AEP buys W.Va. coal reserves

CHARLESTON -- Utility operator American Electric Power has bought 27,000 acres of coal reserves in West Virginia.

A spokeswoman for Columbus, Ohio-based AEP says the property in Putnam, Mason and Jackson counties could supply several nearby generating plants. Jeri Matheney says AEP is still evaluating the reserves, which were acquired from St. Louis-based Peabody Energy for $2.5 million last January.

AEP, which burns 76 million tons of coal a year, got out of mining in the late 1990s.

Morris says the company is no longer interested in operating mines and uses contractors to run several it owns.

One began supplying high-sulfur coal to AEP's Mountaineer Plant in Mason County after a $533 million scrubbing system was installed in February 2007.