Moving forward on its commitment to clean transportation, the Department of Environmental Protection is transmitting to the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust for approval the allocation of $11.2 million from New Jersey’s share of the federal Volkswagen settlement for hundreds of electric vehicle charging outlets across the state and new electric NJ TRANSIT buses in the City of Camden.
The projects are the first to be announced for funding from the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust, from which New Jersey is receiving $72.2 million. Governor Phil Murphy has committed to using 15 percent or $10.8 million of the state’s settlement amount for electric-vehicle charging stations. In addition to these projects, the DEP is evaluating more than $400 million worth of other project applications and expects to announce additional awards before the summer.
One focus of the funds will be on environmental justice to communities which are disproportionately impacted by pollution and resulting health impacts. The new electric buses in the City of Camden will be a step toward electrifying public transportation in New Jersey.
The DEP will use $3.2 million to award grants for approximately 827 charging outlets at 533 charging stations under It Pay$ to Plug In – New Jersey’s Electric Vehicle Charging Grant Program, more than doubling the number of non-residential charging outlets in the state.
New Jersey has 786 charging outlets at 322 public locations across the state. Grantees in this first round of funding include 55 municipalities and counties, public parking lots and garages, apartment and condominium complexes, car-share services, hotels, private companies and nonprofit organizations. Charging stations also will be installed at select NJ TRANSIT commuter rail stations and at rest stops along the Atlantic City Expressway.
An additional $8 million is proposed to the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust for allocation to purchase eight new electric transit buses to be operated in the City of Camden.
The Volkswagen Mitigation Trust is the result of federal actions against the automaker for installing “defeat” devices that allowed vehicles it manufactured to emit pollutants without being detected by emissions-testing programs across the country. Two partial consent decrees approved in 2016 and 2017 established a $2.93 billion environmental mitigation trust to provide funds to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and federally recognized tribes to implement actions to counter the air quality impacts of excess nitrogen oxide emissions resulting from the emissions defeat devices.
DEP’s It Pay$ to Plug In program funds strategic deployment of electric vehicle charging stations across the state. The program offsets costs for the purchase and installation of charging stations at public places, workplaces and at multi-family housing complexes.
Launched in June 2016, the program has approved more than $900,000 to 70 grantees for 188 charging stations.
Published in the May 2019 Edition