Volkswagen Reaches $157.45 Million Settlement With 10 US States (For Diesel Emissions Cheating Scandal)
Volkswagen has come to a settlement with 10 US states in relation to environmental claims made as a result of the diesel emissions cheating scandal, according to recent reports.
As a result of the settlement, Volkswagen will be paying a total of $157.45 million to a group of states that includes New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Connecticut.
Volkswagen previously came to a $603 million agreement with 44 US states. This new settlement relates to claims that weren’t amongst those in the first lawsuit.
Notably, the settlement also requires that Volkswagen offer at least 3 new electric vehicles in the US by 2020, and 2 of which are supposed to be SUVs.
Reuters provides more:
In total, VW has agreed to spend up to $25 billion in the United States to address claims from owners, environmental regulators, states and dealers and to make buy-back offers.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the state’s $32.5 million share of the settlement is the state’s largest- ever air pollution fine and ‘makes clear that no company — however large or powerful — is above the law.’
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said the state’s $20 million share is the largest-ever state environmental civil penalty. The settlement is significantly less than what the states had sought when they sued VW last year.
Washington state had said in 2016 it planned to impose $176 million in penalties related to state environmental claims, while other states said they sought penalties totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. States can use settlement funds for any purpose.
So, it’s not quite what the states were aiming for, it seems, but it’s still a pretty big settlement.
As a reminder, while the company itself has now settled with the US government, there are still criminal cases pending against a number of Volkswagen execs. Only one of these execs is in US custody, but the others appear to be hiding out in Germany.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Latest CleanTechnica.TV Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
