EPA Adds Charges to Lawsuit Against Power Company
The U.S. EPA notified American Electric Power Co. today that it will be adding a new set of violations to its complaint — set to be heard in federal court in mid-2005 — that the company violated new-source review provisions of the Clean Air Act by updating seven of its power plants without filing the proper permits or installing new pollution-mitigating equipment. The move was largely procedural, meant to consolidate the panoply of charges against AEP levied by the feds, several East Coast states, and environmental groups, but enviros were pleased with the development. In other AEP news, whistleblowing former engineer Bill Wilson alleges that several of the company’s power plants in northern Texas regularly concealed environmental violations from regulatory agencies, and that the company fired him when he refused to prepare misleading reports. AEP denies everything.
