WED: DEP Holds Volkswagen Beneficiary Mitigation Plan Public Hearing

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is holding their first public comment hearing on their draft Beneficiary Mitigation Plan for the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust. New Jersey was allocated $141 million from the Volkswagen settlement however the Murphy Administration took $69 million from that fund to go into the state budget. DEP’s draft mitigation plan intends to spend its Trust allocation in three, $24.1 million phases primarily funding replacing heavy duty vehicles/engines such as buses, trucks, and non-road equipment in urban areas disproportionately impacted by diesel emissions. DEP have opened a comment period since early November of 2017.

Who: NJ Department of Environmental Protection

What: Public comment hearing on DEP’s Draft Beneficiary Mitigation Plan for the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust

Where: DEP Headquarters, 401 East State Street, Trenton

When: Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“The biggest source of air pollution and greenhouse gases in our state comes from automobiles, which is why we need to increase electric vehicles to clean our air. We need to take advantage of the full $72 million to create more in-state jobs, better vehicles, less carbon pollution, and cleaner, healthier air. Our vehicles and their infrastructure must be replaced with electric, not just cleaner fossil fuels,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Other states like New York are already spending their VW settlement money while New Jersey is still dragging its feet. DEP must come up with a final plan and get the money moving forward for our economy and our environment.”