American Electric Power 2008 Corporate Sustainability Report

2008 Corporate Sustainability Report 31 the United States, 2,116 miles of which are high-voltage 765 kV lines that serve as the backbone of the electric interconnection grid in the Eastern United States. This system serves our customers in 11 states and electricity markets. AEP is a member and participates in the organized wholesale markets administered by regional transmission organizations (RTOs) that include PJM in the East and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), both in the Southwest. A range of technical, market and planning issues emerge from our RTO participation. While they vary by RTO, common issues must be addressed, such as regional transmission planning processes, the allocation of costs for construction of extra-high voltage transmission infrastructure, fostering market efficiencies and the appropriate use of demand response in RTO markets. OUR POLICY WORK AT THE STATE & LOCAL LEVEL and Indiana have introduced legislation); and • copper theft. From our familiarity with these issues, AEP has created the Clean Energy Development Toolkit, an inventory of national and state legislation focused on clean energy. In conjunction with this, AEP developed “model” legislation that states can use to encourage clean energy projects in their own jurisdictions. The toolkit has been distributed at legislative conferences and in trade meetings and is also available through third-party web sites, including the National Council of State Legislatures. It has been recognized has been tailoring the model to satisfy specific state needs. This model bill is being shared with state policymakers in AEP’s service territory and beyond to Ashok Gupta, air and energy program director, Natural Resources Defense Council State and local issues vary widely by jurisdiction, but there are common issues, such as support and cost recovery for environmental retrofits, advanced coal technologies, renewable energy, energy efficiency and demand-side management (DSM) programs and improvements to our distribution system. Among many state issues that AEP addresses are: • jurisdictional and territorial boundaries; • market structures; • water resources; • transmission; • distribution reliability; • siting; • eminent domain; • state renewable portfolio standards (Ohio, Michigan help establish support for new ways to deal responsibly AEP’s Energy Efficiency/DSM Policy AEP is committed to actively pursuing the implementation of energy efficiency and demand-side management (DSM) programs in all our jurisdictions. In order to fulfill this responsibility, we will engage in active dialogue with our customers, legislators and regulators, community leaders, and other interested parties to explore opportunities, implement solutions, and evaluate results for programs aimed at reducing demand and/or energy. In doing so, we will rely on the following principles: • Energy efficiency and DSM will play crucial roles in meeting our environmental and sustainability goals. • Cost-effective energy efficiency and DSM are important components of our Integrated Resource Plan. • Regulatory recovery of investments is a threshold requirement to the implementation of DSM programs. Public Policy We will do whatever we need to do with you to convince regulators of why you need to invest in cost-effective energy efficiency. But the company needs to come forward with programs and incentive mechanisms that we can support. “ by the Edison Electric Institute through its Advocacy Award. In addition, AEP supports the state-level version of the carbon capture and storage bill drafted by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and ”

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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