NY Moves Forward on EVs While NJ is Stuck

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced how New York will utilize the $127.7 million received from the 2016 Volkswagen settlement. The plan including using funds to “dramatically increase the number of electric vehicles and other clean vehicles in the state.” Meanwhile, New Jersey has not announced any plans on how our state will spend our settlement money and the Murphy Administration has taken $69 million of the $141 million for the state budget. This is funding that is supposed to be going to clean air initiatives, including electric vehicles programs.

“While New York is moving forward with putting their Volkswagen settlement funds to good use, New Jersey is still lagging behind. Instead of helping to jumpstart our goals, the Murphy Administration is stealing $69 million, the entire state portion, of the Volkswagen settlement to balance the budget. They have not yet dedicated the rest of the money either. Volkswagen is paying for the damage they did to communities by increasing and failing to report on air pollution. Instead, Murphy is letting the air out of our tires by taking the money for the general fund,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.  “New Jersey must use our VW funds to jumpstart EVs in order to reduce air pollution and create a greener economy for our communities. We’re stuck in neutral while states like New York are moving forward.”

New Jersey accepted $72 million settlement from the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust on top of the $69 million previously awarded by the Volkswagen Group of America. However, the Murphy Administration has not released any plan on how to spend the money. There has not been an open and transparent process that allows public participation and ensures the money is spent on mitigating for the extra air pollution. We can electrify our ports, especially in urban areas, with electric busses to reduce air pollution in areas already highly affected. We can use electric vehicles for transportation in and around the ports including moving goods and containers.

“We received the settlement money because of Volkswagen’s pollution and it should all go toward mitigating those affects and cleaning New Jersey’s air. So far, we don’t know what’s happening to the money because they’re just sitting on it. Taking advantage of this money will mean less money sent out of state for petroleum, more in-state jobs, better vehicles for your constituents, less carbon pollution, and cleaner, healthier air. We believe that these funds should be dedicated to moving New Jersey forward with electric vehicles. We can implement clean transportation programs so that our school children can ride in cleaner, quieter, and healthier school buses that are powered by electricity. This is especially important for children who live in urban areas already overburdened by air pollution,” said Jeff Tittel. “Electric busses will benefit all mass transit riders, as well as anyone living in the city where they run without released air toxins.”

According to the American Lung Association, every year, pollution from passenger vehicles collectively costs the 10 ZEV states about $24 billion in health, including 220,000 lost work days, 109,000 asthma exacerbations, hundreds of thousands of other respiratory health impacts, and 2,580 premature deaths. A fully electric vehicle uses electricity to power a battery. This means no gasoline, no dirty oil changes, and no internal combustion engine. In New Jersey, the Zero Electric Vehicle (ZEV) program saves our state $4.6 billion in health care costs associated with smog and soot pollution caused by passenger vehicles.

“Electric vehicles are the technology of the future but unless we spend the settlement money on them, we’re stuck in the past. We need a program for EVs similar to RGGI that would encourage states to pass legislation and fund programs that advance EVs. We need to create a charging network that allows people to drive through New Jersey without range anxiety. There are currently more than 20 fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles available at US dealerships and we want people to feel confident that they can purchase and EV and travel through New Jersey with it,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Governor Murphy must follow in Cuomo’s lead and dedicate New Jersey’s Volkswagen funds towards electrifying our roadways and reducing air pollution.”