New York v. American Electric Power Service Corp.

Date: February 15th, 2007

Topic: Air Pollution

Type: Lawsuit vs. Private Actors

Jurisdiction: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont

This litigation consolidates suits brought by the EPA, a coalition of eight states, and a coalition of fourteen environmental organizations, against American Electric Power Service Corp. and its subsidiaries, all alleging violations of the New Source Review permitting process under the Clean Air Act. Following denial of defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment in 2007 by a federal district court judge, the parties entered into a consent decree by which American Electric agreed to annual sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions reductions for its coal-fueled power plants; installation of additional emissions control equipment in some plants; and payment of $36 million for environmental projects coordinated with the federal government, $24 million to the states that were parties to the agreement for environmental mitigation, and a civil penalty of $15 million.

The consent decree has been updated and modified three times: in August 2010, December 2010, and February 2013. Under the final modified decree AEP agreed to reduce its total sulfur dioxide emissions by approximately 90 percent by 2029 from its baseline emissions before the original 2007 settlement.

Citation: New York v. American Electric Power Service Corp., Nos. 2:04-cv-1098, 2:05-cv-360, 2007 WL 539536 (S.D. Ohio, Feb. 15, 2007)

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