Volkswagen (VW) Settlement: DERA Option
General Information
The U.S. government and Volkswagen (VW) have resolved allegations that VW violated the Clean Air Act by selling approximately 590,000 vehicles equipped with defeat devices. As a part of this settlement, VW will provide $2.7 billion for the 2.0 liter violating vehicles and $225 million for the 3.0 liter violating vehicles to an Environmental Mitigation Trust. Funds from the trust will be used to fully remediate the excess NOx emissions from the illegal vehicles.
Wilmington Trust, a court-approved Trustee, will administer the trust. States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and federally recognized Indian tribes may become beneficiaries. Beneficiaries may select from a defined list of ten Eligible Mitigation Actions (EMAs) that have proven records of reducing NOx emissions. These EMAs can be found in Appendix D of the Consent Decree. EMA #10, the “DERA Option,” allows beneficiaries to use trust funds for their non-federal voluntary match on state and tribal DERA grants.
Settlement Highlights
- Volkswagen Clean Air Act Partial (2.0 Liter) Settlement Highlights
- Amended 2.0L Partial Consent Decree (PDF)(225 pp, 4.3 MB, About PDF) entered by the court on September 30, 2016
- Environmental Mitigation Trust Agreements
States
The States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia may obtain funds as Mitigation Trust Beneficiaries upon application to the Trustee to implement NOx reduction projects as defined in Appendix D-2, including the DERA Option under the DERA State Clean Diesel Grant Program. The documents below distinguish between Eligible Mitigation Actions (EMAs) 1-9 and projects eligible under the DERA Option, and provide a detailed comparson between the mitigation actions.
- VW DERA Option Factsheet for States (PDF) (8 pp, 311 K, April 2019, EPA-420-F-19-042)
- Detailed Comparison of VW Eligible Mitigation Action 1-9 and Eligible Mitigation Action #10 (DERA Option) for States (PDF) (6 pp, 187 K, April 2019, EPA-420-F-19-043)
Please submit questions related to the DERA Option in Appendix D of the VW Consent Decree to the Clean Diesel helpline with the subject line “VW Question - State”
Tribes
Federally recognized tribes may obtain trust funds as Beneficiaries upon application to the Trustee to implement NOx reduction projects as defined in Appendix D-2, including the DERA Option under the competitive DERA Tribal Clean Diesel Grant Program.
- VW DERA Option Factsheet for Tribes
- Detailed Comparison of VW Eligible Mitigation Action 1-9 and Eligible Mitigation Action #10 (DERA Option) for Tribes
- Tribal Notice of Intent to Participate (WORD)(3 pp, 463 K, May 2019)
Please submit questions related to the DERA Option in Appendix D of the VW Consent Decree to the Clean Diesel helpline with the subject line “VW Question - Tribe”
Please submit VW Consent Decree questions that are unrelated to the DERA Option to VW_Settlement@epa.gov