Don't Let Florida Use VW Diesel Settlement Funds On More Diesel – Tell Them You Want Electric!
It's a scandal! Florida could put its $166 million share of the multi-billion dollar VW diesel scandal settlement back into MORE DIESEL.
That's right. VW was caught rigging its dirty diesel cars to make customers think they were clean, and now has to give Florida $166M to clean up its air. But instead of using VW's money for clean transportation like electric vehicles, the state of Florida could pump it straight back into dirty diesel — unless you tell them we can do better.
We need you to tell the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to instead use the money to pay for electric vehicle charging station infrastructure and zero-emission electric school and transit buses. Please take 5 minutes today to take the FDEP VW Survey.
Here are Sierra Club's recommendations on how to reply to the survey's most important questions.
Page 1: Question: Which of the following best describes you?
-Interested Individual
-Private Business Representative
-Government Representative
-Representative of an Environmental Organization
-Representative of other Public Interest Organization
Sierra Club recommends that you answer that you are an "Interested Individual."
Page 2: Question: As a percentage, how should Florida divide the total available funding …
____ % Government-Owned Vehicles and Equipment
____ % Business-Owned Vehicles and Equipment
Sierra Club recommends you answer: "100% Government-Owned Vehicles and Equipment."
Question: There are several major project categories to which the state may direct funding. Please rate these categories from 1 (most preferred) to 7 (least preferred). Note: for the following table each column is restricted to a single answer across all rows.
Sierra Club recommends a rating for "School Buses, Shuttle Buses, and Transit Buses" as Priority 1, and "Electric Vehicle Charging Stations" as Priority 2.
Pages 3-4: Question: There are many factors that may be useful in identifying and prioritizing mitigation projects. Please rate the following factors from 1 (most preferred) to 7 (least preferred).
Sierra Club recommends Priority 1 be "Projects that replace diesel units with alternative fuels and/or electric vehicles and equipment."
Page 4: Question: Please provide any additional information that you think may be helpful in developing Florida's Beneficiary Mitigation Plan. Please also feel free to provide your contact information if you would like to be added to the Department's mailing list for future communications concerning Florida's Diesel Emissions Mitigation Program.
Sierra Club recommends that you write: "All buses should be electric."
NOTE: All questions must be answered for your survey to be submitted as complete. Sierra Club does not have recommendations on the survey's questions other than those listed above. You may answer them however you wish, but please do answer all questions.
—Phil Compton, senior organizing representative, Sierra Club Florida's Healthy Air and Ready for 100 Campaigns