By Susan A. Baird
PBN Web Editor
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island will receive $1.2 million for energy efficiency and pollution-reduction projects from October’s multi-state settlement with Ohio-based American Electric Power Co. (NYSE: AEP), according to Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch.
Over the next five years, AEP will pay out $24 million to eight downwind states that brought the Clean Air Act lawsuit, seeking to limit emissions from 16 coal-fired plants in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. None of the host states were plaintiffs in the suit, which dated back to 1999. (READ MORE)
Massachusetts will receive $3.1 million and Connecticut $1.8 million from the settlement. Maryland ($1.2 million), New York ($9.5 million), New Jersey ($4.2 million), New Hampshire ($1.2 million) and Vermont ($1.8 million) also will receive shares of the money.
“The settlement we achieved on behalf of Rhode Island residents in this case is historic and unprecedented,” Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said in a statement yesterday afternoon.
“The fact that this major corporation has to take immediate steps to reduce the amount of pollution it spews from 16 of its power plants is, in and of itself, great news for our environment. The impact of this settlement, however, is maximized by Rhode Island’s allocation of $1.2 million, representing new and much-needed money to improve air quality right here in our state.”
Each state must establish a process for determining how its share of the settlement will be distributed. Eligible projects include buying pollution-control technologies, installing renewable energy systems, supporting “green” building construction and investing in energy-efficiency and conservation projects.
The $24 million announced yesterday was part of the $60 million American Electric Power agreed to provide, under the settlement, for environmental mitigation projects.
“The eight states put together their own system to determine how much of the $24 million each state was eligible to receive,” Pat D. Hemlepp, AEP director of corporate media relations, told Providence Business News today. “That’s what the states announced yesterday. We were not involved in that process and don’t know how they reached the decisions. But we don’t pay out a lump sum ...
“Each state has to submit a request for funding to AEP that has a detailed description of the environmental project or projects that will benefit from the funds. Funds will be paid out over a five year period, not all at once. And AEP will not pay out more than $4.8 million in any of the five years.
“As of now, we have not received a request from any of the eight states,” Hemlepp said.
“Really, this is old news,” she added. “The only thing new is that the states have decided how to divide the funds.”
The settlement also requires the company to invest nearly $5 billion to upgrade its “eastern fleet” of 16 power plants, reducing air pollution emissions by more than 800,000 tons per year – the greatest reduction ever required by a Clean Air Act enforcement action, Lynch said.
AEP owns and operates about 80 electrical generating stations, with a total capacity of nearly 38,000 megawatts. Coal-fired plants account for 73 percent of that capacity, natural gas for 16 percent and nuclear for 8 percent, according to the company’s Web site. The remaining 3 percent comes from sources including wind, hydropower and pumped storage.
The company also owns the nation’s largest electric transmission system, totaling nearly 39,000 miles. One of the nation’s largest utility companies, it delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. On Monday, AEP affirmed its 2008 earnings forecast of $3.10 to $3.30 per share.
For more news from the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, visit ri.gov/press.
American Electric Power Co. (NYSE: AEP), based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the nation’s largest utility companies and generators of electric power. For more information, visit www.aep.com.
