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ABC and CBS had a difference of opinion over which was the day's important energy story: the looming cost of home heating this winter; or the massive EPA fine levied against 16 coal burning power plants in the midwest. ABC chose the former for its lead story: Lisa Stark (subscription required) warned that those who use oil face the largest hikes, up 22% over last year, an additional $319 for the average home. CBS chose the latter as Cynthia Bowers outlined the $4.6bn lawsuit settlement agreed to by the American Electric Power utility. NBC mentioned both stories in passing but assigned a correspondent to neither.
AEP's plants have used a loophole in the Clean Air Act, Bowers explained, that requires newly-built power plants to cut down on emissions but tolerates dirty existing plants under a grandfather clause. "There has been little incentive for companies like AEP to tear down their decades-old smokestacks and build new ones." As a result sulfur dioxide emissions have persisted, causing acid rainfall downwind, from the Chesapeake Bay to New England. The settlement, Bowers added, "will not be charged off to company shareholders" but will be paid through higher electricity rates by the utility's customers. CBS had Daniel Sieberg follow up not on the environmental damage but on the health hazards to humans. He cited studies on particle damage to heart and lungs that blamed asthma and heart attacks on power plants, $32bn in annual healthcare costs and 60,000 premature deaths each year.
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