ATLANTA – The Sierra Club is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to take up its challenge of Georgia Power’s plan to collect from customers $525 million in coal ash pond closure costs.
Both a trial court in Fulton County and the Georgia Court of Appeals have upheld a decision by the state Public Service Commission (PSC) to let the Atlanta-based utility recover a portion of the costs of closing all 29 of its ash ponds at 11 coal-burning power plants across Georgia, nearly $9 billion according to the latest estimate.
Coal ash contains contaminants including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute groundwater and drinking water as well as air.
Georgia Power plans to excavate and remove the ash from 19 ponds and close the other 10 ponds in place.
Lawyers for the Sierra Club have argued the PSC failed to take into account Georgia Power’s culpability in creating the coal ash problem to begin with, and thus should not be allowed to pass all of those costs onto customers.
“Georgia Power made a decision to cut corners by continuing to store coal ash in unlined pits, disregarding the health and safety of Georgia communities and their waterways,” said Charline Whyte, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Campaign in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. “If the lower court’s ruling is left unchecked, it will leave the door wide open for Georgia Power to continue to flip the bill to its customers for years to come.”
Georgia Power’s lawyers have countered that the utility’s ash pond closure plan complies with federal regulations as well as more stringent state requirements and that the PSC has thoroughly reviewed the cost recovery issue in making its decision.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
George Michael Troup and his brother Robert built Rosemont Plantation in the early 1800s.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Board of Natural Resources voted Tuesday to accept the donation of more than 3,000 acres of pristine habitat in Treutlen County.
The Rosemont Plantation was built in the early 1800s by brothers George Michael and Robert Troup. George Michael Troup served as both a governor and U.S. senator from Georgia.
The land fronts the Oconee River downstream from the Riverbend Wildlife Management Area and is home to both longleaf pines and a gopher tortoise population.
The property was recently appraised at more than $3.9 million.
The state Department of Natural Resources has been working with the owner for the last couple of years to acquire the property.
The proposed donation still must go before the State Properties Commission before it can be finalized.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A state Senate study committee asked the General Assembly Monday to consider stiffening penalties for violent attacks on Georgia health-care workers.
But new legislation addressing the issue is unlikely because criminal justice experts believe existing law already covers violence in the health-care workplace, said Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, the study committee’s chairman and an orthopedic surgeon.
“There are already penalties in place for aggravated assault and aggravated battery,” she said. “I can’t promise legislation is going to happen or would pass if it’s proposed.”
The Senate formed the study committee amid a nationwide increase in violence against health-care workers since the coronavirus pandemic struck the country early last year.
A study the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration released in April 2020 found that health-care workers account for about 50% of all victims of workplace violence.
The study committee’s final report that Kirkpatrick presented Monday encouraged hospital officials to train health-care workers and other hospital staff in how to deescalate potentially violent confrontations and how to defend themselves if it becomes necessary.
But Dr. Mohak Davé, an emergency room physician with Northeast Georgia Health Systems and a member of the study committee, said the report didn’t go far enough.
While current state law addresses attacks on health-care workers in emergency settings, he said there is no protection on the books for workers in other areas of hospitals.
“This is not just an emergency-room problem,” he said.
“All of our health-care workers should be protected,” added Kelsey Reed, a nurse practitioner with Phoebe Primary Care in Albany who is also on the study committee.
Davé proposed amending the committee’s report to suggest the legislature consider increasing penalties for attacks on health-care workers, and the panel approved the change unanimously.
The committee’s final report will head to the full Senate in time for the 2022 General Assembly session that begins next month.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia tax revenues rose again last month, continuing a positive trend of increases that began with the start of the current fiscal year in July.
The state Department of Revenue brought in $2.29 billion in November, up 17% over November of last year, the agency reported Monday,
Individual income tax collections rose by 19%, spurred by a 65.3% increase in individual tax return payments.
Sales tax receipts also were on the upswing, with gross sales tax revenues up 18.6%.
The only decline came in corporate tax revenues, which fell last month by a whopping 171%, primarily the result of a huge increase of 141.6% in refunds issued by the revenue department.
As has been the case for many months, gasoline tax collections rose again, as more and more drivers hit the road after being cooped up during the coronavirus pandemic. Motor fuels tax revenues for November were up 8.4% over November of last year.
Overall, November marked the fifth consecutive month of higher state tax revenues after three straight months of declines. Tax collections for the last five months combined ran 16.7% above the same period a year ago.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue Monday announced he will challenge Gov. Brian Kemp in next May’s Republican primary.
Perdue is an ally of former President Donald Trump, who has been urging him for months to take on Kemp.
The governor angered Trump when he refused to help him overturn the results of last year’s presidential election in Georgia. Democrat Joe Biden carried the Peach State by fewer than 12,000 votes, the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.
The primary contest between Kemp and Perdue is sure to aggravate divisions already apparent inside Georgia’s Republican Party between Trump loyalists and those who want the GOP to put last year’s election behind and move forward.
Perdue’s announcement came less than a week after Democrat Stacey Abrams, who lost to Kemp in 2018 by a narrow margin, formally entered the gubernatorial race again.
In a video released Monday, Perdue laid the blame for Republican divisiveness squarely on Kemp.
“Think about how different it would be today if Kemp had fought Abrams first instead of fighting Trump,” Perdue said. “Kemp caved before the election, and the country is paying the price today.”
Perdue finished first in last year’s general election but fell short of the 50%-plus-one margin needed to win reelection to a second term. He then lost a runoff to Democrat Jon Ossoff last January, which led to the Democrats capturing a 50-50 split in the Senate, effectively a majority since Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris can break tie votes.
Perdue said he likes Kemp but has become convinced the governor cannot defeat Abrams.
“I’m running for governor to make sure Stacey Abrams is never governor of Georgia,” Perdue said. “Make no mistake, Abrams will smile, lie and cheat to transform Georgia into her radical vision of a state that would look more like California and New York.”
Democrats responded to Perdue’s candidacy by labeling him a “failed” senator.
“Republicans like Brian Kemp and David Perdue have failed Georgians at every level of leadership,” said Scott Hogan, executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia.
“No matter who emerges from Republicans’ messy, race-to-the-right gubernatorial primary, voters know that Democrats are the only ones who will deliver on the issues Georgians care about, like recovering from COVID-19 and expanding access to health care.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
