Q: What has been the environmental impact of the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal?
— EMILY WARDEN, PHILADELPHIA
A: An analysis by The Guardian in September revealed that affected VWs in the U.S. are likely emitting between 10,392 and 41,571 tons of toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the air every year, based on typical annual mileage counts. If those vehicles had complied with federal pollution standards, they would have emitted just 1,039 tons per year.
Researchers believe Volkswagen has added between 10 and 40 times more NOx pollution into our atmosphere than the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for people to breathe. According to The Guardian, the 11 million affected diesel-engine VWs on the road worldwide could be emitting some 237,161 to 948,691 tons of NOx annually. In contrast, Western Europe’s biggest electrical power station emits just 39,000 tons each year.
Meanwhile, a study released in October by public health researchers from Harvard and MIT found that 59 Americans will die prematurely from the excess pollution caused by Volkswagen having cheated emissions tests in the U.S. Researchers calculated the amount of extra particulate and ozone pollution put out by the rigged vehicles between 2008 and 2015 to arrive at their conclusions — and recommend that VW prevent another 130 early U.S. deaths by recalling all affected cars by the end of 2016.
The health implications in Europe are even more troubling given that half of the passenger cars on the road there are diesels (including 8 million affected VWs), compared with just 3 percent in the U.S.
The U.S. government and Volkswagen reached a tentative deal in April under which the company would compensate some 500,000 U.S. VW owners.
Environmental groups aren’t letting Volkswagen off-the-hook just yet, and not only because the company hasn’t agreed to specifics.
“The final settlement needs to fix or remove all of the polluting cars still on the road, make whole the consumers who trusted the vehicles were lower-polluting, and compensate for the pollution the faulty cars created,” says Kathryn Phillips, the Sierra Club’s California director. It’s unclear if there is any nod to Phillips’ last requirement — a key sticking point for greens intent not to let the German automaker off the hook — in the agreement.
For its part, VW isn’t taking the scandal lightly, recently announcing that it was setting aside $18.2 billion — more than double the amount it originally anticipated — to help fix the situation amid an environment of overall declining sales.
Hopefully VW is now committed to solving the problem and will stay on the right side of regulators moving forward, but who knows how many other large industrial companies are skirting rules and spewing dangerous levels of pollution into our skies, land and water?
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