Greenbytes: February 3, 2004 Edition

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Feature: EPA Enforcement Case Paves Way for ‘Green’ School Bus Fleet in Boston

EPA NE recently announced that it has reached a $6 million enforcement case settlement with a Boston-area power plant that will result in 500 Boston school buses and more than a dozen North Shore commuter trains being retrofitted with pollution control equipment that will cut emissions by up to 90 percent.

Filed in federal court on Jan. 29, the settlement with the owners of the Mystic Station power plant in Everett includes a $1 million civil penalty, $3.25 million for the school bus project and $1.25 million for the MBTA commuter train improvements. It also includes $250,000 to build a commuter bike path over the Mystic River and $250,000 to restore one acre of an urban salt marsh along Chelsea’s Mill Creek.

The settlement stems from over 6,000 alleged violations of the Clean Air Act’s opacity limits at Mystic Station’s four oil-fired units from June 1998 to November 2003. Opacity is a measure of smoke thickness and is regulated to prevent visible air pollutants such as soot and other particulate matter from polluting the air. Most of the violations took place at the power plant’s three oldest units, which virtually ceased operations in March 2003.

The centerpiece of the settlement is the Boston school bus project, which includes upgrading 500 school buses with pollution reduction devices and supplying them with ultra low-polluting sulfur diesel fuel for two years. The project will reduce tailpipe emissions from the buses by more than 30 tons a year.

The project builds on a similar bus retrofit project in an EPA enforcement settlement three years ago with Waste Management of Massachusetts Inc., which has nearly finished retrofitting 100 Boston school buses with pollution control equipment. Upon being completed in 2005, Boston will be the first major city in the country to have retrofitted its entire school bus fleet.

EPA announced the settlement on Jan. 30, the same day that EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt announced that President Bush’s 2005 budget proposal will include an unprecedented $60 million in new funding to expand the agency’s Clean School Bus USA program, a national partnership to reduce the emission of air pollutants from school buses. The increase from $5 million to $65 million was announced during a visit to a Pittsburgh elementary school.

Fine particulate matter from combustion sources such as power plants is a serious public health concern, particularly for sensitive populations such as children, the elderly and asthmatics. Asthma is the leading cause of childhood emergency room hospitalizations in Boston. In some Boston neighborhoods, including Roxbury and Dorchester, asthma rates are more than double the state average.

Web Resources:

• School Buses
• Diesel Exhaust
• Transportation & Fuels

Press Releases

EPA/DOJ Enforcement Case Brings Clean Air Benefits to Boston

EPA Finds Cleanup to be Effective at Kingston, NH Superfund Site

Citizens Coordinating Council Meeting on Feb 4, 2004 for the GE/Housatonic River Site

EPA Seeks Fine Against West Springfield for Oil Spill at High School

EPA Completes Cleanup at Connecticut Plating Shop

EPA Presents Awards to Cape Citizens

EPA Encourages New Englanders to Warm Up to Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

EPA Proposes Approval of New Hampshire Fuel Requirements That Will Preserve Air Quality Benefits of Federal Reformulated Gasoline Without Oxygenate Mandate

EPA to Begin Asbestos Removal at Burned Mill in Southington, CT

Events and conferences are not archived. Please refer to the Regional Calendar for upcoming events and conferences.

Beede Superfund Site - completion of the administrative record

CEIT - newsletter, updated text and links

Colleges & Universities - updated text and links

EPA New England Lab - report on charles river posted

GE Superfund Site - 1.5 mile river report

Lead Paint - updated text and links

Long Island Sound Dredging - new hearing document

News & Events - link to regional administrator column archive added to page

Pesticides - updated text and links

Water Enforcement - new public notices page

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