COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- American
Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and its operating unit Southwestern
Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) announced today that the company has
settled all legal actions brought against it by the Sierra Club,
the National Audubon Society and Audubon Arkansas related to the
John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant near Texarkana, Ark.
The parties anticipate filing a consent decree today in U.S.
District Court for the Western District of Arkansas in Texarkana. Upon approval of the consent decree
by the court, subsequent filings to dismiss all other challenges
will be made at other courts and regulatory bodies. The settlement
resolves all issues raised by the groups' combined or individual
challenges to the Corps of Engineers Section 404 permit, the air
and wastewater permits issued for the plant, as well as a complaint
recently filed at the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
The 600-megawatt coal-fueled plant, which is under construction
in Hempstead County, is more than
80 percent complete and scheduled to begin commercial operation in
late 2012.
"We have long believed that the Turk Plant is the right
generation solution for our customers in three states, our electric
system and the economy in Southwest
Arkansas," said Nicholas K.
Akins, AEP president and chief executive officer. "The
provisions of the agreement are consistent with our commitment to
renewable energy, energy efficiency and overall environmental
stewardship. Now that all of the legal challenges are resolved, we
can focus on completing the advanced ultra-supercritical coal
technology of our Turk Plant to provide reliable and affordable
power for SWEPCO, the Arkansas
electric cooperatives and our other partners in the project."
Venita McCellon-Allen, SWEPCO
president and chief operating officer, said, "We are proud to be
building the Turk Plant not only for the service it will provide
our customers and the boost it is already giving to the
Arkansas economy, but also because
it demonstrates our commitment and ability to meet stringent
environmental standards set by federal and state regulatory
agencies."
Highlights of the settlement include:
- All legal challenges to any permits or certificates required to
build and operate the Turk Plant will be withdrawn. The preliminary
injunction in place in U.S. District Court will be lifted, allowing
work to be completed on the plant's water intake structure and
transmission river crossings.
- AEP agrees not to construct any additional generating units at
the Turk site. As long as the Turk Plant operates, AEP also will
not build any new coal-fueled generating units at any location in
Arkansas within 30 miles of the
Turk Plant site.
- Once the Turk Plant begins commercial operation, the
528-megawatt Welsh Unit 2 near Pittsburg,
Texas, will be limited to no more than 60 percent of its
annual capacity. SWEPCO also will seek regulatory approval to
retire Welsh Unit 2 no later than Dec. 31,
2014. The retirement date may be extended to no later than
Dec. 30, 2016, if needed to complete
transmission mitigation work related to the unit's retirement, as
identified and approved by the Southwest Power Pool.
- SWEPCO and its affiliates will construct or secure 400
megawatts of new renewable energy resources. Any new wind projects
developed to satisfy the renewable energy resource commitment must
meet U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines for minimizing
impacts from wind development on birds and wildlife, and must be
located outside of any Important Bird Areas — including the
Mississippi flyway — identified by
the National Audubon Society as of the date of this
settlement.
- The Turk Plant will burn coal only from the Powder River Basin
in Wyoming or sub-bituminous coal
with similar sulfur characteristics.
- No future transmission lines associated with the Turk Plant
will cross the Nacatoches Ravines Natural Area; the Little River
Bois D'Arc Management area; property currently owned by The Nature
Conservancy or the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission within
Hempstead County; property
currently owned by the Hempstead County Hunting Club, which
includes Grassy Lake area; or along the Kiamichi Railroad in
Hempstead County.
- SWEPCO will test total annual particulate matter emissions from
the plant to evaluate the potential for a lower emission rate;
perform an additional analysis of wastewater discharge quality
during the first year of operations; perform additional groundwater
monitoring at designated intervals; and conduct baseline mercury
sampling tests to assess conditions prior to operation of the Turk
Plant.
- SWEPCO will contribute $8 million
to The Nature Conservancy for land conservation in Arkansas.
- SWEPCO will contribute $2 million
to the Arkansas Community Foundation, which will provide grants to
support policy initiatives promoting clean energy resources and
energy efficiency measures.
- SWEPCO will reimburse Sierra and Audubon for $2 million in attorneys' fees and costs.
As part of the settlement, the parties will make the appropriate
filings to withdraw or dismiss all proceedings against the project,
including the challenges to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Section 404 permit pending in U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Arkansas in
Texarkana; the appeal of the
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality air permit pending at
the Arkansas Court of Appeals; the
appeal of the ADEQ wastewater permit pending at the Arkansas
Pollution Control and Ecology Commission; and a complaint regarding
the lack of a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public
Need pending at the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
SWEPCO, which owns 73 percent of the $1.7
billion Turk Plant, serves 520,400 retail customers in three
states, including: 113,700 in western Arkansas, 225,700 in northwest and central
Louisiana and 181,000 in north and
eastern Texas. Co-owners of the
Turk Plant are Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC), 12
percent; East Texas Electric Cooperative (ETEC), 8 percent; and
Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA), 7 percent. The Arkansas
Electric Cooperatives serve more than 490,000 members across the
state.
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities
in the United States, delivering
electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP
ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning
nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also
owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly
39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high
voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems
combined. AEP's transmission system directly or indirectly serves
about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern
Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers
38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the
electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers
much of Texas. AEP's utility units
operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West
Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky
Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power
Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
This report made by American Electric Power and its Registrant
Subsidiaries contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although AEP
and its Registrant Subsidiaries believe that their expectations are
based on reasonable assumptions, any such statements may be
influenced by factors that could cause actual outcomes and results
to be materially different from those projected. Among the factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
the forward-looking statements are: Electric load and customer
growth; weather conditions, including storms; available sources and
costs of, and transportation for, fuels and the creditworthiness of
fuel suppliers and transporters; availability of generating
capacity and the performance of AEP's generating plants; the
ability to recover regulatory assets and stranded costs in
connection with deregulation; the ability to recover increases in
fuel and other energy costs through regulated or competitive
electric rates; the ability to build or acquire generating capacity
when needed at acceptable prices and terms and to recover those
costs through applicable rate cases; new legislation, litigation
and government regulation, including requirements for reduced
emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, carbon and other
substances; timing and resolution of pending and future rate cases,
negotiations and other regulatory decisions (including rate or
other recovery for new investments, transmission service and
environmental compliance); resolution of litigation (including
pending Clean Air Act enforcement actions and disputes arising from
the bankruptcy of Enron Corp.); AEP's ability to constrain its
operation and maintenance costs; AEP's ability to sell assets at
acceptable prices and on other acceptable terms, including rights
to share in earnings derived from the assets subsequent to their
sale; the economic climate and growth in its service territory and
changes in market demand and demographic patterns; inflationary
trends; its ability to develop and execute a strategy based on a
view regarding prices of electricity, natural gas and other
energy-related commodities; changes in the creditworthiness and
number of participants in the energy trading market; changes in the
financial markets, particularly those affecting the availability of
capital and AEP's ability to refinance existing debt at attractive
rates; actions of rating agencies, including changes in the ratings
of debt; volatility and changes in markets for electricity, natural
gas and other energy-related commodities; changes in utility
regulation, including membership and integration into regional
transmission structures; accounting pronouncements periodically
issued by accounting standard-setting bodies; the performance of
AEP's pension and other postretirement benefit plans; prices for
power that AEP generates and sells at wholesale; changes in
technology, particularly with respect to new, developing or
alternative sources of generation; and other risks and unforeseen
events, including wars, the effects of terrorism (including
increased security costs), embargoes and other catastrophic
events.
SOURCE American Electric Power