GENTRY, Ark., Nov. 29, 2007 – The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) has recognized AEP Southwestern Electric Power Company’s Flint Creek Power Plant and the local Bloomfield Community 4-H Club with four wildlife habitat conservation awards.

The international honors were announced Nov. 13 at the WHC’s 19th Annual Symposium in Baltimore, Md., with representatives of Flint Creek Power Plant and the Bloomfield Community 4-H Club in attendance.

The AEP SWEPCO plant, including its employees, volunteers and community partners, received the WHC’s Pollinator Protection Award for implementing specific land management practices to promote pollinator populations. Pollinators include bees, birds, bats and other insects and animals that spread pollen so plant fertilization can occur. The award is presented to a WHC member company in cooperation with the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.

The Bloomfield Community 4-H Club, a key partner at Flint Creek’s award-winning Eagle Watch Nature Trail, was honored as Community Partner of the Year for making a significant contribution and lasting impact on a corporate site’s wildlife habitat enhancement programs through hands-on environmental awareness and improvement activities.

The Northwest Arkansas power plant was recertified in the WHC’s Wildlife at WorkSM program for outstanding wildlife habitat management and education efforts. Flint Creek also was selected as a “Signature Site of Sustainability” to be featured on the WHC media tour in 2008 as the organization celebrates its 20th anniversary.

“These awards are a wonderful recognition of our ongoing environmental stewardship at Flint Creek, as well as a tribute to our partnership with the surrounding communities,” said Senior Chemist Terry Stanfill, who spearheads the plant’s wildlife habitat efforts.

“The Bloomfield Community 4-H Club has been instrumental in projects like bird nesting boxes, planting of native trees and shrubs, wildflower plots for pollinator species, trail maintenance and our Adopt-A-Highway program. These kids, teachers and parents have volunteered many hours to help make the Eagle Watch Nature Trail an outstanding place for wildlife and for learning,” Stanfill said.

For the Pollinator Protection Award, Stanfill also credited the work of teacher Terri Swicegood´s 6th grade Gentry Middle School science class.  “For several years, they have been using Eagle Watch as an outdoor classroom to study pollinators. Their classroom study of pollinators and especially their work building the butterfly gardens at the Eagle Watch was an important factor in Flint Creek winning the Pollinator Protection Award.”

Flint Creek Plant Manager Dan Lee said, “These wildlife habitat enhancement activities are a source of great pride at Flint Creek Plant. Our primary job is to provide reliable, affordable electricity for Northwest Arkansas. With dedicated employees, the leadership of Terry Stanfill and strong community partners like the Bloomfield Community 4-H Club, we have continued to demonstrate our commitment to environmental stewardship.”

SWEPCO President and Chief Operating Officer Venita McCellon-Allen said, “Flint Creek is a leading example of SWEPCO’s efforts to protect the environment in all of our power generation, energy delivery and other operations. Terry Stanfill and other Flint Creek employees have teamed up with many folks in the surrounding communities on projects that enhance the environment and provide real learning experiences for local schools, 4-H, FFA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and other organizations.”

The 528-megawatt, coal-fueled power plant in Gentry, Ark., is owned by AEP’s SWEPCO subsidiary and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC). It is operated by SWEPCO and has been producing electricity for Northwest Arkansas for the past 29 years. Approximately 700 acres of the plant’s 1,600 acres are designated as wildlife habitat. The plant also holds a Corporate Lands for LearningSM certification by the WHC.

Flint Creek’s Eagle Watch Nature Area has been recognized by many organizations. In early 2007, Audubon Arkansas designated the Flint Creek property as an “Important Bird Area.”

Other awards and certifications have come from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Arkansas Environmental Federation and the Arkansas Wildlife Federation.

The Wildlife Habitat Council, celebrating 20 years in conservation, is a nonprofit, non-lobbying organization dedicated to increasing the quality and amount of wildlife habitat on corporate, private and public lands. WHC devotes its resources to building partnerships with corporations and conservation groups to create solutions that balance the demands of economic growth with the requirements of a healthy, biodiverse and sustainable environment. More than 2.4 million acres in 46 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 16 other countries are managed for wildlife through WHC-assisted projects. To learn more, visit www.wildlifehc.org.

SWEPCO serves more than 464,000 customers in three states, including 112,000 in western Arkansas, 176,000 in Northwest Louisiana, and 176,000 in East and North Texas. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at www.swepco.com.

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning more than 38,000 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. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. News releases and other information about AEP can be found at www.aep.com.