Largest Settlement Ever Reached in Environmental Pollution Case

The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency have announced the largest settlement ever in an environmental case. Under the terms of the settlement, American Electric Power will reduce the air pollutants they produce by 813,000 tons annually which will cost them in excess of $4.6 billion. They will also pay a $15 million penalty and spend $60 million on projects that will reverse the damage that the pollution has cause

Not only is this settlement the largest in terms of the money involved, it is also the largest when it comes to the amount of emissions that will be reduced from facilities like power plants and factories.

The settlement involves a total of 16 plants that are located in five states on the Eastern Seaboard and mid west. They are 2 plants in Moundsville 2 plants in New Haven, and 1 each in St. Albans and Glasgow, W. Va; 1 in Louisa, Ky; 1 each in Glen Lyn and Carbo, Va.; 1 each in Brilliant, Conesville, Cheshire, Lockburne, and Beverly, Ohio; and 1 each in Rockport and Lawrenceburg, Ind.

AEP will install pollution control equipment at the plants that will reduce and cap the emission of both sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide by more than 813,000 tons a year, when they are up and fully operational. This equates out to being a reduction of 79% of the sulfur dioxide and 69% of nitrogen oxides, based on figures from 2006.

Out of the $60 million that will be used to right the wrongs, $24 million will be allocated to the states who took part in the settlement and the remaining $36 million will be spent on projects that were spelled out in the settlement.

Not only will the settlement have a major impact on the air quality in the East and mid west, but it is estimated that it will also save in the neighborhood of $32 billion in health costs every year due to the fact that less air pollution will mean fewer people will develop respiratory illness like asthma.