Democratic senator who sponsored climate bills invests in coal-fired power company

Coal-fueled power plants account for about 45 per cent of American Electric Power Company's power generation

A Democratic senator from Michigan, who has sponsored legislation to tackle the climate crisis, has invested up to $15,000 in a power company largely powered by fossil fuels.

Senator Gary Peters purchased an undisclosed number of shares - between $1,001 and $15,000 - in American Electric Power Company Inc (AEP), according to a recent Senate financial disclosure.

AEP is one of the country's largest generators of electricity. Coal-fuelled power plants account for about 45 per cent of its generating capacity, according to the company's website, while natural gas makes up 28 per cent and nuclear 7 per cent.

The remaining generation is from wind, hydro, pumped storage and other sources (17 per cent) and energy efficiency (3 per cent).

Electricity production is the second largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions after transportation, according to the EPA. GHG emissions are driving global heating and leading to increasingly severe climate impacts.

When coal is burned it creates a toxic byproduct called coal ash. Long-term exposure can lead to liver damage, kidney damage, cardiac arrhythmia, and some cancers, according to the National Resource Defense Council.

The Democrat purchased the stock on 15 January, 2021. The Independent did not receive a response from Sen Peters office at the time of publication.

AEP told The Independent that the company does not comment on individual shareholders’ investments.

"AEP is focused on delivering clean energy to our customers and investing in a reliable, secure and modern grid to support the addition of renewables and new energy technologies. We’ve taken significant actions to cut our carbon dioxide emissions by 65 per cent from 2000 levels and continue to transition to cleaner forms of energy to serve our customers. AEP plans to add more than 8,000 MW of wind and solar generation throughout our 11 regulated states between 2021 and 2030," a company spokeswoman said.

Sen Peters, who was re-elected in November, has co-sponsored bills to tackle climate change and environmental issues in the past.

He was part of a joint resolution in 2019 which called on the US and Congress to take immediate action to address the challenge of climate change. He also co-sponsored another bill that year to stop Arctic Ocean drilling.

He has made multiple public statements about the threat that the climate crisis poses both to the US at large and his home state of Michigan.

Last month he tweeted: "Climate change is a national security & economic threat seriously impacting the Great Lakes. We can address this challenge with clean-energy job creation & working w/ global partners.

"I’m pleased @POTUS re-entered the Paris agreement—we must be a leader combatting this threat."