EPA Levies $438,000 in Fines and Mandatory 'Environmental Projects' on School Bus Contractor for 'Excessive Idling'

By Elizabeth Harrington
CNSNews.com
Apr. 11, 2012

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforced nearly $500,000 in fines and mandatory "environmental projects" on a school bus contractor for "excessive idling," and as part of its anti-idling campaign to reduce the carbon footprint of school buses waiting to pick up children for their routes.

"As part of a settlement for alleged excessive diesel idling in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Durham School Services will commit to reduce idling from its school bus fleet of 13,900 buses operating in 30 states," read an EPA press release on Tuesday.

The EPA says an agency inspector two years ago spotted buses of the Durham School Services, the second largest school bus transportation contractor in the country, "idling for extended periods of time" in school lots in New England.

"The inspector observed some buses idling for close to two hours before departing the bus lot to pick up school children," it said. State rules limit idling to three minutes in Connecticut and five minutes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where the infractions occurred.

Durham reached a settlement for the violation and agreed to pay $90,000 in penalties. It also agreed to pay for $348,000 worth of environmental projects, including implementing a national training and management program "to prevent excessive idling from its entire fleet of school buses."

Under the program Durham must require its supervisors to "monitor idling in school bus lots, post anti-idling signs in areas where drivers congregate, and notify the school districts it serves of its anti-idling policy."

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