"Settling an eight-year legal battle, a major power generator has agreed to spend $4.6 billion to reduce chemical emissions blamed for spreading acid rain across the Northeast, The Associated Press has learned. American Electric Power Co., based in Columbus, Ohio, also will be required to reduce the emissions by at least 69 percent over the next 10 years and pay an additional $15 million in civil penalties and $60 million in cleanup and mitigation costs to help heal polluted parkland and waterways. Two people familiar with the case described the terms of the agreement Monday on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been filed in federal court. The settlement was expected to be filed Tuesday, the day a six-week trial in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, was scheduled to begin before U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus. An AEP spokesman confirmed Monday night that the company had decided to settle. Representatives of the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency declined to comment. The settlement marks one of the largest government fines in an environmental case." Lara Jakes Jordan reports for the Associated Press in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Read it here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Clean_Air_Lawsuit.html
Read it here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Clean_Air_Lawsuit.html
