Seven Connecticut communities will use $360,000 the state collected from a anti-pollution lawsuit to update their aging fleet of diesel vehicles with cleaner ones to boost the state’s air quality, authorities say.
The Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced Thursday grants ranging from $83,467 to $41,000 for the municipalities to buy new trucks.
Two communities got money for new refuse haulers: Stamford, $83,467, and Waterbury, $46,600. Meantime, five others — Wethersfield, $50,700; Naugatuck, $50,000; Plainville, $45,000; Enfield, $43,000; and Middletown, $41,200 – will spend theirs on maintenance/snow plowing trucks.
The funds are from a settlement of a case involving environmental violations with American Electric Power Service Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, and must be used to reduce diesel emissions in heavy traffic areas, DEEP Commissioner Daniel Esty said.
