American Electric Power (AEP, Columbus, Ohio; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6901-541) has agreed to cut its emissions of air pollutants by 813,000 ton/yr at an estimated cost of more than $4.6 billion in a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Washington D.C.) and the U.S. Department of Justice. The company will also pay a $15-million penalty and spend $60 million on projects to mitigate the adverse effects of its past excess emissions.
The settlement, which also involves a coalition of eight states and 13 citizen groups, is the single largest environmental enforcement settlement in history, according to EPA. It resolves a lawsuit filed against AEP in 1999, alleging that the company violated the New Source Review requirements of the Clean Air Act.
Under the agreement, AEP will install equipment to control emissions of sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) on 16 of its coal-fired power plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. The controls are expected to cut total NOx emissions at these plants from 231,000 ton/yr in 2006 to 72,000 ton/yr by 2016, and reduce SO2 emissions from 828,000 tons in 2006 to 174,000 ton/yr by 2018.