device to cheat emissions tests in almost 590,000 Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche diesel vehicles sold across the nation, with nearly 12,000 of those sold in Connecticut, prosecutors said.
In a federal civil enforcement case against Volkswagen for violating the Clean Air Act, prosecutors said, Connecticut was allocated more than $55.7 million to be spread out over 10 years to offset the excess nitrogen oxide pollution emitted in the state by these vehicles.
In 2018, DEEP launched the first round of funding, awarding $12.18 million to fund 10 clean air projects in the state. In 2019, DEEP gave funding to 15 projects at a total of $6.25 million.
“Climate change is not a future problem; it’s real, it’s now and it cannot be ignored,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement. “It is imperative that we make every effort to reduce emissions.”
DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said these electric buses will help residents in environmental justice communities, where levels of fine particulate matter and other harmful emissions can impact developing lungs. She said a 2021 study of the most challenging places to live with asthma ranked New Haven as fifth in the nation.
“The selected projects will provide direct benefits to residents in environmental justice communities where levels of fine particulate matter can be up to 20 percent higher than in less densely populated parts of the state,” Dykes said. “Fine particulate matter is known to impact public health and can be an asthma trigger.”