Colorado is in line to receive about for projects that reduce vehicle emissions as part of a federal settlement over Volkswagen’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.
The U.S. District Court judge overseeing the deal said Tuesday he was “strongly inclined” to approve the proposed $14.7 billion deal between the German automaker, consumers and regulators, the single largest auto-scandal settlement in U.S. history. A final ruling is expected by Oct. 25.
The lion’s share of the settlement — $10 billion — would be earmarked to repair or buy back about 475,000 and pay their owners an extra $5,100 to $10,000 . Another $2 billion would go toward zero-emissions vehicle infrastructure and awareness nationwide, with states splitting the remaining $2.7 billion for environmental mitigation work.
Colorado has already begun the conversation about how to use its share of the money, calculated based on the number of VW diesel cars in the state.
in Denver to discuss the settlement’s implementation, hosted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the lead agency managing the Volkswagen trust money for the state. will also be accepted through Nov. 21.
“The purpose of the trust is to mitigate excess emissions and get the maximum air quality benefit,” said Chris Colclasure, deputy director of the state’s air pollution control division.
Among the allowable uses for the money is replacing or re-powering older heavy- and medium-duty diesel trucks and buses. Up to 15 percent of the funds could be spent on building electric vehicle charging or hydrogen fueling stations.
Assuming the settlement is approved and the trust funded without delay, the state could start accepting project applications next summer and begin receiving money from the trust by the end of 2017, Colclasure said.
“There’s a chance we’ll have applications for more than $61 million,” he said. “We’ll have to make decisions on where we get the most benefit.”
According to CDPHE, Colorado has 9,350 diesel VW or Audi vehicles that were rigged to cheat emissions tests, 6,065 of which fall within , where ozone levels are measured above federal standards.
If Colorado dedicated the maximum amount to electric vehicle charging stations, that $9.2 million could build an estimated 60 fast-charging stations statewide, said Will Toor, transportation program director for the Boulder-based Southwest Energy Efficiency Project and member of the state Air Quality Control Commission.
“That would be enough to provide charging every 30-50 miles along every major highway in Colorado, which would essentially eliminate the largest single barrier to greater EV adoption — the concern people have about whether they’ll be able to get where they need to go around the state,” Toor said.
SWEEP would like to see the remaining money put toward primarily replacing older diesel buses not with newer diesel models — which would happen eventually anyway — but with , Toor said.
“It really could get (transit agencies) over the tipping point to deciding they’re going to move in a big way toward replacing diesel buses with electric buses,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
