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24 ¦ FEBRUARY 24, 2020 NEWS

Environmental Federal Lawsuit Seeks to
Eliminate ‘Idling’ Vehicles in Connecticut

By Robert Storace

Environmental attorneys say a federal lawsuit “They will have to prove the overidling caused a
filed Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District fair amount of pollution,” said Zimmerman, a share-
Court for the District of Connecticut against a holder with the Hartford offices of Updike, Kelly &
well-known school bus company can have legs if the Spellacy. “It’s not impossible. You’d have to get ex-
plaintiffs play their cards right. perts who will testify to the emissions levels and
Boston-based environmental nonprofit Conser- what the contaminants would be. One bus idling
vation Law Foundation filed the suit after it said its too long is not a big deal, but multiply that by many
investigators found drivers for New Britain-based vehicles and the accumulation of buses and it can be
DATTCO Inc. had left their buses idling for more a real environmental issue.”
than the three-minute minimum under state and As of Thursday afternoon, no attorney had filed
federal law 132 times on three different dates in an appearance for DATTCO.
October, November and earlier this month in nu- In an emailed statement Thursday, the company
merous communities in Connecticut. wrote that it “has a long history of compliance with
Officials from CLF said the alleged violations were Connecticut’s idling regulations and has never been
observed and video-recorded and environmental cited by the Connecticut Department of Energy
attorney Mark Zimmerman said that could be and Environmental Protection or the Connecticut
enough to prove their case, if the nonprofit will do Department of Motor Vehicles for any violation of
its homework. these regulations.”

CONNECTICUT
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