NEW HAVEN, W.Va., October 16, 2006 – A section of W. Va. Route 62 from New Haven to the Philip Sporn Plant will be closed for about 12 hours Sunday, October 29, beginning at dawn.

Traffic will be detoured via county roads 9 and 3. Detour signs will be posted.

The closure is necessary so workers may complete installation of a conveyor crossing associated with Mountaineer Plant’s flue gas desulfurization (FGD) project, or scrubber. The conveyor will be located alongside an existing plant road crossing, and will be used to carry synthetic gypsum, a byproduct of the scrubber process, to the company’s Broad Run landfill.

Another conveyor, used to carry coal from the Gatling Mine to the Mountaineer Plant, will be installed the same day.

The scrubber is scheduled to begin operation in January 2007. It will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions at the plant by as much as 98 percent.

The Mountaineer FGD project is part of Appalachian Power parent company American Electric Power’s plan to invest $3.9 billion through 2010 in environmental control equipment at its coal-fired power plants.

Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.