The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has submitted the final plan for spending $40.9 million awarded to the State of Indiana from the national Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Environmental Mitigation Trust. The funding will be used for projects designed to alleviate nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions caused by Volkswagen vehicles.
Indiana’s final plan was submitted to the Trustee of the Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Environmental Mitigation Trust. The plan lays out the expected allocation of funding for project categories that may be used during a 10-year period for various projects permitted by the settlement’s consent decree.
“This plan is a reflection of input from Hoosiers across the state,” said IDEM Commissioner Bruno Pigott. “We engaged the public, stakeholders and government officials throughout the planning process who provided great feedback on how best we can use this funding in an efficient way to ensure cleaner air for Hoosiers.”
In October 2017, Governor Eric J. Holcomb named IDEM the lead agency in administering the funds from the settlement. Governor Holcomb also created an 11-member Indiana Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund Committee that has worked alongside IDEM to develop the mitigation plan. Within the last year, IDEM and the committee have held public meetings in Fort Wayne, Evansville, Portage and Indianapolis. Each of these meetings were streamed live and are posted online. In addition to the public meetings, two public comment periods were held which allowed ample time for Hoosiers to provide input.
The next steps in this process include drafting and approval of the evaluation and scoring criteria used to select eligible projects. For more information and to receive updates regarding Indiana’s Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Program, please visit http://www.idem.IN.gov/vwtrust.
