|
Our goal in environmental, health and safety reporting is to provide information that can be used in judging our performance, and also in comparing our company to others in our industry. Accordingly, we feel the following indicators offer a balanced perspective of APS and our industry:
Historic Environmental Risk
We have an aggressive historic site remediation program and have evaluated all of our sites for potential risk and have prioritized and scheduled them for remediation. We have completed projects at three of our eight manufactured gas plant sites.
SuperfundSites
We are listed as a Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) at one EPA Superfund site. We have completed remediation and expect to settle with EPA in 2003.
Environment-Related Fines
In 2002, we received one Notice of Violation (NOV) and fine of $350. For a raptor nest removal and have one unresolved NOV in the electric safety area. We have two unresolved NOVs from 2001 at our Cholla Power Plant. We anticipate settling these matters in 2003, with a likely penalty between $100,000 and $200,000. See additional information in the environmental performance section.
Product Portfolio
By 2004, our estimated generation mix will consist of roughly 43 percent coal, 31 percent nuclear and 26 percent natural gas. This diversity will allow us to continue effectively managing risk in the face of changing wholesale markets and fuel prices.
Emissions from Individual Plant Sites
All of our power plants hold Title V air permits. System-wide, we maintain emissions in pounds per megawatt-hour that are below industry averages.
Environmental Management Capability
Environmental compliance responsibility is placed at the facility level to ensure maximum accountability while providing technical and legal assistance from the corporate level.
Environmental Audit Capacity, Frequency and Transparency
Our internal environmental audit group functions independently of the environmental, health and safety department. We use the results of audits to improve performance but maintain the confidentiality of individual audit reports. In 2002, we expanded our internal audit program through the adoption of the Compliance Assurance Program which establishes a four-tier self inspection to an independent audit process. We also improved our training notification system in 2002 as well.
Adequacy of Staff Training on Environmental Risk Management
Employees annually participate in an average of nine environmental, health and safety training courses.
|
