A Victory For The Environment

Although American Electric Power made no admission of guilt, their pocketbook paid a heavy price today in court and the benefits go to the air we breathe. After years of litigation, one of the largest generators of energy on the East Coast will pay millions in fines and billions to mitigate the damages they have done to the environment. Their neglect has led to acid rain and all the effects that it causes. Now the sixteen power plants they operate on this side of the Mississippi will be retooled at the cost of $4.6 billion dollars to reduce the amount of poisonous gases they emit.

From RawStory:

"The AEP settlement will have an unprecedented impact on air quality in the eastern United States," said Ronald Tenpas, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's environment and natural resources division.

"This settlement is a major victory for the environment and public health, and it demonstrates our continued commitment to vigorous enforcement of the Clean Air Act," he said.

Joined by eight eastern US states and several environmental groups, the federal government accused AEP of making major changes to its power plants that drove up noxious pollution without first getting regulatory approval.

AEP denies any illegal activities, opting instead to sneak out of admitting their guilt by the "consent decree." Basically it is a legal loophole that infers they did something that has forced them to pay for their actions. Sometimes we need to compromise with the polluters so that ultimately we pay attention to the big picture instead of just incarcerating all the bad guys. It isn't ideal, but I think that in this case it is good enough.