Texas agency accuses American Electric Power of serious pollution violations
The Dallas Morning News --Jul. 24
Jul. 24--Texas' environmental agency issued a notice of enforcement against one of the nation's largest utilities, alleging serious violations of air-pollution laws at an East Texas power plant, records show.
Allegations of violations were first reported by a former company engineer
who said he was fired for trying to clean up the company's emissions practices.
The company has not yet responded to the notice sent earlier this week, TCEQ
officials said Friday. Company officials did not return calls for comment Friday
evening.
AEP has said an internal investigation of the complaints found no wrongdoing
by the company and that Bill Wilson, the Dallas engineer who complained of
"a pattern of willful and knowing violation of state and federal law"
by the company since 1999 was not fired for raising concerns.
State officials said the purported violations are harmful to public health.
"We are concerned that they be corrected and that there be a message
sent that these are serious," said John Steib, deputy director for
enforcement.
Word that the state would pursue enforcement against AEP came after The
Dallas Morning News reported the allegations of emissions and reporting
violations by the utility.
The TCEQ could have issued a notice of violation but chose the more severe
notice of enforcement because of the nature of the violations.
"When we started looking at the level of these violations and the types
of emissions and the impact on human health, we take that very seriously,"
Mr. Steib said.
The company has 30 to 60 days to dispute the findings before an agreement is
reached with the state regarding penalties, corrective action and dates for
compliance.
If no agreement is reached, the case will be referred to court.
State officials are also investigating two other East Texas power plants
operated by AEP.
-----
To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go
to http://www.dallasnews.com .
(c) 2004, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content,
contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213)
237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com. AEP,