With this funding, Connecticut will boost its economy and continue to be a national leader in the creation of green jobs and the utilization of clean energy technology,” said Congressman Larson. “The Recovery Act continues to put our nation on the path towards economic stability by helping us transition to a clean energy economy and create new jobs here at home – all while ending our dangerous dependence on foreign sources of energy.” For Immediate Release
September 21, 2009
Contact: Paul Mounds 860-278-8888


Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01), announced that the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) will receive $7 million in Recovery Act funding to purchase diesel-electric hybrid transit buses and to provide stationary fuel cells to power the state’s bus maintenance and storage facilities. ConnDOT was one of 40 transit agencies to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) grant program.

“With this funding, Connecticut will boost its economy and continue to be a national leader in the creation of green jobs and the utilization of clean energy technology,” said Congressman Larson. “The Recovery Act continues to put our nation on the path towards economic stability by helping us transition to a clean energy economy and create new jobs here at home – all while ending our dangerous dependence on foreign sources of energy.”

ConnDOT will use this funding to upgrade new buses to hybrid-electric power and install a fuel cell storage facility and a stationary fuel cell in the Hartford CTTransit maintenance and storage facility. The funding also covers installation of stationary fuel cells in both the New Haven and Stamford CTTransit facilities.

Currently, Connecticut has two hybrid buses and one fuel cell bus – the first of its kind in New England.  In 2006, Congressman Larson helped secure a $2.9 million dollar grant from the Federal Transportation Administration to fund the purchase and supporting infrastructure of the fuel cell bus. ConnDOT expects four more fuel cell buses to be in the fleet in the next 12 months. 

Congressman Larson, a co-founder of the House Hydrogen Fuel Cell Caucus, has long championed fuel cell technology and its overall benefits to Connecticut’s and our nation’s economy. Earlier this year in separate House Appropriations bills, Congressman Larson secured an additional $45 million in funding to support fuel cell technology and $2.5 million for the Global Fuel Center at the University of Connecticut.