Largest Environmental Settlement in U.S. History is a Triumph for Public Health

If you’ve ever started what seemed like a simple home repair or remodeling job only to watch it spiral out of control, you’ll understand how officials at American Electric Power (AEP) must be feeling.

In what the U.S. government is calling the largest environmental settlement in history, AEP has agreed to pay at least $4.6 billion to reduce its chemical emissions by two-thirds over the next decade. AEP provides power to more than 5 million customers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, but emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides from its coal-fired power plants have been spreading smog and acid rain across a dozen states.

AEP Settlement Ends Long Legal Case
The settlement announced yesterday ended a 1999 lawsuit brought by nine states, more than a dozen environmental groups and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which claimed that AEP violated the Clean Air Act by failing to install new pollution controls after significant modifications at 30 of its 46 coal-fired power plants. AEP officials said the work was nothing more than “prudent maintenance . . . on very expensive assets” and was not significant enough to trigger the “new source review” clause of the Clean Air Act.

"AEP is operating some of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the nation," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, which was a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "After years of trying to evade installing proper pollution controls, AEP is finally cleaning up their old power plants. The massive reductions in smog, fine soot and acid rain from these plants will profoundly benefit both public health and the environment."

Under the settlement, AEP admits no wrongdoing, but agrees to spend $60 million to acquire ecologically sensitive lands harmed by acid rain; to reduce emissions from barges and large trucks in the Ohio River Valley; and to help clean up and restore specific waterways and parks, including the Chesapeake Bay and the Shenandoah National Park. The settlement also requires AEP to pay $15 million in civil penalties. Failure to comply with the settlement terms could result in daily penalties of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to government attorneys involved in the case.

"Dozens of coal plants across the country still lack modern pollution controls—jeopardizing our air, water and health," said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. "We need to clean up the dirty business of coal, making sure coal is mined responsibly and burned cleanly. But more importantly we need to start looking at cleaner sources of energy that can meet our needs, while protecting public health, reducing global warming pollution, creating jobs and boosting the economy."

Duke Energy Case May Have Tipped the Scale in AEP Settlement
The settlement with AEP was reached just before the case was scheduled to go to trial. AEP's decision to settle the lawsuit may have been influenced by an April Supreme Court decision in the case, Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy Corp. In that case, the court backed the Clean Air Act policy, which was established during the Clinton administration to help control emissions from coal-fired power plants.

"This is a huge win for clean air,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense, following the Supreme Court ruling in the Duke Energy case. “The Court ruled unanimously that companies have to use the latest cost effective technology to reduce pollution when they upgrade their plants. This is not a legal abstraction—it means we'll have cleaner air and less childhood asthma. We're very proud of our work in this case—it's going to make a real difference in people's lives."

Also Read:

Utility to Pay Large Sum in Clean Air Settlement – The Washington Post
• Settlement Reached in Acid Rain Case – The Associated Press