October 9, 2007

Contacts: Eric Cheung (215-567-4004 x 114)

Pennsylvania To Benefit From Record-Breaking $4.6 Billion American Electric Power Service Corporation Settlement

Co-Plaintiff Clean Air Council Claims Victory For Pennsylvania Residents Who Live Downwind Of The Ohio-Based Company's Coal-Fired Plants.

Philadelphia, PA - Clean Air Council is among several plaintiffs who finalized a settlement with American Electric Power Service Corporation (AEP) for violations of Clean Air Act's "New Source Review" requirement. New Source Review is intended to force older coal-fired power plants to clean up their emissions if they extend their operational life.

The $4.6 billion settlement represents the largest of its kind in the history of the Clean Air Act and the most money an energy company has ever agreed to put towards new pollution controls.

"This settlement is a victory for clean air advocates," said the Council's Executive Director, Joseph Otis Minott. "If the dirtiest, oldest power plants insist on remaining in operation, then the Clean Air Act will make sure they modernize and minimize their pollution."

AEP also agreed to pay an additional $15 million civil penalty, which is the highest penalty paid by any electric utility in settlement of a New Source Review case, and also fund $60 million in environmental mitigation projects, including reducing emissions from trucks through diesel engine retrofits and truck stop electrification projects.

Clean Air Council, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 8 states and numerous other environmental groups, filed suit against AEP in 1999 under the Clean Air Act for violations at a number of its coal-fired electric power plants because AEP facilities had upgraded and increased smog and soot pollution without installing the pollution controls required by law. The Council was represented in the lawsuit by the Environmental Law and Policy Center. Clean Air Task Force and the Natural Resources Defense Council also represented plaintiffs in this case.

As a result of its Clean Air Act violations, AEP emitted illegal amounts of harmful nitrogen oxides and deadly sulfur dioxide pollution at plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia for over two decades. Three of AEP's power plants at issue in the lawsuit are located in close proximity to the border of Pennsylvania. Their emissions were transported to Pennsylvania residents in Southwestern Pennsylvania, who live downwind of these plants.

Under the settlement, AEP agreed to undertake approximately $4.6 billion worth of pollution control measures at its existing plants over the next decade. The new pollution controls will, reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 79 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions by 69 percent from the 16 plants covered by the settlement. The sulfur dioxide reduction is among the largest percentage decrease ever achieved in any settlement with coal-fired electric utilities.

"This settlement shows that the New Source Review provision of the Clean Air Act works," explained Minott. "It protects people's health. Efforts to weaken this important requirement must continue to be opposed."

The Council's lawsuit was one of several suits filed against AEP. Other plaintiffs included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which initiated the battle against AEP, as well as 8 states: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maryland, and Rhode Island, and 12 other environmental groups: NRDC, Citizen Action Coalition of Indiana, Hoosier Environmental Council, Indiana Wildlife Federation, Izaak Walton League of America, League of Ohio Sportsmen, National Wildlife Federation, Ohio Citizen Action, Ohio Valley Environmental Council, Sierra Club, U.S.PIRG, and West Virginia Environmental Council.