Maine to get $5.1M in Volkswagen settlement
Courtesy / Maine Attorney General's Office
Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills announced Thursday that the state will receive $5.1 million in a legal settlement with Volkswagen and its Audi and Porsche affiliates.
Attorney General Janet T. Mills announced Thursday that Volkswagen and its Audi and Porsche affiliates have agreed to pay Maine $5.1 million as the state’s share of a $157 million settlement with 10 states that sued the automakers for selling diesel vehicles fitted with “defeat devices” that concealed illegal amounts of harmful emissions.
The settlement with VW represents the largest settlement for Clean Air Act violations that Maine has ever obtained, according to a release from Mills’ office.
Maine’s settlement amounts to over $1,285 per defeat-device-equipped Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen diesel vehicle sold or leased in the state and the money will be used to fund environmentally beneficial projects and programs across the state.
“We will not tolerate the flouting of our state’s environmental laws, the legacy of Senators Ed Muskie and George Mitchell. We will enforce Maine’s environmental standards stringently,” said Attorney General Mills. “Our air, water and natural resources and the health of our people are critically important. The actions by VW to deliberately violate Maine’s motor vehicle emission standards affected all of us and it was important to bring this action on behalf of the people of Maine.”
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Maine’s court complaint, which was announced in January, claimed the deceptions began with model year 2009, involved more than a dozen models including "flagship Audi luxury sedans and high-performance Porsche SUVs," affecting about 3,500 vehicles sold in Maine. http://www.mainebiz.biz/article/20170109/NEWS01/170109961
As part of the settlement, Volkswagen has agreed to substantially increase its commitment to the emerging electric car market, Mills’ office stated. The agreement requires Volkswagen by 2020 to at least triple the number of electric car models its Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi brands offer — from one model to three, including two electric SUVs.
The settlement marks the first time Maine and the other settling states — all of which have adopted California’s stringent vehicle emission standards — have secured an environmental settlement from an automobile manufacturer for violations of their own state auto emissions laws, Mills’ office stated.
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