ATLANTA – Georgia energy regulators will decide this fall how much of the costs of building the first of two additional nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle Georgia Power can recover from customers.
The state Public Service Commission (PSC) voted unanimously Tuesday to schedule two days of hearings in mid-October to hear from representatives of the Atlanta-based utility, the PSC’s advocacy staff and business, environmental and consumer advocacy groups participating in the case. The commission will make a final decision Nov. 2.
The first of two new reactors under construction at the plant south of Augusta is due to be in service by the end of November.
But Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald said last week that Unit 3 probably won’t be ready before next March or April.
The Plant Vogtle expansion has long been plagued by delays and cost overruns. Originally expected to cost $14 billion when the PSC approved the project 12 years ago, the price tag has nearly doubled mostly due to the bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric, the original prime contractor.
Unit 3 originally had been expected to go into service in 2016, followed a year later by Unit 4.
The project has seen substantial progress in recent weeks. Hot functional testing has begun at Unit 3, a process conducted to make sure the reactor is ready for fuel loading.
Also, all modules for the two reactors have been set in place.
Environmental organizations following the case said last week they support the hearings schedule.
“We’re glad these issues will be addressed in a public proceeding with an opportunity to engage,” Jill Kysor, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said during a meeting of the commission’s Energy Committee.
The costs the commission decides should be passed on to Georgia Power’s customers do not represent the full cost of building Unit 3. A portion of the costs will not be recovered until after the Unit 4 reactor goes into service and the PSC holds a “prudency” hearing on those costs, which won’t be until late 2022 at the earliest.
The new rates related to the construction of Unit 3 will take effect one month after the reactor begins operations.
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is urging the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to slow down its review of a plan to build a commercial spaceport in southeastern Georgia.
In a letter to the federal agency dated Monday, Warnock raised concerns about the FAA’s review of the environmental impacts of the proposed Spaceport Camden.
The FAA is expected to release a final environmental impact statement on the project by the end of this month and decide by the end of next month whether to grant Spaceport Camden a launch site operator license.
Warnock indicated in his letter he has heard from a number of Georgians that the FAA’s review has been inadequate, particularly since the Camden County Commission changed the project’s initial design from launching medium-to-large rockets to small rockets.
The county’s revised application revealed that 20% of small rockets launched from Spaceport Camden would likely fail, a much larger failure rate than would occur with medium-to-large rockets, the senator wrote.
“Spaceport Camden would be located … immediately inland from Cumberland Island National Seashore,” Warnock wrote. “One of the largest protected barrier islands on the Eastern Seaboard, Cumberland Island is a jewel of the National Park System.
“Every year, tens of thousands of people travel from across the country to experience its pristine beaches, maritime forests, unique wildlife and the solitude of its wildernesses.”
Warnock also noted that a number of private homes and historic sites are located on Cumberland and Little Cumberland islands.
The FAA announced in May of last year that it would prepare a revised environmental impact statement to reflect the design changes.
But the agency reversed course last September and announced it would skip the revised review, based on an executive order from then-President Donald Trump aimed at streamlining such reviews to accelerate job creation during the coronavirus pandemic. Supporters say Spaceport Camden would generate up to 2,000 jobs, many of them high-paying.
In his letter, Warnock noted that President Joe Biden has revoked Trump’s executive order and issued a new order requiring the FAA to make decisions based on science.
“This is not the time to cut corners on environmental review or cut out public participation in the evaluation of this project,” Warnock wrote. “The incoming FAA leadership should be given the opportunity to evaluate fully these issues with the benefit of public input before moving forward with a final decision.”
John Simpson, a spokesman for Spaceport Camden, could not be reached immediately for comment.
ATLANTA – A public-private partnership created to lead efforts to make Georgia the technology capital of the East Coast is getting involved in the farming business.
The Partnership for Inclusive Innovation announced the awarding of a $250,000 grant Monday to a program run by The Conservation Fund that supports next-generation farmers.
The Working Farms Fund program is the first in the nation to offer end-to-end support for new farmers, including a path to farm ownership and access to established farm markets.
“This support will allow The Conservation Fund to scale this critical program to help Georgia build a resilient local food system by ensuring that diverse, entrepreneurial farmers have access to farmland and new markets to grow their farm businesses,” said Stacy Funderburke, The Conservation Fund’s Georgia and Alabama associate state director.
The program will initially work in the 29-county metro-Atlanta region, permanently protecting at-risk farmland through conservation easements and lease-to-own options. It also aims to strengthen connections between farmers, markets and consumers while increasing the supply of locally grown nutritious food.
“The Georgia Working Farms Fund represents an innovative and transformative approach to how we think about the agricultural industry and food security,” said Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a member of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation’s board.
The grant will provide enough funding to continue the Farms Fund’s operations in Georgia for two years.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp Friday extended through May 22 an executive order he issued last Monday to address the gasoline shortage that began with the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline.
The 5,500-mile pipeline that provides nearly half of the gasoline on the East Coast was shut down a week ago following a ransomware attack perpetrated by hackers operating out of Russia.
Colonial restarted the pipeline on Wednesday. But by then, panicked motorists had depleted gasoline supplies across the Southeast, with many stations running out of fuel.
“While Colonial Pipeline is now operational, the company has informed the public that it will be a few days until full service is available statewide,” Kemp said Friday in a prepared statement. “This executive order will ensure fuel supply chains have every resource needed to deliver gas quickly and safely, and that Georgians aren’t hit with state gas taxes at the pump during this shortage.
“I continue to ask Georgians to only purchase the fuel they need for essential travel through the upcoming weekend.”
The executive order suspended the collection of the state sales tax on gasoline and prohibited price gouging by gas stations. It also lifted the usual weight restrictions on fuel delivery trucks and limits on hours commercial truck drivers can operate.
To free up additional fuel supplies, the federal government approved Georgia’s request to permit the sale of a blend of gasoline normally sold only during the winter.
While President Joe Biden said U.S. national security officials don’t believe the Russian government was involved in the ransomware attack, he said he has urged the Russians to more aggressively pursue cyber criminals.
ATLANTA – Camden County is pulling out all the stops to win approval of plans to build a commercial spaceport supporters say would represent a huge economic boost for southeastern Georgia.
The county spent nearly $825,000 between July 2020 and March of this year on a team of lobbyists, including a former chief of staff to Gov. Brian Kemp, to convince the state to endorse Spaceport Camden, according to documents filed by the county.
The spending came with a project seven years in the making approaching a final decision. While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is due to decide by the end of next month whether to license the spaceport, it will be leaning heavily on the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for recommendations.
“The timing would lead you to believe they needed help from the governor’s office to get pressure on the DNR,” said Dick Parker, one of a group of property owners on nearby Little Cumberland Island who oppose the project.
Supporters are counting on Spaceport Camden to create up to 2,000 jobs and help convince the next generation of aerospace engineers, many of whom graduate from Georgia Tech, to stay in Georgia. The project has the backing of Gov. Brian Kemp and the state’s congressional delegation.
Camden County Administrator Steve Howard, who also serves as project leader for the spaceport, said up to a dozen companies have shown “high-level interest” in launching commercial satellites from Spaceport Camden.
“It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Georgia to play a very important role in the next space race,” Howard said.
The FAA originally was expected to decide whether to issue a launch license for the spaceport in late 2016. But the project was delayed when the county made a significant change in design that called for launching only small rockets from the site rather than medium-to-large rockets.
The project’s opponents say the FAA hasn’t done an adequate analysis of the impacts of the design change.
“These rockets operate differently,” said Brian Gist, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “They have a higher failure rate. They’re experimental.”
But John Simpson of the Atlanta office of Capitol Resources LLC, who handles public relations for Spaceport Camden, said the county has made a commitment not to launch experimental rockets.
Simpson cited a March letter from the FAA to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs asserting that the risk posed by the type of small rockets Spaceport Camden proposes to launch would be significantly smaller than the risk from launching medium-to-large rockets.
The FAA also indicated small-rocket launches from the spaceport would be on the same footprint covered by launches of larger rockets, only smaller.
Kevin Lang, another Little Cumberland Island property owner, said even that smaller footprint encroaches on environmentally fragile marshland.
“There’s a 7,300-foot radius around the launch pad that is considered a debris disposal area,” he said. “The purpose of that area is to catch all the debris from a launch failure on the pad or early in the launch.
“Over two-thirds of the area is coastal salt marsh owned by the DNR … property they have an obligation to protect.”
As part of its review of the spaceport plan, the DNR must determine whether allowing satellite launches over marshland is consistent with the marsh’s protected status.
“If they follow the law, they should withhold their concurrence,” Lang said.
Opponents say the FAA also has given short shrift to the impact satellite launches would have on the people and structures beneath the flight path. That would include residents of Little Cumberland Island, campers and other visitors to the Cumberland Island National Seashore and several historic structures.
“The FAA has said this is the closest-ever populated area they’ve sought to launch rockets across,” Gist said.
But Howard said the FAA has determined any risk from satellite launches at Spaceport Camden would be limited to the footprint of the launch site and not extend to Cumberland Island or Little Cumberland Island.
“The analysis we’ve seen shows you can do this safely,” he said.
With the time for a final decision approaching, Camden County has added to the team of lobbyists who have been working the project for years.
Former Kemp Chief of Staff Tim Fleming registered as a lobbyist for the county in February, according to a report filed with the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission, five months after leaving the governor’s office. Joining the Spaceport Camden team at the same time was Chuck Harper, a former deputy chief of staff to Kemp.
Lobbying and public relations firms that have been on the spaceport team longer include Simpson’s Capitol Resources, Joe Tanner and Associates and Washington, D.C.-based Capitol Hill Communications.
Howard said it was important to bring in such a large team of lobbyists and consultants because of the nature of Spaceport Camden.
“You’re not building a road or a park. It’s a very complex subject,” he said. “You have to have subject matter experts.”
