American Electric Power Settles Texas Air Pollution Case

The consent decree signed by Texas federal district Judge David Folsom officially ends a three-year court battle between the environmental groups and AEP, one of the country's largest electric utilities.

AEP/SWEPCO's Welsh coal-fired power plant in Titus County (Photo courtesy Industry Services Group)

Some of the alleged violations were brought to light by a disgruntled former AEP employee.

AEP's subsidiary in the region, the Southwestern Electric Power Company, SWEPCO, was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

In February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a formal notice of violation against the Welsh plant, alleging Clean Air Act violations based in part on the claims made in the lawsuit by Sierra Club and Public Citizen.

Worth more than $2 million, the agreement was reached in March and announced today after the judge had signed off on it. It is expressed in a consent decree filed with the federal court, which requires AEP/SWEPCO to:

• Install continuous electronic monitors for particulate matter on all three of the Welsh plant's coal-fired boilers
• Secure an additional 65 megawatts of renewable energy commitments in the SWEPCO service area
• Spend up to $2 million in environmental mitigation projects in SWEPCO's service area; and
• Install and maintain an ambient particulate matter monitor in the area around the Welsh plant.

Director of Public Citizen's Texas Office, Tom "Smitty" Smith, said, "Our settlement makes a down payment in the fight against global warming, by committing AEP to develop 65 additional megawatts of electricity from renewable sources in the SWEPCO service area by 2012."

The renewable energy component of the settlement also conforms to AEP's goals for the company's response to climate change. On April 18, SWEPCO issued a request for proposals for long-term purchases of 65 megawatts of new renewable energy resources to be operational by the end of 2010.

According to the RFP, proposals must rely on commercially proven technologies for renewable energy, including wind, solar, biomass firing or co-firing of agricultural crops and all energy crops, hydropower certified by the Low Impact Hydropower Institute, coal mine methane, landfill gas, biogas digesters, and biomass firing or co-firing of crop residues, animal waste and woody waste.

AEP and SWEPCO said that the RFP is part of AEP's plan announced in 2007 to add 1,000 MW of new wind or renewable energy by 2011 as a component of the company's strategy to address its greenhouse gas emissions.

"Our commitment to add 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy to our generation portfolio, combined with our investment in offset programs, energy efficiency initiatives and new technology to reduce, capture and store carbon dioxide emissions, will help mitigate our greenhouse gas emissions while meeting increasing customer demand for electricity," said Michael Morris, AEP's chairman, president and chief executive.

"There is no way to meet the growing electricity needs of our more than five million customers solely with additional renewable energy resources, but they are an important part of our overall strategy to help the world address global climate change," Morris said.

The consent decree does not prevent EPA from continuing with its enforcement action, nor does it settle claims that the environmental groups and others are making against AEP in Arkansas.

Sierra Club, Public Citizen, Environmental Integrity Project, Audubon and others are challenging the proposed new AEP/SWEPCO Turk coal-fired power plant, in Hempstead County, Arkansas.

That planned new coal plant is under fire from local landowners, hunting and fishing clubs, and environmental groups for its potential to emit air pollutants and greenhouse gases produced by the combustion of coal.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.