Staff Report
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is seeking public comments on its report of how to use nearly $41 million in the state’s share of the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund.
The public has until Sept. 28 to comment on the plan, which is aimed at projects that will reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel-powered vehicles.
The trust fund was set up after Volkswagen was found to have installed equipment in its Diesel-powered vehicles that overrode the emissions control equipment. A $2.7 billion trust fund is to be used to remove the same amount of NOx that the Volkswagen vehicles put into the air in the United States over an eight-year period.
IDEM has developed a plan to use the money to outfit on-road vehicles like trucks and buses and offroad devices such as forklifts and airport ground transportation equipment to reduce pollution.
Gov. Eric Holcomb formed Indiana’s mitigation trust committee last fall to develop a plan for how to use the money. State officials are still seeking innovative projects that will have a lasting impact on Indiana’s air quality, infrastructure, and economy.
Send comments to VWTrust@idem.IN.gov. For more information about the Indiana Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Program, please visit www.idem.IN.gov/vwtrust.
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