Nearly Nine Million Scrap Tires Burned for Power Generation at Aquila Missouri Plants.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Aquila's (NYSE: ILA) program to help keep the Missouri landscape free of scrap tires by using them to generate electricity at two company coal-fired power plants is nearing the nine-million tire mark, a company official said today.

The program has been in effect since 1997 at Aquila's Sibley, Mo., power plant, and last year expanded to the company's Lake Road plant in St. Joseph, Mo. Aquila coordinates the program with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR).

Since 1997, Aquila has burned more than 8.3 million tires to generate electricity at the Sibley power plant, and an additional 300,000 tires at its Lake Road facility. In the last eight years, the tires burned have effectively replaced the equivalent of 140,800 tons of coal that would have been used for power generation. If stacked, these tires would reach a height of 953 miles -- nearly three times higher than the Hubble Space Telescope, or extend end-to-end 3,270 miles -- from Maine to the California coast.

"We believe our scrap tire fuel program is a real benefit to Missouri in environmental clean-up, public health and energy resource conservation," said Glenn Keefe, operating vice president for Aquila's Missouri electric networks.

Abandoned tires in vacant lots and streams are a breeding ground for mosquitoes that spread the potentially fatal West Nile virus. Each abandoned tire can produce up to one million mosquitoes during a breeding season. Aquila joined with the MDNR and community organizations in 2003 to help raise awareness of the dangers that abandoned tires present in spreading the virus.

The MDNR estimates that approximately 2.5 million waste tires currently are scattered throughout Missouri. Since the early 1990s, almost 13 million tires have been removed from illegal dumps throughout the state for tire derived fuel (TDF) use or recycled into other products.

Since 1997, Aquila has received scrap tires that have been shredded by independent companies to be used as TDF at its Sibley plant. The Lake Road plant began its initial TDF tire burning in September 2004. Since 1997, the two plants have burned a combined 172 million pounds of TDF. A passenger car tire has a heat value equivalent to approximately 20 to 25 pounds of coal, making scrap tires a fuel alternative that conserves natural resources. The Aquila plants burn a maximum of 5 percent TDF as a supplement to coal used for the remaining 95 percent of power generation.

The Sibley plant is Aquila's largest generation facility, with a total generating capacity of 500 megawatts (one megawatt equals one million watts). It is on the Missouri River about 20 miles east of Kansas City. The Lake Road generating facility has a total generating capacity of 254 megawatts. It is on the Missouri River in southwestern St. Joseph.

In Missouri, Aquila serves 300,000 electric and 46,000 natural gas customers. Based in Kansas City, Mo., the company provides electricity and natural gas to 1.3 million customers in Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa.

(1) TV news editors note: B-roll is available of tire burning process at the Sibley, Mo., power plant by contacting George Minter, 816-467-3000.

(2) News editors: The attached graphic is available in a .eps or .jpg version by contacting: [e-mail].