What the Tri-Cities gets out of that VW settlement

Ben Franklin Transit will get its first-ever electric bus, courtesy of a $28.4 million legal settlement between Washington and Volkswagen.

The state is allocating $22 million to purchase electric or low-emission buses for transit agencies and 83 school districts. The grants are expected to offset 2,900 tons of greenhouse gas emissions associated with diesel buses.

Volkswagen is providing $500,000 for each of the transit buses.

Volkswagen settled claims it violated Washington’s Clean Air Act for $28.4 million after investigations revealed it installed software on diesel vehicles to skirt emissions laws. The state will benefit from an additional $112.7 million from one of the automaker’s federal settlements associated with the same deception.

The federal settlement will focus on installing electric vehicle charging stations, purchasing zero-emission vehicles for public fleets and electrifying the Washington ferry system.

This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 2:02 PM.