HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced on Wednesday that he has filed a lawsuit against a power plant for allegedly releasing dangerous air emissions repeatedly.

Covanta Energy has allegedly been emitting excessive levels of the chemical dioxin at its trash-to-energy plant. Covanta was alerted to the emissions and charged over them three years ago. That matter was settled in November, when Covanta agreed to pay $355,000 for similar allegedly unpermitted dioxin emissions.

"Our legal action follows a repeat environmental violation-excessive emissions of toxic dioxin," Blumenthal said.

"Even following a settlement less than one year ago for a similar violation, Covanta again spewed unpermitted levels of dioxin into the air. While the company has cooperated by shutting down its faulty unit, my office must take action to ensure that future violations are prevented."

On July 29, the Department of Environmental Protection issued a notice of violation to Covanta after testing at the company's Wallingford, Conn., plant allegedly discovered that it was emitting dioxin more than two times greater than what is permitted by law from one of its units. That unit has been shut down since July 2.

Covanta Energy told the DEP in April that this latest occurrence was due to a malfunction of its dioxin emissions control system. The company claims that it has fixed the problem and will implement additional measures to prevent future emissions violations.