Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 20, 1995                   TAG: 9501200085
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUSINESS LEADERS TOLD: UNITED, YOU STAND TO GAIN

E. Linn Draper Jr., who also serves as president and chief executive officer of AEP, the parent of Roanoke-based Appalachian Power Co., was the main speaker at the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting at the Roanoke Airport Marriott. The theme of regional cooperation was carried throughout the night's meeting.

Draper, who came to Columbus, Ohio-based AEP in 1992 after 13 years with a Texas utility, began his speech with the tone of an outsider offering advice but concluded it rolling up his sleeves like a local, as he referred to the economic-development work that ``we'' have to do and to the Roanoke region as ``our region.''

AEP has designated community involvement as one of eight pursuits that the company believes will allow it to thrive in the competitive electricity marketplace of the future, Draper explained.

Draper said he found some ``striking similarities'' between the Roanoke region and the challenges and opportunities facing his company. ``In both cases,'' he said, ``the rules are changing, the competition is getting tougher, and the political atmosphere more apt to change rapidly in state capitals and in Washington.''

The region's ratio of 40,000 students to 400,000 residents is the highest in the country, with the exception of the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area, Draper said. Ticking off other of the Roanoke region's strengths, from a skilled work force to attractive communities, he noted that they don't all reside in any one locality but are spread across the region.

``Economic development throughout the country,'' he said, ``has functioned best when business and government find ways to collaborate, bringing together diverse resources in the pursuit of economic growth.''

After the meeting, Draper said Appalachian Power's planned new extra high voltage line between Oceana, W.Va., and Cloverdale in Botetourt County was not designed to help AEP compete in the newly deregulated electric utility industry in which both wholesale and retail power will be transmitted among the different regions of the country. The line was designed before the new competitive era for the purpose of reinforcing the utility's existing transmission system, he said.

AEP plans no new power plants for at least a decade, and coal will continue producing 90 percent of its electricity. Very little of that coal will come from Western sources as AEP will continue to burn mostly Appalachian coal, he said.

Apco President Joseph Vipperman on Thursday concluded a year as chairman of the regional chamber's board of directors, handing over the leadership spot to Tom Brock, head of General Electric Co's Industrial Drive Systems unit based in Salem. Vipperman continued the theme of regional cooperation in his final speech as chairman.

``The vast majority of our solid economic growth for our region is going to come from within, and those who do relocate here from elsewhere in the world will do so because our region has attacked our own problems and created our own sense of purpose,'' Vipperman said.

Brock was unable to attend the meeting, and his remarks were presented on videotape.

Accomplishing the region's economic goals ``will require our region joining together behind a comprehensive strategy for competitiveness ... one that will help us invest limited resources wisely to help businesses not only survive in today's fiercely competitive environment, but thrive,'' Brock said.