Connecticut DEEP plans for VW settlement funds

The State of Connecticut is working on a mitigation plan to outline how it could use its portion of settlement funds from the Volkswagen emissions scandal. The settlement “establishes an Environmental Mitigation Trust (Trust) which will provide funds to all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and federally recognized tribes, to implement actions to counter the air quality impacts of the excess NOx emissions resulting from the use of the defective devices. The initial allocation to the State of Connecticut (State) under the Trust is approximately $51.6 million dollars.”

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) states in the draft mitigation plan document that it “anticipates that Trust funds will be made available for mitigation projects by the fall of 2017, however, the 2017 timeframe is subject to change because the Partial Consent Decree requires certain federal actions prior to beneficiaries being able to access funds from the Trust.”

On-road heavy duty vehicles is one class for which funding will be available. Specifically, eligible vehicles include “Class 8 Local Freight Trucks and Port Drayage Trucks (Large Trucks), Class 4-8 School Bus, Shuttle Bus, or Transit Bus (Buses), and Class 4-7 Local Freight Trucks (Medium Trucks).”

Furthermore, “Eligible trucks include 1992 – 2009 engine model years; and eligible buses include 2009 engine model year or older. Eligible trucks and buses may be repowered with any new diesel or alternate fueled engine or all-electric engine, or may be replaced with any new diesel or alternate fueled or all-electric vehicle, with the engine model year in which the mitigation action occurs or one engine model year prior.”

Expenditures for these vehicles are proposed in the manner:

• “Up to 40% of the cost of a repower with a new diesel or alternate fueled engine, including the costs of installation of the engine;
• Up to 25% of the cost of a new diesel or alternate fueled vehicle, (the only exception to this limit is for eligible drayage trucks, which are eligible for up to 50% of the cost of a new diesel or alternate fueled vehicle);
• Up to 75% of the cost of a repower with a new all-electric engine, including the costs of installation of such engine, and charging infrastructure associated with the new all-electric engine; and
• Up to 75% of the cost of a new all-electric vehicle, including charging infrastructure associated with the new all-electric vehicle”

Review the draft document from DEEP online. MTAC plans to work with DEEP as this plan is finalized and executed, so contact MTAC’s Joe Sculley if you are interested in potentially taking advantage of this program to replace or repower eligible vehicles in your fleet.