Bus co. to pay $90k in diesel idling settlement

BOSTON (AP) — A bus company will pay a $90,000 penalty as part of a settlement with environmental officials for excessive diesel idling of buses in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Durham School Services has agreed to reduce idling from its school bus fleet of 13,900 buses operating in 30 states. The anti-idling project is the result of an Environmental Protection Agency New England enforcement action to reduce school children's exposure to diesel pollution.

The EPA said one of its inspectors saw Durham school buses idling for extended periods of time in school bus lots in Storrs, Conn., Worcester, Mass., and Johnston, R.I., in 2010.

Under the settlement, Durham will conduct a national training program to prevent excessive idling. Durham will also replace 30 older school buses with new buses equipped with state-of-the-art pollution controls.