You asked for a description of funding provided for the Clean School Bus program under a settlement involving Dominion Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state of Connecticut, and other parties.

In April 2003, EPA, Connecticut, and other parties settled an enforcement action against Virginia Electric Power Company (VEPCO), a unit of Dominion Resources, with regard to VEPCO’s coal-fired power plants in Virginia and West Virginia. (Dominion also owns and operates the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Waterford. ) In addition to EPA, the case involved the U. S. Justice Department, the Connecticut Attorney General’s office and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and the states of New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia. The settlement resolved charges that VEPCO violated the federal Clean Air Act by making major modifications to the coal-fired plants without installing equipment to control pollution that causes smog, acid rain, and soot.

Under the terms of the settlement, Dominion will invest over $ 1. 2 billion to modify the plants, reducing their sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 60%. The settlement also includes $ 13. 9 million in funding to supplement environmental projects in the affected states, $ 1. 1 million of which went to Connecticut. DEP has decided to use this money to retrofit approximately 148 school buses with diesel particulate filters and provide ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel for 308 buses in the Bridgeport and Hartford areas, as part of its existing Clean School Bus program. The program is designed to reduce emissions from school buses, 99% of which use diesel fuel. Diesel emissions contain fine particulates and 40 chemicals that are classified as hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. DEP expects that the program will improve air quality and reduce exposure of children to asthma and other risks. Further information about the program is available on DEP’s Website, http: //www. dep. state. ct. us/wst/p2/p2view/bus. htm.

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