SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A public workshop to be held here next month will discuss plans for California’s share of the Volkswagen (VW) diesel settlement funds.

The VW Environmental Mitigation Trust will provide states with a total of nearly $3 billion for projects to cut nitrogen oxide from such big vehicles as school buses, transit buses, large trucks, and freight trains.

The funding is part of multiple settlements for the German automaker, which was accused of cheating emissions tests and deceiving customers with its diesel cars.

Before states can spend their share of the funding, they have to develop beneficiary mitigation plans and submit them to the trustee, Wilmington Trust N.A. For many states, contact information for the lead agencies involved in the mitigation plans is available on the National Association of Clean Air Agencies website.

California’s allocation of the mitigation funding is $423 million. The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) upcoming public meeting will address the state’s development of a beneficiary mitigation plan. CARB staff will discuss and seek input on such factors as guiding principles for use of the funds; potential eligible mitigation action categories; the process for administering projects; and implementing legislative direction (state Senate Bill 92) on providing benefits to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

The workshop will be held on Monday, Oct. 9, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Cal/EPA headquarters building in Sacramento.

More information on the CARB workshop is available here. Also, an email list has been set up to provide updates for the VW Environmental Mitigation Trust for California.