Blue Bird Dealers and the VW Settlement

Blue Bird Dealers and the VW Settlement

Blue Bird dealers in every state have the opportunity to tap into millions — yes millions — of dollars from the Volkswagen emissions scandal. In total, VW will set aside $2.7 billion to fund the Environmental Mitigation Trust, a portion of which can go toward alt fuel school bus funding.

How did this all come about? We first heard about the VW emissions scandal more than a year ago. The allegations contend that the company’s ‘clean diesel’ vehicles were equipped with software that maximized emission performance during emission testing conditions, and optimized for performance when the vehicle sensed that it was not operating under testing conditions. The difference in NOx emissions between testing and normal performance was an increase by more than 40 times the legal limit.

VW has also been sued by attorneys representing VW owners, the Federal Trade Commission for consumer fraud, state attorney generals for consumer fraud, and the Environmental Protection Agency and California for violating federal and state motor vehicle emissions laws.

It’s also alleged that VW lied to federal regulators and sought to cover up the extent of the non-compliance when first informed that there was a potential emissions problem. The government’s lawsuit was filed in January 2016.

To address excess NOx emissions that have occurred, VW set aside $2.7 billion to fund the Environmental Mitigation Trust (EMT).

What does the EMT mean to Blue Bird dealers? The billions of dollars in this trust are to be used to fund actions that reduce NOx emission and thereby reduce public exposure to NOx pollution. Translation: Money that can go toward our lower-NOx alternative-fuel buses (LPG and CNG)!

To find out more about where this money is going, read here or contact Chelsea Uphaus at chelsea.uphaus@roush.com or 734-466-6710.