The Federal Government and eight states – New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maryland – filed suit alleging AEP illegally made significant updates to nine of its coal-fired power plants without also installing pollution reduction equipment. The absence of these modifications, they allege, have caused the downwind spread of contaminants such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide and could lead to severe respiratory ailments such as asthma.

“The plaintiffs expect to establish that AEP’s conduct has resulted in environmental harm,” said government attorney Leslie Bellas at the trial, which began July 6.

AEP, however, maintained all of the work done at the plants was routine and therefore didn’t violate Clean Air Act requirements. AEP lawyer Mike Miller argued the work done at the plants was common throughout the company as well as the industry, and that the projects “do not necessarily translate into increased generation or emissions”

Bellas responded that the alterations done to the plants, originally constructed in the 1950s-60s, would indeed enable the plants to increase power production and, therefore, increase pollution.

The Government has already settled nine other cases against power generators that it said would result in decreased emissions by some 940,000 tons annually thanks to the installation of $US5.5 million in pollution-decreasing controls.

AEP owns plants in Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia, and has more than 5 million customers in 11 US states.