South Windsor Business To Share In VW Settlement

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont today announced that the state is making available $6 million from the legal settlement in the Volkswagen Corp. emissions cheating scandal to fund 15 clean air projects in Connecticut.

A company with a presence in South Windsor is a partial recipient.

Administered through the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Connecticut is making VW funds available for a variety of vehicle electrification and diesel mitigation projects. The projects announced today are part of the second funding cycle under the distribution of the state's VW settlement funding.

"Climate change is not a future problem; it's real, it’s now and it cannot be ignored. It is imperative that we make every effort to reduce emissions," Governor Lamont said. "The projects we are supporting through the VW settlement funds will go a long way in helping to improve air quality and protect public health in Connecticut, while also providing economic development opportunities."

R + L Transfer, Inc., which has lolcations in South Windsor and Wallingford, received $183,720 with a cost-sahre of $734,880 to replace eight diesel tractors.

In 2015, Volkswagen publicly admitted that it had deliberately installed a defeat device – software designed to cheat emissions tests and deceive federal and state regulators – in nearly 590,000 VW, Audi, and Porsche model year 2009 to 2016 diesel vehicles sold nationwide, with nearly 12,000 vehicles sold in Connecticut. As a result of a federal civil enforcement case against VW for violating the Clean Air Act, Connecticut was allocated more than $55.7 million to be distributed over a ten-year period for use toward offsetting the excess nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution emitted in the state by these vehicles.

Earlier this year, DEEP released the second solicitation under the VW Diesel Emissions Mitigation Program and began accepting applications to fund projects that will further the goals of the settlement agreement. The agency received 29 applications from both non-government and government entities. Projects were ranked by a variety of criteria, including air pollution reduction, cost effectiveness, positive impact on environmental justice communities, transformative and innovative impact, and applicant cost sharing. The $6.2 million in funding awarded today is balanced by additional investments of $10.4 million from the recipients so that the total direct economic impact of today’s action is $16.6 million.

The 15 projects selected for funding under this funding cycle, over their lifetime, will reduce almost 68 tons of NOx emissions and almost 5,100 tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. In addition to NOx and GHG, a total of 4 tons volatile organic compounds (VOC) and 3.4 tons of fine particulate matter, which contributes to asthma and other negative health impacts, will be cost-effectively reduced from environmental justice communities and other areas of Connecticut that bear a disproportionate share of air pollution.