ATLANTA – Runoff from a growing number of giant solar farms polluting rivers and streams in rural South Georgia is becoming a major concern, an official with the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) said Monday.
Huge solar farms of up to 1,000 acres are being built on the region’s sandy soil, which is particularly vulnerable to erosion of sediment caused by runoff from solar panels, James Cooley, the EPD’s director of division operations, told members of the Georgia House Rural Development Council meeting in Americus.
Local governments, which play a major role in the permitting of construction sites, typically deal with small sites such as Dollar Generals and aren’t used to such large projects, Cooley said.
“The ball gets dropped somewhere in the process,” he said.
House lawmakers and other officials attending the meeting on the campus of Southwest Georgia State University were surprised and dismayed by what they heard from Cooley.
“This is eye-opening to say the least,” said state Rep. John Corbett, R-Lake Park, a member of the council, formed by House Speaker David Ralston five years ago to look for ways to improve rural Georgia’s economy.”
“[What] we don’t want to be known for in Georgia is a clean energy state that has caused our rivers to become dirty,” added Jason Shaw, a member of the state Public Service Commission (PSC), Georgia’s energy regulating agency.
At the same time, council members heard other presentations Monday on the value of solar farms both to Georgia landowners and rural communities.
Landowners and local municipalities in Georgia are receiving about $2.9 billion a year in income by leasing land being used for solar farms by Georgia Power alone, said Ryan Sanders, executive director of the Georgia Large-Scale Solar Association.
“This is an opportunity for people … who are looking for a long-term revenue stream that will help them stay on the land,” added Jeff Clark, president and CEO of the Advanced Power Alliance, a Texas-based renewable energy trade association. “This is [also] a way to bring new revenue into a community without putting additional strain on the infrastructure.”
While large solar farms tend to stand out because they’re often located near busy highways, they take up only a tiny percentage of Georgia’s land mass, PSC Chairwoman Tricia Pridemore said.
Currently, there are about 35,000 acres of solar farms spread over 54 square miles, just 0.9% of the land in Georgia, she said.
Clark said large-scale solar power developers typically include “decommissioning” requirements in their contracts with utilities that include commitments to remediate solar farm sites after their useful lives and recycle the metal from used solar panels.
“The renewable industry relies on a long-term relationship to communities,” he said. “We want a good relationship. We want communities to look at us positively.”
Shaw said counties where utilities are looking to locate solar farms should adopt model ordinances governing permitting requirements to make sure applicants have plans for handling runoff.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Voters wait in line at a precinct in Cobb County. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Early voting turnout continued to set records in Georgia during the first week of the early voting period.
More than 18,100 voters cast early ballots on Sunday, when early voting was only offered in some counties. The Sunday total soared 211% above the early voting mark set on the first day of Sunday early voting ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
As of Monday morning, about 758,000 voters had taken advantage of the first week of early voting. That shattered previous midterm turnout records during every day of early voting last week and was close to the early voting turnout ahead of the presidential election in 2020.
“Voters are enthusiastic, but most importantly, have the options available to get that vote in early,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said. “Voters registered at the [state Department of Driver Services] or online, took advantage of My Voter Page, and have the most up-to-date information available to make a plan.”
Raffensperger and other Republicans have argued the record early voting turnout refutes Democrats’ arguments that last year’s controversial election reforms enacted by the GOP-controlled General Assembly are not suppressing the vote.
But Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is challenging Republican Gov. Brian Kemp this year, said Monday the strong turnout doesn’t mean 2021’s Senate Bill 202 isn’t making it harder for Georgians to vote.
“Turnout does not dispel voter suppression,” she said. “Suppression is about barriers to access. … People showing up is in spite of the barriers.”
Abrams campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo said while in-person early voting turnout is setting records, far fewer Georgians have requested absentee ballots this year. Last year’s bill requires voters to show a photo ID to vote absentee and significantly limits the number of absentee ballot drop boxes.
“That’s where you really see the impact of SB202,” Groh-Wargo said.
Groh-Wargo said Democrats are encouraged by the strong early voting turnout among women, which she ascribed to concern over the abortion issue, and among Black voters, who historically lean Democratic.
Raffensperger said reports of long lines have been rare, with some lines in the metro areas being reported.
Early voting turnout is expected to increase during the next couple of weeks. The final day of early voting will be Nov. 4.
To find early voting locations and hours in your county, visit the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has been ordered to testify before the Fulton County special grand jury investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Graham is not shielded as a member of Congress from testifying about matters that don’t directly involve legislative business.
Graham received a subpoena in July to answer questions about two phone calls he allegedly made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after Democrat Joe Biden carried Georgia on his way to winning the presidency over Republican incumbent Donald Trump.
Graham’s lawyer filed a motion to quash the subpoena, arguing the U.S. Constitution shields members of Congress from being questioned about matters relating to legislative business.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, Graham said he made the calls in pursuit of legislative factfinding about mail-in voting and potential reforms to the process for counting Electoral College votes.
After U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May ruled in August that the issues Graham raised with Raffensperger were political – not legislative – in nature, Graham took the case to the appellate court.
On Thursday, a three-judge appellate panel sided with the district court.
“Senator Graham has failed to demonstrate that this approach will violate his rights under the [Constitution’s] Speech and Debate Clause,” the appellate court wrote.
“As the [district] court determined, there is significant dispute about whether his phone calls with Georgia election officials were legislative investigations at all.”
The list of witnesses who have testified before the special grand jury since Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis launched the probe includes Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, state Attorney General Chris Carr, Raffensperger, U.S. Rep. Jody Hice of Greensboro, and Georgia House Speaker David Ralston.
Gov. Brian Kemp was subpoenaed but won’t have to testify until after the Nov. 8 election.
A court ruling prohibited Willis from questioning state Sen. Burt Jones, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, after Willis hosted a fundraiser on behalf of Charlie Bailey, Jones’ Democratic opponent in the lieutenant governor’s race.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Herschel Walker’s football coach is going to bat for the former University of Georgia standout’s U.S. Senate campaign.
Former University of Georgia football Coach and Athletic Director Vince Dooley endorsed Walker Thursday in a campaign ad released by the Republican’s campaign.
Dooley alludes to a campaign theme Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has been repeating often: that Walker isn’t qualified to represent Georgia in Congress.
“Herschel has always been challenged about doing things that people thought he wasn’t capable of doing,” Dooley says in the ad. “Falls sometimes along the way. But he gets back up, and with his incredible drive, determination, and self-discipline, he has achieved mighty things.”
The ad goes on to show footage of running back Walker battering opposing defenses while leading the Dawgs to the national championship in 1980 and winning the Heisman Trophy two years later.
Dooley, who recently turned 90, coached UGA football from 1964 through 1988, then served as the school’s athletic director from 1979 to 2004.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Unemployment in Georgia held steady last month for a third month in a row at a record low 2.8%, while the number of jobs hit an all-time high, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The state’s unemployment rate for September was well below the national rate of 3.5%
Job numbers increased over the month to more than 4.8 million and hit record highs in the trade and transportation and education and health services sectors with more than 1 million and 637,300 jobs, respectively.
“We are continuing to see strong job creation and demand for workers in Georgia, state Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said. “We are seeing some of the best economic opportunities for job seekers that we have seen in years.”
The number of unemployed Georgians fell by 1,481 last month to 148,173, the lowest since January 2001.
Initial jobless claims were down by 19% in September to 21,570.
There are more than 178,000 jobs listed online at EmployGeorgia.com, resulting in about 235,000 unfilled positions.
Industries with more than 10,000 postings included health care, retail trade, accommodation and food services, and manufacturing.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
