Over the past couple of years, the state of California has spent a lot of time and money, first unraveling Volkswagen?s deception on diesel emissions and then working to fix the mess. The state even made sure that VW has to pay a little more penance to the Golden State with settlement requirements such as additional mandated sales of electric vehicles. And now a court document has formally attached a dollar amount due to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for the cost of it all: $60 million.
The new Third California Partial Consent Decree, subject to final court approval, includes a total fine of $93,813,500?a civil penalty with payment due in 30 days?and another $60 million  in ?cost recovery? to reimburse the state for its expenses. The $60 million tally that California attributes to the diesel scandal includes engineering and tech time, laboratory analysis, and legal expenses, as well as some anticipated future expenses for making sure that VW complies with all terms of the settlement. The agreement also includes new compliance programs, audits, and additional vehicle testing for Volkswagen, all to make sure it won?t happen again.
Some of these expenses can be traced back to 2011, when CARB first learned there was a discrepancy between the Volkswagen diesel vehicles’ in-lab performance and their real-world emissions. However, the bulk of the California agency?s expenses started in 2015, when scientists at the International Council on Clean Transportation ...