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Sierra Club Settlement a Win for Communities, Public Health

Case Updates:

October 9, 2007

After eight years of litigation, the Sierra Club and other environmental and government entities have reached a settlement with  American Electric Power that will force the company to install pollution controls and dramatically reduce harmful emissions throughout its entire “Eastern System." The settlement covers 46 separate generating units at 16 power plants in five states, and it will help clean up three of the twenty dirtiest coal plants in the country. The massive reductions in smog, fine soot and acid rain from these plants will profoundly benefit both public health and the environment.  This was a long-running case that targeted smog and acid rain, not climate change; however, demonstrating that old coal plants must be cleaned up is an important strategic step forward in our efforts to topple King Coal.  Coal-fired power plants are being built and operated only because the coal industry and utilities can argue that it is the cheapest source of power; however, settlements like this force utilities to internalize the true costs of coal.  By forcing the coal industry to account for the true costs it imposes on our health and communities, energy efficiency and renewable power become competitive alternatives. This represents a win for community health as well as for stopping the coal rush.

Read the Sierra Club's Press Release here.

Details and Documents:

News Articles:

Firm Agrees to Record Pollution Clean-Up
October 9, 2007, MSNBC

AEP Reaches Settlement in NSR Case
October 9, 2007 by PR Newswire, CNN Money

Utility Agrees to Large Settlement, Emissions Cuts
October 9, 2007 by Steve Mufson, Washington Post

AEP to Pay $4.6 Billion: Largest Clean Air Settlement in U.S. History
October 9, 2007 by J.R. Pegg, Environment News Service