Texas environmental officials are planning to allocate more than $29 million of the state's $209 million Volkswagen settlement money to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to a draft plan released Wednesday.
The proposal only broadly specifies how to spend the money, which was allocated to Texas in January from the multibillion-dollar settlement of Volkswagen's diesel emissions cheating scandal. State officials must create a plan for spending the money before it can tap into the settlement.
Some options include replacement of older, polluting tractor trailers, buses, airport ground vehicles, forklifts and other industrial equipment. Many of those would involved replacing old diesel engines with newer ones.
Grants could be distributed either on a first-come, first-served basis or through a competitive process. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which is administering the state's share, is seeking public comments through Oct. 8 on the new plan. Details are available at TexasVWFund.org.
The national settlement with Volkswagen specifies the ways the money could be used to reduce air pollution but allows states to distribute the cash within that framework.
Less than 4 percent is expected to go toward administering the Texas fund, according to the state's plan. And up to 15 percent would be allocated to electric car charging or hydrogen fuel cell fueling infrastructure.
The alternative fuel plan was described as a "mixed bag" by the Texas office of consumer group Public Citizen. The endorsement of electric vehicles was heartening, but "some of the most cost-effective projects were left out of the plan," said Adrian Shelley, director of Public Citizen's Texas office, in a written statement.
"Although Texas claims to prioritize funding for cost-effective reductions of nitrogen oxides, the plan excludes funding for freight switchers, tugs and tow vessels, which are among the most cost-effective projects available in terms of their ability to reduce air pollution and protect public health," he wrote.
State officials did not guarantee that the entire 15 percent would be used for alternative fuel infrastructure and said they had tried to take a "fuel-neutral approach."
The other 81 percent — $169.5 million — would be allocated to densely populated regions with high ozone concentrations. The goal of the settlement fund is to reduce nitrogen oxide, one of the components of ground-level ozone or smog.
Computer software on hundreds of thousands of Volkswagen diesel vehicles made it appear that they were emitting less nitrogen oxide than claimed. Worldwide, the number of offending vehicles is estimated at 11 million; the company's former CEO was indicted this year on federal fraud charges in the U.S.
Texas' plan for its share of the settlement calls for the Dallas-Fort Worth area to get the second-largest portion of the regional grant allocations. San Antonio would have the highest at $73.6 million.
The TCEQ rejected requests to allocate the money based on where affected vehicles were registered within Texas. That approach, state officials said, wouldn't have as strong of an impact on air quality. Also, that data could be misleading, according to the report.
"Past vehicle registration data does not necessarily reflect the current status and location of the vehicles or where the vehicles may operate, particularly when considering the buy-back program being implemented by VW," according to the state plan.