COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 15, 1999 – American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) was presented The Edison Award today, recognizing the company for its environmental commitment.

The Edison Award, the utility industry´s highest honor, is given annually by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) to the U.S. shareholder-owned company and international member company making the most outstanding contributions to the advancement of the industry. Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc. earned the international award. The winners were announced at EEI’s 67th Annual Convention and Expo ‘99 in Long Beach, California. This is the 40th year for the Edison Award.

According to EEI, AEP "is being honored for its aggressive work to develop sustainable, environmentally responsible operations for coal-burning power companies that meld bottom line results with environmental stewardship."

"We are very pleased that AEP was selected for this prestigious award," said E. Linn Draper Jr., AEP´s chairman, president and chief executive officer. "To earn The Edison Award at a time when many companies in our industry are recording noteworthy accomplishments is an achievement that will make our employees and shareholders extremely proud.

"AEP has a long-standing commitment to environmental leadership," Draper said. "The award honors AEP for our efforts in 1998, but these efforts are simply a continuation of many years of environmental stewardship on the part of AEP."

AEP advanced its commitment to environmental leadership through continuing and new initiatives in 1998. The company earned prestigious citations for its environmental achievements. Particular efforts and recognition focused on wildlife habitat enhancement, pollution control technologies, and energy efficiency. These include:

-- AEP´s coal mine reclamation efforts that continued to turn once-mined land into pristine natural environments, and garnered major recognitions;
-- generating and transmission sites that earned wildlife habitat certification;
-- additional habitat efforts that the company began;
-- more than three million trees that the company planted in 1998, increasing the total to 55 million trees planted on company-owned land since 1944;
-- tropical forest protective efforts that began in earnest as AEP formally signed its Bolivian carbon sequestration project commitment;
-- an AEP plant that prepared to demonstrate important new pollution control technology;
-- existing energy efficiency initiatives that received honors as AEP was launching new ones.

AEP, a global energy company, is one of the United States´ largest investor-owned utilities, providing energy to 3 million customers in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. AEP has holdings in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Australia. Wholly owned subsidiaries provide power engineering, energy consulting and energy management services around the world. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio. On Dec. 22, 1997, AEP announced a definitive merger agreement for a tax-free, stock-for-stock transaction with Central and South West Corp., a public utility holding company based in Dallas.


FACT SHEET
American Electric Power
1998 environmental achievements


Habitat Enhancement/Land Management

On October 21, 1998, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM) and Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding at AEP´s ReCreation Land in east central Ohio. The signing recognized ReCreation Land´s superior example of ecosystem management on reclaimed mine lands. More than 100,000 visitors enjoy outdoor activities each year at ReCreation Land. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources recognized its 30,000 acres as the largest single outdoor recreation facility in Ohio.

Also in 1998, the Ohio Mining and Reclamation Association presented its Black and Gold Award for Overall Achievement in Reclamation to AEP´s Central Ohio Coal Company for the fifth time, and its President´s Award for Outstanding Reclamation to AEP´s Southern Ohio Coal Company.

WHC awarded wildlife habitat certification to AEP´s ReCreation Land in 1998, and also certified during the year:

-- the 20-acre wetlands area and nature trail the company established and maintains at its Gavin Plant at Cheshire, Ohio;
-- the wildlife habitat program at the AEP Mountaineer Plant near New Haven, West -- habitat enhancement along AEP transmission right-of-way in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky.

These sites joined the Cook Energy Information Center´s Nipissing Dune Trails at the AEP Cook Plant, Bridgman, Michigan, and the wildlife habitat program at Big Sandy Plant near Louisa, Kentucky, both WHC-certified in 1997.

In December 1998, AEP and the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources entered into a partnership to encourage private property owners to develop wildlife habitat along transmission line rights-of-way on their lands.

Another AEP initiative will protect trumpeter swans, which are on the federal endangered species list, from flying into power distribution lines.

AEP owns 311,000 acres (570 square miles) of land, an area about half the size of Rhode Island. The land not used for mining and transporting coal; or for generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity, is managed and used for agriculture, protection of rare species, oil and gas development, recreation, forestry, and habitat development.

Since 1944, AEP has planted more than 55 million trees to return mined land to pre-mined condition and increase forest acreage on other lands. By the end of 1998, the company had planted 9.8 million trees of 40 different species on over 12,000 acres of land as part of its voluntary participation in the U.S. Department of Energy´s Climate Challenge program. The overall AEP commitment is to plant 15 million trees between 1996 and 2000.

Formal signing in 1998 of its commitment to the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project in Bolivia was strong evidence of AEP´s attention to global climate change concerns. The project involves a unique partnership of AEP with The Nature Conservancy and Bolivia´s Friends of Nature Foundation to preserve and regenerate some four million acres of endangered tropical forest. Preserving the forested acreage will protect its biological diversity and reduce carbon dioxide releases into the atmosphere.

Technological Leadership to Control Pollution

In the fall of 1998, a selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) system was installed on a 600-megawatt generating unit at AEP´s Cardinal Plant in Brilliant, Ohio. The installation will demonstrate SNCR´s ability to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in large, coal-fired generating units.

The Cardinal unit is the largest on which SNCR has been used. Successful demonstration of the technology will provide AEP and other utilities with a cost-effective option for reducing NOx emissions.

The SNCR effort exemplifies AEP´s commitment to developing clean-coal technologies that make sense from both air quality and cost perspectives. Participating in the project with AEP are the Ohio Coal Development Office, other utilities through the Electric Power Research Institute, and several suppliers.

Environmental Energy Efficiency

AEP´s subsidiary AEP Communications introduced Datapultsm in 1998. The Datapult technology portfolio of energy information services provides commercial and industrial customers an affordable means to track and manage energy consumption, monitoring electricity, gas, water, steam, compressed air, temperature, and more.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized AEP as 1998 Green Lights® Ally of the Year for upgrading to energy-reduced lighting. EPA said, "AEP has shown energy efficiency is a smart business strategy. AEP´s partnership with EPA serves as a remarkable example of environmental leadership." AEP upgraded lighting in 6.5 million square feet, reducing energy use by over 23 million kilowatt hours.

In the summer of 1998, AEP began a project with key partners to place solar energy systems on Ohio schools as part of the U.S. Department of Energy´s national Million Solar Roofs Initiative.

AEP completed its SMART Trees grant in 1998.

Through the SMART (Saving Money and Resources Together) grant, Ohio State University researchers developed fast-growing trees that remain short enough to grow under power lines while giving summer shade and cooling to help reduce energy demand.