Connecticut and New Jersey will split a $1 million from a Pennsylvania power plant as part of a lawsuit settlement where the plant also agrees to mostly stop burning coal in 2014, authorities announced Wednesday.
The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by New Jersey in 2007 over the greenhouse gases sent downwind from the Portland Generating Station in eastern Pennsylvania. Connecticut intervened in the lawsuit in 2008.
In the settlement, the plants owners – GenOn Power Generation, GenOn REMA, and Dynegy – agreed to stop burning coal in two of its units by June 2014, except for when it is essential to maintain power grid reliability; comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring significant reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions; and pay $1 million into an environmental mitigation fund shared by New Jersey and Connecticut. The settlement was announced by the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office and the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.
Even though Connecticut power is generated from cleaner fuels such as natural gas and nuclear, the state still suffers from greenhouse gas pollution as states upwind use dirtier fuels for their power.
