$118 million later, Pennsylvania earns an F for Volkswagen settlement spending

When it comes to cleaning up our transportation, Pennsylvania can, and should, do better.

A report released by PennPIRG Education Fund earlier this summer found that, despite receiving the fifth-largest payout in the country from the Volkswagen “Dieselgate” scandal, Pennsylvania plans to invest much of its $118 million in fossil fuel burning transportation—the number one source of global warming pollution in the U.S.—instead of clean, electric cars and buses. This earned the state an “F” in our research partner’s report.

“From [Volkswagen’s] deception emerged an opportunity for states like Pennsylvania to put a down payment on the transition to a cleaner and healthier all-electric transportation future,” said PennPIRG Education Fund’s Emma Horst-Martz. “Pennsylvania is wasting that opportunity.”

PennPIRG Education Fund is calling on our decision-makers to instead invest the VW payout in electric transportation and a cleaner, healthier future for all Pennsylvanians.
Read the report.
 
Photo: Emma Horst-Martz of PennPIRG Education Fund delivers the findings of the Volkswagen spending report in Harrisburg, Pa. Credit: Katie Blume of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania