Comment on the draft mitigation plan

The DEQ is seeking comment on North Carolina’s Beneficiary Mitigation Plan for investing North Carolina’s Volkswagen settlement funds. The comment period closed on May 3, 2018. Download the plan and read details on the informational sessions on the Mitigation Plan webpage.

VW Town Hall Meetings 

The DEQ held five public stakeholders meetings across the state to discuss the VW Settlement and the draft Mitigation Plan and provide an opportunity for the public to provide input. The meetings were open to the public and were held in: Asheville (March 26), Kannapolis (March 27), Kinston (April 16), Durham (April 17), and Wilmington (April 20). The Durham meeting was video taped to allow those that could not attend to see what was presented. Presentations Volkswagen 101 Volkwagen Mitigation Draft Plan

What is the Volkswagen Settlement? 

Governor Roy Cooper has designated the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to manage North Carolina’s share of the Volkswagen (VW) Settlement, an agreement between the German automaker and the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

VW accepted the $14.9 billion penalty after acknowledging that it installed devices on certain diesel vehicles to make them appear to meet strict emissions standards when in fact they did not. Funds will be used by states to buy back affected vehicles as well as fund environmental mitigation and investment to promote the use of zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) and infrastructure.

North Carolina will receive approximately $92 million, based on the number of affected 2.0- and 3.0-liter diesel engine vehicles registered here. The sum is part of the $2.9 billion designed for projects through the VW’s Environmental Mitigation Trust.

Contact Us

If you have questions regarding the VW Settlement, or wish to be added to our VW Settlement Contact List, please contact us at daq.NC_VWGrants@ncdenr.gov. Be sure to add the address to your SPAM email filter. 

N.C. Volkswagen Settlement Contacts

Brian C. Phillips
Mobile Sources Compliance Branch Supervisor
Phone 919-707-8426

Robin Barrows

Allied Programs Supervisor

VW Settlement Outreach

Phone 919-707-8445

Dave Willis

Environmental Program Consultant

Phone 919-733-1482

EPA Volkswagen Page

Settlement Breakdown

Of the $2.9 billion allocated to environmental mitigation projects, North Carolina will receive approximately $92 million. The amount awarded was based on the approximately 16,000 affected 2.0-and 3.0-liter diesel engine vehicles registered in North Carolina.

Timeline

Beneficiaries will have up to 10 years to spend 80 percent of their allocated funds, and at most 15 years to spend 100 percent of their funds. Beneficiaries can request up to one-third of their allocated funding in the first year or two-thirds during the first two years.

Mitigation Projects

North Carolina’s $92 million allocation from the VW Settlement will be invested in a variety of environmental mitigation projects. Appendix D-2 of the Consent Decree outlines specific details of how trust funds may be used. Overall, money from the settlement may be used to pay some or all of the cost to repower (change the engine) or replace eligible diesel-powered vehicles with new diesel or alternative fuel, or all-electric engines or vehicles for these 10 project types: