Technology holds the key to coal's future, and to AEP's future. In 2008, we received approval from three states to build a new, ultra-supercritical pulverized coal plant in southwest Arkansas. The 600-MW John W. Turk Jr. Plant, once online in late 2012, will burn approximately 2 million fewer tons of coal during its lifetime than a comparably sized supercritical unit. Because less coal will be consumed, emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, CO₂ and particulate matter will be reduced. The plant is designed to be retrofitted in the future with carbon capture and storage technology.

We expect that a 20-MW CO₂ capture Process Validation Facility (PVF) under construction at our Mountaineer Plant in West Virginia will be operational this fall. The PVF is based on Alstom's chilled ammonia process technology and will capture approximately 100,000 tons of CO₂ per year. The CO₂ will be compressed and stored in saline formations located approximately 8,000 feet below the earth's surface. We are seeking funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a new commercial-scale version of this technology to capture carbon dioxide from a 235-MW flue gas stream of the 1,300-MW Mountaineer Plant. If approved (a decision on funding is due this summer), we expect the commercial scale technology to have a 90 percent capture rate, or approximately 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The need for underground storage of CO₂ is growing. Natural gas has been safely and effectively stored underground for decades, so we have good reason to believe that CO₂ also can be stored safely. The U.S. EPA has proposed regulations for a new class of underground injection wells for CO₂ to ensure that they are appropriately located, built, tested, monitored and ultimately closed with proper funding. A draft permit to store CO₂ underground has been granted by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection; a final permit is anticipated later this year.

The U.S. Department of Energy's GHG reduction program has three components that AEP strongly supports because they advance the technologies needed to achieve CO₂ reductions from coal. They include research and development; the Clean Coal Power Initiative; and the preservation of the FutureGen near-zero emissions plant in Mattoon, Ill. We believe the government's decision to revisit FutureGen reflects an important step forward for carbon capture and storage technology in an advanced gasification power plant. Another way AEP promotes advanced coal technologies is through the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

The prospects for our proposed Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants in Ohio and West Virginia are uncertain. Without full support from regulators and legislators in Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia (the West Virginia plant also would serve customers in Virginia), we cannot make the massive investments needed to build this technology, especially when cash flow is tight and access to credit is difficult and expensive. We continue to talk with our regulators and legislators about these options because we believe this technology is critical.

Some stakeholders have asked us if we figure the cost of carbon into decisions on new technology, new facilities and other business decisions; we do this through our integrated resource planning process.