WALLINGFORD - The state Department of Environmental Protection has reached a settlement with the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority and Covanta Energy over an emissions violation discovered in 2007 at the trash-to energy plant on South Cherry Street.

Instead of a fine, Covanta , which operates the waste-burning plant for CRRA, has agreed to pay $355,000 to the DEP to fund local recycling programs. The excess dioxin emissions were discovered during the plant's annual performance test on May 23, 2007.

Dioxins are pollutants released into the environment as a result of combustion processes such as fuel burning and waste incineration. High levels of exposure, according to health organizations, can lead to a variety of health problems, including an increased risk of cancer.

DEP regulations allow for emissions of up to 30 nanograms of dioxin per cubic meter, but on the day of the test one of the Wallingford plant's three smokestacks registered emissions of 31.2 nanograms.

Dennis Schain, a DEP spokesman, said the dioxin violation was not severe enough to pose an immediate threat to public health. Covanta corrected the violation quickly and that the plant has not had any emission violations since, he said. The plant serves Wallingford, Meriden, Cheshire, Hamden and North Branford. Follow-up testing in October 2007 found that dioxin emissions were within permitted limits.

"We didn't approach levels that would be considered relevant to health effects," said Paul Gilman, Covanta 's chief sustainability officer, who said the time between the violation and the settlement was "a standard process."

"The immediate focus is corrective action and then retesting to make sure you're back in compliance, and then the administrative stuff just sort of flows after that," Gilman said. "And that stuff can take some time."

Covanta also agreed to pay $70,000 to the DEP for a 2007 ammonia emissions violation at a CRRA trash-to-energy plant it operates in Hartford. That money will toward a system to better monitor the Hartford plant's ammonia emissions.

"The agreements we have reached will help make certain that these plants operate in compliance with all permit conditions at all times," DEP Commissioner Amey Marrella said in a press release. "These settlements also contain provisions that will benefit local communities. The Wallingford settlement will provide funding for DEP to work with cities and towns across Connecticut to increase recycling rates. This will help reduce municipal costs for waste disposal as well as achieve other environmental benefits associated with recycling."

The Wallingford settlement also calls for more frequent testing of dioxin emissions at the facility through 2013.

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