INDIANAPOLIS -- The return of $862,000 to Connersville will help the city clean up the old Visteon plant, making way for Carbon Motors to begin utilizing the currently vacant facility.

A federal judge has allowed the transfer of money that had been held in a trust fund to deal with the cleanup of a landfill. Carbon Motors announced in July that it had selected the former Visteon site to construct its new headquarters, along with engineering, sales, service training and production facilities to manufacture its law enforcement patrol vehicle, the Carbon E7, creating more than 1,500 jobs in the process.

"We got more money than we need to finish or to monitor this landfill. So we are going to return it to the city," said Deputy Attorney General Tim Junk, who oversaw the settlement on behalf of the state.

The attorney general's office petitioned the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis and was given approval for the transfer of funds. The cash was presented to the city during a news conference Tuesday morning.

About $500,000 has been earmarked for the cleanup of the old Visteon plant in Connersville. The state said it found the money in a fund created by a couple of businesses and the city to fix an allegedly polluted landfill.

Connersville decided in November 2001 to set aside $600,000 to deal with future problems at the landfill. In exchange, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management promised not to sue the city. The businesses put in the remainder of the money, 6News' Rafael Sanchez reported.

In documents obtained by 6News, the federal court agreed that the landfill situation is stable and that the funds could be used for new projects. The judge signed off on the transfer on Dec. 3.

Aside from the $500,000 set aside for Carbon Motors, Connersville will use $350,000 to redevelop the landfill site, possibly into a park.

"We found ourselves with excess money, and really, the winning argument before the federal court was that some government is going to get this money; it ought to go back to the government that gave the money and is taking responsibility and being proactive about the Visteon facility, rather than kept here in Indianapolis," Junk said.

The $500,000 is about one-eighth of the $4 million estimated cost of cleanup at the old Visteon site.

“Today’s announcement is yet another big step forward and ample evidence of the strong cooperation between local and state authorities to create thousands of new jobs in an area experiencing greater than a 16 percent unemployment rate,” said William Santana Li, chairman and CEO of Carbon Motors.

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