COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Electric
Power (NYSE: AEP) has released its second Corporate Sustainability Report,
addressing issues that affect its ongoing sustainability, including climate
change; environmental performance; public policy; energy security,
reliability and growth; work force issues; stakeholder engagement and
leadership, management and strategy.
As part of the company's focus on sustainability, AEP management met
with more than 100 stakeholders during the last year to receive input about
the company and its business practices. Stakeholders participating included
state and federal regulators, power plant neighbors, environmental and
conservation advocates, customers, employees, investors, community leaders
and representatives from academia.
"Sustainability is a process of continuous improvement, and we have
committed to be candid and transparent about our business. Over the last
year, we met with groups representing all of our stakeholders to discuss
sustainability and how we do business. These thoughtful discussions gave us
a greater understanding of how we are perceived and what is expected of us,
much of which is reflected in this report," said Michael G. Morris, AEP
chairman, president and chief executive officer.
AEP's Sustainability Report provides an overview of how many key issues
affect the company's long-term sustainability and how the company plans to
address them. The report was prepared according to G3 Reporting Principles
established by the Global Reporting Initiative, a voluntary reporting
framework used by organizations around the world as the basis for
sustainability reporting.
The report details AEP's support for reasonable, achievable mandatory
climate change legislation and the company's endorsement of the Low Carbon
Economy Act of 2007 introduced by Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Arlen Specter.
The report also identifies the steps AEP is taking to reduce and offset its
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including demonstrating and deploying
carbon- capture technology on two existing pulverized coal plants, building
new plants with lower emission designs, continuing to improve the
efficiency of its existing coal-fueled fleet, and adding 1,000 megawatts
(MW) of renewable generation capacity by 2011. AEP's plans include
additional investments in domestic GHG offsets, such as methane capture
from livestock and landfills; increased investment in forestry offsets; and
programs to offset GHG emissions from its 11,000-vehicle fleet and
corporate aircraft.
AEP also set a self-imposed goal of reducing electricity demand by
1,000 MW by 2012, with 15 percent coming from AEP actions to improve
internal efficiency and 85 percent through customer programs.
"Although significant focus remains on climate change and our response,
we are studying how we can enhance the sustainability of our supply chain
based on input we've received," said Dennis Welch, executive vice
president, Environment, Safety & Health and Facilities. "We are taking a
hard look at what we purchase to see if there are better alternatives with
fewer environmental impacts, even visiting suppliers as far away as China
to learn more about their processes and impacts. That effort includes
looking at our coal supplies to determine if there are ways to develop a
process for evaluating the safety, health and environmental performance of
our coal suppliers.
"Focus on suppliers as part of the sustainability process is new for
utilities, but we are enthusiastic about the opportunities we may have to
influence the impacts of our supply chain," Welch said.
In August 2007, AEP was the first utility to join the Green Suppliers
Network (GSN). GSN is a joint project of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's
Manufacturing Extension Partnership within the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Through its participation, AEP will work with small- to medium-sized
suppliers to help them become more competitive and reduce their
environmental impact. Three AEP suppliers already have signed up to
participate.
AEP's Corporate Sustainability Report is available online at
http://www.AEP.com/cr . Printed copies of the report also can be requested
at http://www.AEP.com/cr . To reduce the impact of printing, the report was
printed on 50 percent recycled paper containing 25 percent post-consumer
waste with soy-formulated inks. Printing was done by the only certified
totally enclosed commercial print facility in the United States, which
means virtually no volatile organic compound emissions are released from
the printer's production facilities into the atmosphere.
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the
United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in
11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity,
owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also
owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly
39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage
transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP's
transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the
electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected
transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and
eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in
ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP's utility
units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and
West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan
Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern
Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP's
headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
This report made by American Electric Power and its Registrant
Subsidiaries contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although the
registrants believe that their expectations are based on reasonable
assumptions, any such statements may be influenced by factors that could
cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those
projected. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements are: electric load
and customer growth; weather conditions, including storms; available
sources and costs of, and transportation for, fuels and the
creditworthiness and performance of fuel suppliers and transporters;
availability of generating capacity and the performance of AEP's generating
plants; AEP's ability to recover regulatory assets and stranded costs in
connection with deregulation; AEP's ability to recover increases in fuel
and other energy costs through regulated or competitive electric rates;
AEP's ability to build or acquire generating capacity (including the
company's ability to obtain any necessary regulatory approvals and permits)
when needed at acceptable prices and terms and to recover those costs
through applicable rate cases or competitive rates; new legislation,
litigation and government regulation including requirements for reduced
emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, carbon, soot or particulate matter
and other substances; timing and resolution of pending and future rate
cases, negotiations and other regulatory decisions (including rate or other
recovery of new investments in generation, distribution and transmission
service and environmental compliance); resolution of litigation (including
disputes arising from the bankruptcy of Enron Corp. and related matters);
AEP's ability to constrain operation and maintenance costs; the economic
climate and growth in AEP's service territory and changes in market demand
and demographic patterns; inflationary and interest rate trends; volatility
in the financial markets, particularly developments affecting the
availability of capital on reasonable terms and developments impairing
AEP's ability to refinance existing debt at attractive rates; AEP's ability
to develop and execute a strategy based on a view regarding prices of
electricity, natural gas and other energy-related commodities; changes in
the creditworthiness of the counterparties with whom AEP has contractual
arrangements, including participants in the energy trading market; actions
of rating agencies, including changes in the ratings of debt; volatility
and changes in markets for electricity, natural gas, coal, nuclear fuel and
other energy-related commodities; changes in utility regulation, including
the potential for new legislation in Ohio and the allocation of costs
within regional transmission organizations; accounting pronouncements
periodically issued by accounting standard-setting bodies; the impact of
volatility in the capital markets on the value of the investments held by
AEP's pension, other postretirement benefit plans and nuclear
decommissioning trust; prices for power that AEP generates and sells at
wholesale; changes in technology, particularly with respect to new,
developing or alternative sources of generation; other risks and unforeseen
events, including wars, the effects of terrorism (including increased
security costs), embargoes and other catastrophic events.
SOURCE American Electric Power
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Related links:
http://www.aep.com
http://www.AEP.com/cr
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CONTACT:
Media Contact: Melissa McHenry, Manager,
Corporate Media Relations, +1-614-716-1120, or Analysts Contact:
Julie Sherwood, Director, Investor Relations, +1-614-716-2663,
both of American Electric Power
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