Today, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is slated to finalize a $423-million settlement plan with Volkswagen on initiatives to fix the harm that already occurred from the smog-forming nitrogen oxide, or NOx, emitted by its vehicles in the state.
Lawmakers and advocates have been split on how more than $1-billion in settlement funds for California should be spent, including controversy over an additional $800-million from the German automaker required to invest in zero-emission vehicles, charging stations and promotions for electric vehicles. Volkswagen will also be allowed to profit from the charging stations it installs across the state.
We check in on the latest competing plans for how the dieselgate money should be spent.
We reached out to CARB for a statement but they did not have anyone available to comment at the time of this segment.
Guests:
Emily Guerin, environmental reporter at KPCC; she tweets
Kathryn Phillips, director of the Sierra Club of California; she has been leading the state club’s work on the VW settlement
Todd Campbell, vice president of public policy and regulatory affairs for Clean Energy Fuels; he tweets