ROANOKE, Va., Aug. 15, 2007 – The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has authorized a variance for Appalachian Power’s Smith Mountain Project minimum flow requirements to help slow the lowering of water levels in the project’s reservoirs.
 
Appalachian requested the variance after consultation with representatives of DEQ, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Smith Mountain Lake Association and other stakeholders. The company has recorded an inflow of water from all sources into the project of 200 cubic feet per second (cfs) or less in recent days, causing lake levels to drop and creating safety concerns.
 
Effective Aug. 16 at noon, Appalachian will release a minimum average daily flow of 500 cfs from the project’s Leesville dam and reservoir into the Staunton River. The revised flow is a variance to minimum flow conditions of 650 cfs established in the company’s operating license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
 
The release will be modified on weekends so that a flow of 650 cfs, measured on the river at Long Island, Va., begins at or near 8:00 a.m. on Saturdays during the variance period and continues until 8:00 p.m. the following Sunday. For Labor Day weekend, releases of 650 cfs will continue until 8:00 p.m. on Monday Sept. 3, 2007.
 
The variance will expire no later than Sept. 30, 2007 or when Smith Mountain Lake returns to an adjusted elevation of 794 feet.
  
Interested lake and river users may view current flow and elevation readings for all hydroelectric generating facilities operated by Appalachian Power and its parent company American Electric Power at this Web site: http://www.aep.com/environmental/recreation/hydro/Default.asp
 
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 (NYSE: AEP), 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 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.