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.”
by Dave Williams | Jul 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia voters will be getting help from veterans on Election Day this year, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday.
Raffensperger’s office will partner with Vet the Vote, a new nationwide organization that recruits veterans and members of their families to serve as volunteer poll workers.
More than 135,000 veterans across the nation will be serving as poll workers this year, Dan Vallone, director of Vet the Vote, told reporters during a news conference at the Georgia Capitol.
“When people see veterans serving as poll workers, it reminds us this is a civic act,” he said.
“People trust veterans,” Raffensperger added.
In Georgia and elsewhere, veterans will be counted on to help fill a shortage of poll workers.
Raffensperger said youths as young as 15 can volunteer to serve.
“You can be in high school and be a poll worker,” he said.
Responding to last weekend’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Raffensperger added his voice to those calling for toning down the divisive political rhetoric that can lead to violence.
“As Americans, we need to unite … and handle our political disputes at the ballot box,” he said.
Raffensperger was due to repeat the announcement of the partnership with Vet the Vote at news conferences later Tuesday in Marietta and Dallas, and again on Wednesday in Newnan.
by Dave Williams | Jul 12, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A former president of the Georgia Pharmacy Association has been fired by a prominent health-care services company after criticizing Gov. Brian Kemp’s veto of legislation supporters said would help independent pharmacies out of a competitive disadvantage with pharmacy chains.
Joe Ed Holt of Valdosta, a clinical consultant pharmacist with PruittHealth, warned in a posting on his Facebook page in early May that the veto of Senate Bill 198 – which had cleared the General Assembly with only “one” no vote – could put some independent pharmacies out of business.
Holt told Capitol Beat the company contacted him within hours and asked him to take down the post because it jeopardized their relationship with the governor. He said he did so immediately but was fired the following day with no notice and no severance pay despite 17 years with the company.
“I was shocked,” Holt said. “It was my personal Facebook page. I didn’t mention anything about PruittHealth.”
Neil Pruitt Jr., the company’s chairman and CEO, and a longtime member of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
The bill would have required the State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP), which covers Georgia teachers and state employees, to reimburse independent pharmacies filling prescriptions at rates no less than the average reimbursement provided to chain pharmacies.
Holt said the current reimbursement model isn’t working for independent pharmacies.
“Out of every 10 prescriptions filled, they probably lose money on five,” he said. “It’s a battle to stay open.”
The impact pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which run large health plans around the country like the SHBP, have on prescription drug prices has caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency released a report this week showing increasing consolidation in the industry is allowing PBMs to amass big profits by inflating drug costs.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah, a pharmacist by trade, welcomed the report.
“Since day one in Congress, I’ve been calling on the FTC to investigate PBMs, which use deceptive and anti-competitive practices to line their own pockets while reducing patients’ access to affordable, quality health care,” Carter said.
“We are losing more than one pharmacy per day in this country, causing pharmacy deserts and taking the most accessible health-care professionals in America out of people’s communities.”
In his veto message, Kemp cited fiscal estimates showing that implementing Senate Bill 198 would cost the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) $11 million to $45 million per year, funds the General Assembly did not allocate.
Instead, the governor pointed to one-time funding in the fiscal 2025 state budget that took effect this month to provide independent pharmacists a dispensing fee of $3 per prescription. The budget also instructs the DCH to put existing funds toward an actuarial study of prescription reimbursements independent pharmacies receive from the SHBP.
“These budget items provide an appropriate, fiscally sound approach to supporting independent pharmacists this year while obtaining necessary information to aid the department in evaluating
current and future management of the state’s pharmacy plan and the General Assembly in examining PBM practices in future legislative sessions,” Kemp wrote.
Holt cited a study conducted several years ago that found pharmacies need to make at least $10.63 on every prescription they fill to cover overhead.
“Three dollars is a good effort, but it’s not nearly enough,” he said.
Holt said the pharmacy association will work to reintroduce the bill and convince Kemp to support it during next year’s legislative session.
“We’re going to keep pushing this,” he said. “That bill would have done a lot to level the playing field.”
