American Electric Power 2008 Corporate Sustainability Report

2008 Corporate Sustainability Report 13 Our efforts will eventually reduce SO2 emissions from our eastern coal-fired power plants by more than 650,000 tons per year and NOx emissions by 159,000 tons per year. The agreement includes $36 million for environmental projects coordinated with the federal government and $24 million to the states that were parties to the agreement. AEP also paid a civil penalty of $15 million. AEP did not admit to wrongdoing by agreeing to this settlement. For a full summary and schedule of NSR settlement commitments, visit www.AEP.com/cr/nsr. MAKING OUR OWN BUILDINGS MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT certain areas, domestic needs may come into conflict with the needs of industrial and energy facilities. Climate change can have an adverse impact on water availability. This issue is of great concern to many stakeholders and AEP, so we will be taking a closer look at it going forward. AEP uses large quantities of water to operate our power plants – roughly 10.5 billion gallons per day to generate steam and to cool plants. Most of it travels through the facility once before nearly all of it is returned to its source, in accordance with our permits. More often than not, the water is cleaner when it is returned than when it was withdrawn. Compliance with our water quality permits is important to us because they are designed to address known and unintended impacts, including water temperature impacts on fish. We are concerned about potential changes in Clean Water Act regulations – the federal framework that governs our water use and our impacts on water resources. A court decision issued in 2007 could require many of the nation’s power plants to replace existing cooling systems with new cooling towers – restricting the U.S. EPA to allow power plants to use cooling systems other than Environmental Performance According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, buildings use about one-third of the world’s energy and, if this trend continues, will become the world’s primary energy users by 2025. AEP operates more than 400 facilities in the United States, giving us an opportunity to demonstrate the value and cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency within our own buildings. Through the Clinton Global Initiative, we committed to invest approximately $100 million during the next five Cooling towers, like this one, release excess heat from a power plant to the air, rather than to rivers or lakes. years to build or update AEP facilities using the U. S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building rating system. AEP completed construction in early 2008 on a new facility in Ohio that will seek LEED “silver” certification and will use 15 percent less energy and 20 percent less water than comparable non-LEED buildings. We will also apply LEED standards to renovations or new construction of service centers in Indiana, Texas and Arkansas. Some stakeholders have asked us to consider Green Globes as an alternative to LEED, which we will evaluate. WATER QUANTITY & QUALITY cooling towers. AEP owns and operates 18 power plants that could be affected. The EPA estimated the cost to AEP at $193 million and the cost to the electric industry at billions of dollars to be spent on new capital investments and increased operation and maintenance costs. We are working with the EPA to develop a revised rule that will keep costs reasonable while maximizing environmental benefits. IMPROVING AIR QUALITY CAN AFFECT OTHER ASPECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT Environmental controls installed to improve air quality can create other environmental challenges and managing these As the population grows, water requirements increase. In http://www.AEP.com/cr/nsr

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Electric Power 2008 Corporate Sustainability Report

American Electric Power 2008 Corporate Sustainability Report Contents Leadership, Management & Strategy A Message from Michael G. Morris A Message from Dennis E. Welch About This Report Environmental Performance Work Force Issues Public Policy Climate Change Energy Security, Reliability & Growth Stakeholder Engagement Glossary GRI Table of Contents

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