Program Background
On September 6, 2017, the United States filed its Notice of and Memorandum in Support of its Unopposed Motion for Court Approval of Finalized Trust Agreements (“Motion for Approval”). The Court approved the Trust documents shortly after the filing. This Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund was the result of a Consent Decree between the U.S. Justice Department, the Volkswagen (VW) Corporation, and its subsidiaries addressing the installation and use of emission testing defeat devices in over 590,000 2.0- and 3.0-liter subject vehicles sold and operated in the U.S. beginning in 2009.
- U.S. EPA: Volkswagen Clean Air Act Civil Settlement (includes consent decrees)
The settlement required VW to pay $2.9 billion into the Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund, to offset the excess air pollution emitted by the VW vehicles that violated the Clean Air Act. Indiana expected to receive $40.9 million from the Trust in, at least, three annual installments starting in 2018, with all funds being fully disbursed by 2028. Pursuant to the terms of the Mitigation Trust, eligible projects to reduce NOx emissions from diesel-powered vehicles and equipment would include replacement and repowering of existing diesel vehicles or equipment with cleaner alternatives serving the same purpose. Indiana developed and submitted a Beneficiary Mitigation Plan (“BMP”) to the Trustee describing what types of eligible projects would be implemented to achieve reductions in diesel emissions, with a focus on NOx emissions, across Indiana.
This site was developed to provide information on the Indiana Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Program and to solicit comments on the Indiana Beneficiary Mitigation Plan Draft Framework (Archived). The comments received through this process were considered in the development of the final BMP submitted to the Trustee. In addition to the request for comments, several public meetings were held around the state to provide an opportunity for interested parties to provide comments on the draft BMP prior to its completion and submittal to the Trustee. The final Indiana Beneficiary Mitigation Plan as submitted to the Trustee of the Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Environmental Mitigation Trust is provided on IDEM’s Previous Public Meetings and Materials page.
Past Meetings and Materials
Projects Eligible for Funding under the Indiana Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Program and Funding Caps as prescribed by National Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Agreement
Trust funds were used to pay some or all of the cost to repower or replace eligible diesel-powered vehicles with new diesel, alternative fuel, or all-electric engines or vehicles. A repower project consists of the removal of an existing engine and replacing with a newer, cleaner, engine. A replacement project consists of the removal from the fleet of an existing vehicle and the replacement of it with a vehicle of the same size and purpose. Appendix D-2 to the Partial Consent Decree: Appendix D-2 to the Partial Consent Decree: Eligible Mitigation Actions and Mitigation Action Expenditures [PDF] spells out eligible model years and different percentages of the cost for government-owned and privately-owned vehicles, and requires that the old engines and vehicles be scrapped. The Chart of Vehicles by Class Size [JPG] provides additional clarification of the different eligible truck and bus classes.
![Chart of Vehicles by Class Size [JPG]](/idem/airquality/images/vw_settlement_vehicle_chart.jpg){kind=link}
The Executive Order and press release from Governor Holcomb that outlined steps of the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust fund are available online:
For general questions regarding the Indiana Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Program, please contact OAQ.