Boston (Platts)--6Nov2008

The Sierra Club said Thursday that it will ask the Arkansas Department of
Environmental Quality to reconsider its decision to issue an air permit for
Southwestern Electric Power Co.'s planned 600-MW Turk coal plant, and that it
will file legal appeals if the DEQ stands by the permit.

"This battle is not over," said Glen Hooks, the Sierra Club's senior
regional representative, adding that the DEQ "ignored the recommendation of
the Governor's Commission on Global Warming" earlier this year that no new
coal plants be built in Arkansas until their greenhouse gas emissions can be
reliably captured and sequestered.

Hooks said that Sierra Club would not be alone in fighting the Turk
project. The group's allies, he said, would include Audubon Arkansas and
Ecological Conservation Organization, a statewide group.

Swepco, a subsidiary of American Electric Power, said Wednesday that it
plans to begin construction of the Turk project "immediately," and that it
will take four years to complete the $1.5-billion plant.

Swepco holds a 440-MW ownership interest in the coal project, which would
serve the utility's customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas; the remaining
160 MW will be owned by Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority and two electric
cooperatives.