NYC To Pay $1M Fine For Dirty Boilers In Public Schools: Feds

NEW YORK CITY — The city will pay a $1 million fine for failing to maintain public school boilers and increasing students and teachers' exposure to hazardous and toxic pollutants, according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors.

New York City will also spend $50 million to fit seven public school buildings with natural gas boilers as part of a settlement with the Eastern District of New York, Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis announced Monday.

“[We] are committed to addressing environmental justice concerns and reducing dangerous emissions and hazardous air pollutants," Kasulis said. “The United States brought this action to protect our children, teachers, staff, and communities."

This settlement concludes the U.S. Attorney's civil action, brought on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, which alleged the city ignored Clean Air Act-mandated boiler tune-ups for four years, court records show.

Boiler tune-ups decrease exposure to hazardous air pollutants linked to cancer, developmental defects and children's asthma, according to EPA.

The Department of Education allegedly skipped out on tune-ups for 1,329 oil-fired burners — 799 in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island and 530 in Manhattan and The Bronx — in 566 public school buildings, the suit contends.

More than 10 percent — 165 boilers in 66 school buildings — were considered large and hundreds more were in low income communities that already have poor air quality, the suit contends.

As part of the settlement, seven New York City public school buildings will receive new natural gas boilers by March 2023, according to a press release.

Those school buildings are Brooklyn Tech in Fort Greene, M013 on the Upper East Side, M117 in East Harlem, Q053, X029 and P.S. 306 Ethan Allen, according to the release.

Said EPA Acting Regional Administrator Mugdan, “Thousands of New York City residents will be breathing cleaner air as a result of this case."