DIAMOND BAR – Today, the second Volkswagen (VW) Environmental Mitigation Trust funding program was announced for projects across California. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) Governing Board today approved $30 million in funding for Combustion Freight and Marine Projects that will replace or upgrade engines for older, in-use vehicles such as freight trucks, switcher locomotives, ferries, tugboats and towboats. The VW Environmental Mitigation Trust program is intended to fund projects that will fully mitigate the excess NOx emissions caused by the vehicles included in the statewide VW settlement. The first installment of funds for the Combustion Freight and Marine Projects category will provide up to $30 million for projects to repower or replace older, in-use vehicles and equipment with the cleanest commercially available internal combustion or hybrid technologies certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) including:
• On-road replacements of Class 7 and 8 freight trucks (including waste haulers, dump trucks and
concrete mixers) or low NOx engine upgrades;
• Freight switcher locomotive replacements or engine upgrades to Tier 4; and
• Ferry, tugboat and towboat upgrades to Tier 4 or hybrid with Tier 4-equivalent NOx emissions.
A second solicitation for the remaining allocation of $30 million for this category is expected to be released in late 2021 or early 2022.
To be eligible to participate, new engines, vehicles and equipment funded through this program must be operated in California for a minimum of three years. The existing vehicle, equipment or engines that will be replaced or upgraded is required to be scrapped. South Coast AQMD will administer the funding statewide with CARB providing program and fiscal oversight. Applications for the program must be submitted online at http://www.aqmd.gov/vw/ by 1:00 p.m./PST, Wednesday, March 4, 2020. The VW Environmental Mitigation Trust is a nationwide program that provides funding for California to fully mitigate the excess NOx emissions caused by VW’s use of illegal emissions testing defeat devices in VW diesel vehicles. More than 50 percent of the total project funds are expected to benefit disadvantaged and low-income communities. Read the complete SCAQMD release.
