© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

VW to Pay Over $157M to Settle Emissions Claims by 10 States, Including Maine

Volkswagen is paying more than $157 million to 10 states, including Maine, to settle environmental lawsuits over the company’s diesel emissions-cheating scandal.

State Attorney General Janet Mills says Maine and the other settling states have all adopted California’s stringent vehicle emission standards.

“In accordance with the legacy of Sens. Ed Muskie and George Mitchell, we want to enforce Maine’s environmental standards very stringently and we think our air, water and natural resources, and the health of our people, are pretty important,” she says.

Mills says the settlement marks the first time Maine, and the other settling states, have secured an environmental settlement from an automobile manufacturer for violations of their own state auto emissions laws. She says the settlement, which includes $5.1 million for Maine, is the largest settlement for Clean Air Act violations that Maine has ever obtained.

The settlement covers three-liter, six-cylinder diesel engines and is separate from a $603 million agreement reached last year with 44 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico that covered 2-liter engines.

Volkswagen has admitted to programming its diesel engines to activate pollution controls during government pollution tests and turning them off for roadway driving.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.