Power Company Trades Your Jobs And Our Health For Its Profits

Over a decade ago, EPA began developing new regulations to cut dangerous pollution from power plant smokestacks. These plants churn out most of the mercury, acid gas and arsenic pollution in our air, and the new rules will dramatically slash this pollution, saving up to 17,000 lives and preventing 120,000 asthma attacks each year.

Most power companies have prepared for these changes by improving the efficiency of their plants and investing in cleaner fuels and new control technologies. But not American Electric Power. Instead, the company is threatening to shut down dozens of plants and lay off hundreds of workers unless the EPA delays its clean air standards.

This means that while other companies were preparing for the future, AEP was pocketing the profits now while cynically assuming it could change the rules later. How do we know this? Because just last year, AEP filed a report with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in which it noted that while the new rules could take effect in 2015, "for planning purposes" it was assuming that the rules could be "extended and staggered" beyond the end of 2015.

And that's not all. A recent New York Times editorial noted that the units AEP says it would close because of the EPA rules are, on average, 55 years old and running well below capacity, with many slated for retirement anyway.

Normally, I write about working with corporations, and the leverage they can have to help create a more sustainable world. My experience has been that most companies are responsible, and that most of the people who work for them care as much about the future as I do. But it's hard to see any of that motivation in AEP's recent actions.

If these plants do close and jobs are lost, it's not because of EPA regulations, but because AEP made a bet against our health and lost. The short-terms gains that AEP and its shareholders made as a result of that bet should go to offset any losses in community jobs and health benefits.

 

Follow Gwen Ruta on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EDFbiz

Comments

[missmanners]

09:28 AM on 06/24/2011

Blackmail

[Jim Milks]

08:58 AM on 06/24/2011

AEP's actions sound very similar to how a few refineries tried to delay the 1980's EPA rules banning leaded gasoline.

[Betty Ly]

03:35 AM on 06/24/2011

Good news... hope the recovery comes fast and strong. Our company is just barely hanging on and has depleted most of the cash reserves we have been operating on the last couple of years because We cannot find qualified people with degree, if you need a degree i would strongly recommend check out "High Speed University" for any one looking to get a professional degree

[jdjay]

02:44 AM on 06/24/2011

Thank you for holding them accountable for their actions. And lets thank the Obama administration for holding them accountable. Actually this is white collar crime 101. It is sad that 600 people are going to lose their jobs because a corporation chose profits over community. Corporate exemptions to the general rule of law are no longer the norm. The corporate monopoly is gradually coming to an end. The Obama administration is setting the precedent for corporate accountability. This painful situation is the proper reaction for corporate negligence. It can be very painful for the criminal when true, unbiased justice is being served. These are the penalties for corporate negligence. Corporations are not above the law. If you mismanage your resources and mismanage your responsibilities to your local community you will be held accountable. They can humble themselves willingly as the other coal companies did or they can be humbled unwillingly like this rogue company chose to do. The republicans will cry a river on this one but their line of thinking has become obsolete just as the monopolization of our economy has become obsolete. This is why it is so crucial that the American public does not allow a republican to be elected president in 2012. We can not allow them set back all this progress that has been made.