by Dave Williams | Jul 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Atlanta-based Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to revoke a permit the state issued last year for a coal ash pond closure project at Plant Hammond.
According to the SELC, the permit issued last fall by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) allows toxic coal ash to remain in contact with groundwater at the Georgia Power plant near Rome in violation of a federal rule adopted in 2015.
In a ruling last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the Biden administration’s crackdown on coal ash disposal plans that leave the ash in groundwater.
Coal ash contains contaminants including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute groundwater and drinking water as well as air.
The closure of Ash Pond 3 at Plant Hammond is a component of Georgia Power’s plan to close all 29 of its coal ash ponds. At 19 of the ponds, ash is to be excavated and removed. The other 10 are to be closed in place.
Meanwhile, closures of much larger, more deeply submerged ash ponds are underway or completed at Plant Scherer in Juliette, Plant Yates near Newnan, and at Plant McDonough in Smyrna.
“Georgia EPD has made it clear that it will not follow the law and protect Georgia’s clean water and communities from toxic coal ash pollution,” said Frank Holleman, a senior attorney with the SELC. “EPA is charged with overseeing EPD’s program, and we need EPA to step in to protect Georgia’s rivers and neighborhoods because EPD will not.”
Jesse Demonbruen-Chapman, executive director of the Coosa River Basin Initiative, said a state of emergency was declared in 2022 due to flash flooding of the Coosa River.
“Hammond’s ash pond is sitting up to 10-feet deep in groundwater, waiting for the next severe weather event,” he said. “The Coosa River shouldn’t remain in harm’s way while EPD continues to ignore the reality that coal ash sitting in groundwater is a recipe for disaster.”
Georgia Power issued a statement last year asserting that it is using “proven engineering methods and technologies” in its ash pond closure plan at Plant Hammond.
The permit the EPD issued requires the utility to follow a post-closure plan for at least 30 years, conduct groundwater monitoring, and maintain a cover system that will mitigate the effects of erosion, the company wrote.
by Dave Williams | Jul 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate rose slightly last month to 3.3%, up from 3.2% in May, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson said joblessness typically rises during the summer when school is out.
“Our students infuse our workforce with new talent and energy each summer,” he said. “While this may temporarily increase seasonal unemployment, the fresh skills and enthusiasm these young workers bring to the local economy are key to cultivating an economy that’s built to last.”
Thompson noted that Georgia’s jobless rate in June still was eight-tenths of a point lower than the national unemployment rate.
The state continued to set records in the employment space, with the number of jobs ticking up by 0.2% last month. Georgia’s labor force increased by 15,502 to nearly 5.4 million, while the number of employed Georgians rose by 8,493 to more than 5.2 million.
The job sectors posting the largest over-the-month gains included health care and social assistance, which added 3,200 jobs, and transportation and warehousing, which added 3,000 jobs.
Jobs in administrative and support services and in local government were down in June, by 1,700 and 1,300 jobs, respectively.
Initial unemployment claims increased last month by 9% to 21,867. But over the year, first-time jobless claims declined by 7%.
by Dave Williams | Jul 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle that operators shut down last week is back in service and sending power to the electric grid, Georgia Power officials reported Wednesday.
Unit 3 at the nuclear plant south of Augusta, which went into full commercial operation last summer, was taken offline July 8 because of a problem with a valve on one of its three main pumps.
Despite the shutdown, Unit 3 has operated at full power more than 96% of the time since it went into service last July 31. By comparison, the average capacity factor for the U.S. nuclear fleet was 93% last year, according to Georgia Power officials.
Unit 3 and its companion – Unit 4, which went into full commercial operation in April – are the first new nuclear reactors built in the United States since the late 1980s.
The project was delayed by seven years, plagued by a series of cost overruns that drove up the final price tag to about $35 billion, more than twice the original estimate of $14 billion.
Opponents of the nuclear expansion at Plant Vogtle urged the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) in vain to cancel the project and instead step up the state’s commitment to expanding renewable energy options.
The PSC voted last August to cap the costs Georgia Power would be allowed to pass on to customers at nearly $7.6 billion, with shareholders picking up the rest.
Georgia Power was a 45% partner in the Vogtle expansion, working with Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) and Dalton Utilities.
by Dave Williams | Jul 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Two environmental and consumer advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday accusing the state of violating Georgia’s Constitution by unilaterally postponing elections to the state Public Service Commission (PSC).
The suit, filed by Georgia WAND and Georgia Conservation Voters, follows last month’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear an appeal of a lawsuit brought in 2022 challenging the way PSC members are elected.
In the previous case, four Black Fulton County residents argued that electing members of the PSC statewide rather than by district dilutes Black voting strength in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, making it more difficult for Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice.
A lower federal court agreed and ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, but the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned that decision. The Supreme Court’s decision not to take up the case means statewide PSC elections that had been delayed while the lawsuit was pending now may go forward.
Under the timetable the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved in March, elections for PSC districts 2 and 3 – now held by Commissioner Tim Echols and Commissioner Fitz Johnson, respectively – will take place next year. The election for District 5 will be held in 2026, and elections for PSC districts 1 and 4 will take place in 2028.
The new lawsuit filed Wednesday argues that postponing PSC elections in 2022 and again this year allowed the sitting commission members to approve the largest utility rate increases in Georgia history, putting an additional burden on ratepayers that might have been avoided had elections been held in a timely manner.
Giving multiple sitting commissioners an extra two years in office is illegal because Georgia’s Constitution requires PSC terms run for six years and cannot be lengthened without a constitutional amendment.
“The illegal postponement of PSC elections in Georgia is an attack on our constitutional right to vote and the state’s constitutional mandate to hold statewide elections within the time frame governed by the law,” said Kimberly Scott, executive director of Georgia WAND.
During the legislative debate over setting a new timetable for PSC elections, Republican leaders argued the General Assembly was being forced to delay the elections when the 2022 lawsuit dragged on without a ruling.
by Dave Williams | Jul 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – One of the two newest nuclear reactors at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle has been shut down due to a “valve issue,” the Atlanta-based utility announced Tuesday.
Operators at the plant’s Unit 3 safely shut down the reactor on July 8 due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a problem with a valve on one of three main pumps. The main pumps send water that has been heated from the condenser through a series of heaters to be sent back to the steam generators.
The valve that caused the problem controls water levels in the steam geneator.
“Operators responded in accordance with their training and the plant, including all safety systems, responded as designed,” Georgia Power spokesman Jacob Hawkins wrote in an email to Capitol Beat. “At no time was the safety of the employees or community at risk.”
Unit 3 at the plant south of Augusta went into full commercial operation last July. The second of the new reactors – Unit 4 – followed in April of this year.
The first nuclear reactors built in the United States in more than three decades were delayed by seven years amid a series of cost overruns caused in part by the bankruptcy of Westinghouse, the original prime contractor on the project, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the construction team to reduce its workforce by 20% as a safety precaution.
Georgia Power did not reveal when Unit 3 will be returned to service, citing “competitive reasons.”
