by Dave Williams | Aug 29, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia Power will build battery energy storage systems (BESS) at four sites across the state, adding 500 megawatts of electrical generating capacity to help meet a growing demand for power primarily by large industrial customers.
Battery storage is among a variety of power generation sources state energy regulators approved last April as part of a huge increase in generating capacity for the Atlanta-based utility. The plan also includes other forms of renewable energy as well as fossil fuels.
“These resources will add to Georgia Power’s diverse generation portfolio, helping to ensure the company has the mix of technologies necessary to provide clean, safe, reliable, and affordable electric service for all customers during all hours,” the company wrote Thursday in a news release.
Georgia Power’s plan calls for BESS facilities adjacent to both Robins Air Force Base in Bibb County and Moody Air Force Base in Lowndes County. Both will be co-located with existing solar facilities.
A third standalone BESS will be located at the retired coal-burning Plant Hammond in Floyd County. The fourth site will double the battery-storage capacity of the McGrau Ford Battery Facility currently under development in Cherokee County.
While the state Public Service Commission already has approved the battery-storage component of Georgia Power’s plan for additional generating capacity, the PSC still must certify the four BESS projects.
On Thursday, the commission’s Energy Committee set hearing dates of Oct. 31 and – if needed – Nov. 1. The commission is scheduled to vote Dec. 3 on certifying the work.
by Dave Williams | Aug 29, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s economic development efforts are continuing to feature a rural focus.
The state Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team Thursday reported more than $20.3 billion in investment Georgia during the last fiscal year, with 429 facility expansions and new locations creating 26,900 new private-sector jobs.
More than 18,300 of those jobs representing $12.5 billion in investment came outside the 10-county Atlanta region, accounting for 83% of expansions and new locations.
Growing the economy in rural Georgia reflects a priority of Gov. Brian Kemp since he first ran for governor back in 2018, Kemp told Capitol Beat in an exclusive interview.
“That’s making sure we have regional opportunities rural Georgians could take advantage of without having too long a commute,” Kemp said. “It’s really paid off.”
The governor cited the huge “Metaplant” Hyundai Motor Group is building in Bryan County west of Savannah as a prime example of the job opportunities in the pipeline for areas outside metro Atlanta. The electric-vehicle manufacturing plant now under construction will be within easy reach not only for residents of Savannah but for job seekers living in rural counties west of Bryan County along Interstate 16.
“We’ve got engineering graduates from Georgia Southern University that instead of having to move to Atlanta can stay home if they want to … and have a great-paying job with great benefits,” Kemp said.
Manufacturing accounted for more than 50% of the expansions or new locations that took place across Georgia during fiscal 2024. Notable expansions included Kia Georgia’s addition of the EV9 to its lineup in Troup County, Toyota Industries Corp.’s campus in Jackson County, StandardAero’s operations in Augusta, and international life sciences company Gerresheimer’s most recent expansion in Fayette County.
Hyundai Metaplant suppliers announced new locations in Bryan, Candler, Chatham, Coweta, Effingham, Harris, and Laurens counties.
With Georgia all-in on electric vehicles manufacturing, Kemp said he’s confident the industry eventually will become a major success despite sluggish sales.
“The Biden administration with the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) tried to push the market before it was ready,” he said. “Once the charging stations are built out, there’s going to be a big market for these.”
The governor and Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp led economic development missions to Korea and Switzerland during the last fiscal year that focused on strengthening existing relationships with key investors including Hyundai and its supplier network.
Those trips and similar overseas missions the previous year helped land more than 8,100 new jobs and $5.9 billion in investments from international companies expanding or locating in the U.S.
“A lot of the ground we’ve plowed internationally is starting to pay off,” Kemp said. “We’re starting to see the fruits of that labor.”
by Dave Williams | Aug 28, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Reduced staffing and aging infrastructure are contributing to an influx of contraband that is driving an increase in criminal activity inside Georgia prisons, the head of the state Department of Corrections said Wednesday.
Correctional officers confiscated 14,497 cellphones inside state prisons last year, double the 7,224 seized in 2019, Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Oliver told a Georgia Senate study committee formed to examine safety and security issues affecting the state’s prisons.
Many of those cellphones are being smuggled into the prisons by drones, some carrying payloads of up to 200 pounds, Oliver said.
“These are huge drones we’re seeing,” he said. “It’s a constant battle we’re fighting.”
Prison inmates are using contraband cellphones to coordinate the distribution of illegal drugs inside and outside prison walls. Last week, 23 current or former inmates and outside conspirators were indicted in federal court on charges of using drones to deliver large quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana as well as cellphones to Smith State Prison in Glennville, Telfair State Prison in McRae and various other state prisons.
Contraband cellphones also are being used in connection with violent crimes, said Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, the study committee’s chairman.
“We’ve had murders take place outside of prisons that were orchestrated inside of prisons,” Robertson said.
Oliver said staffing losses are spreading the agency’s workforce thin. The Department of Corrections lost more than 2,000 employees during the COVID pandemic but has since rebounded by 500 to 700, he said.
“This is by far the toughest mission in public safety when you walk into a prison,” he said. “(And) there are a lot of jobs out there that pay more.”
Oliver said the condition of prison infrastructure is contributing to the problem with drones. Inmates are able to get on the roofs of crumbling prison buildings to receive drone deliveries, he said.
Inmate deaths inside prison walls from homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural causes have not risen dramatically in recent years, and violent incidents actually are trending down, Oliver said. However, the nature of today’s prison population is resulting in the violent incidents that do occur causing more harm to the victims, he said.
Criminal justice reform has resulted in fewer non-violent offenders being sent to prison, Oliver said. As a result, 75% of today’s inmates inside Georgia prisons are violent offenders, he said.
“They’re not fighting anymore,” he said. “They’re using homemade weapons and other things to cause more harm.”
Octavious Holiday, a former inmate who spent 16 years behind bars in Georgia for a series of armed robberies, praised the Department of Corrections for increasing the number of programs it offers to help inmates turn around their lives since he entered the system in 2004.
For example, 25% of the high school equivalency diplomas awarded in Georgia every year go to state prison inmates, said Jay Sanders, the department’s assistant commissioner of inmate services.
Oliver said recent pay raises targeting the state’s public safety employees have raised the starting salary for correctional officers to $44,000 a year, comparable to salaries neighboring states are offering.
But more needs to be done, said Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, a member of the study committee.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to get you guys the resources you need,” Beach told Oliver and several colleagues who attended Wednesday’s meeting.
Robertson said the committee will hold several more meetings before formulating recommendations to the full Senate by a deadline of Dec. 1.
by Dave Williams | Aug 28, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Former Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role in a multi-year scheme to obtain money and property from the city for private use.
Beard, 60, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also must serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence.
While running the city’s finance department from 2011 until 2018, Beard used city funds to pay for personal luxury travel expenses, bought items for personal use including two machine guns, pocketed reimbursements he received for travel to conferences instead of giving them to the city, and falsely claimed business deductions on his taxes for a non-existent consulting business.
In total, Beard stole at least tens of thousands of dollars from the city, according to U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan.
“Jim Beard abused the trust and confidence placed in him by the people of the city of Atlanta when he decided to steal … from taxpayers to support his lavish lifestyle,” Buchanan said. “Beard’s sentencing is a demonstration of our commitment to hold accountable public officials who trade their position of power for greed and personal gain.”
Beard, who was sentenced Tuesday, pleaded guilty to the charges last March. He also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and restitution of more than $177,000.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service, with the assistance of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
by Dave Williams | Aug 27, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Five former elite-level college women swimmers Tuesday described losing to a transgender athlete in an unfair competition and the trauma they suffered sharing a locker room with Lia Thomas.
The five competed in the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia Tech.
“Competing as a woman against Thomas was unfair,” Grace Countie, a 22-time All-American swimmer at the University of North Carolina and Olympic Trials semifinalist, told members of the Georgia Senate Special Committee on the Protection of Women’s Sports at its first meeting. “We have the right as women to have an equal playing field.”
Thomas, who posted respectable but not spectacular times while swimming for the University of Pennsylvania men’s team, emerged into the national spotlight while transitioning to female through hormone replacement therapy, winning an NCAA national championship at the women’s competition at Georgia Tech.
Amid widespread complaints about Thomas being allowed to compete as a woman, the General Assembly took up a bill during the 2022 legislative session to ban transgender athletes from participating on school sports teams that align with their gender identity rather than their gender at birth.
However, lawmakers stopped short of legislating such a ban and instead left the issue up to the Georgia High School Association’s executive committee, which approved a ban that spring.
“We ended up punting the matter to the Georgia High School Association,” said Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the Senate’s presiding officer, who formed the committee. “We have the opportunity to correct the misgivings of the past. We should take that opportunity.”
The women who testified Tuesday described spending years of hard work and training to get to an elite level in swimming, only to have their chances to win a championship thwarted by Thomas’ entry into their events.
“It was clear to observers that Thomas only qualified because of the physical advantages he enjoyed as a man,” said Kylee Alons, a two-time NCAA champion and Olympic finalist who swam for North Carolina State University. “(But) they simply looked the other way.”
Several of the witnesses said they were traumatized when Thomas was allowed to change in the women’s locker room. Alons said she resorted to changing in a storage closet.
“I never felt more violated and betrayed,” said Kaitlyn Wheeler of the University of Kentucky.
The women’s testimony got some pushback at the end of Tuesday’s hearing from Cait Smith, director for LGBTQI+ policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. She said the swimming championships at Georgia Tech were an isolated incident.
Following the 2022 championship, World Aquatics, the governing body for international water sports, banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s races. As a result, Thomas was unable to participate in qualifying trials for the recently concluded Summer Olympics in Paris.
“You’re focused on one student who won one championship two years ago,” Smith told the committee.
But the women who testified Tuesday urged senators to enact a policy protecting women’s sports, rather than leaving the issue up to the high school sports association.
“Sports are a place for everyone,” Wheeler said. “But we must maintain fairness and safety by competing in the gender you’re born with.”
