by Dave Williams | Dec 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The state is lifting a moratorium on drilling new irrigation wells in parts of Southwest Georgia that has been in effect for more than a decade.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday that the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) will begin accepting applications for groundwater withdrawal permits from farmers on April 1. Applications must include drought-related measures aimed at ensuring the long-term viability of water supplies along the Lower Flint and Chattahoochee river basins.
“As Georgia farmers continue to recover from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene, I could not be more proud to deliver this good news,” Kemp said. “I am grateful to the EPD for their diligent and hard work in ensuring that our state is on a path that protects both Georgia farmers and our water resources.”
The EPD imposed the moratorium on new irrigation wells in 2012 in response to a two-year drought that dried up one stream and significantly decreased flows in others.
The agency eased the ban last year by lifting it during periods when frost threatened crops. But farmers complained that lifting the ban only for the limited time of the year when freezes are a concern didn’t go far enough.
Wednesday’s announcement cited extensive scientific research conducted since 2012 that has left the EPD confident the time is right to lift the moratorium completely.
“Our metering program has gathered extensive data strengthening our technical understanding of surface water and groundwater in the Lower Flint,” EPD Director Jeff Cown said Wednesday. “We look forward to working with all water users as they obtain these newly developed permits.”
Technological improvements during the last decade are allowing farmers to better track the amount of water they’re using to irrigate their crops. That ability to measure groundwater use was among the arguments lawyers for the state used to prevail in a long-running legal battle over water allocation against Florida and Alabama.
by Dave Williams | Dec 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former University of Georgia football standout Herschel Walker to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
Trump recruited Walker, a longtime friend and ally, to run for the U.S. Senate in 2022, but the Republican lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
“A successful businessman, philanthropist, former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL great, Herschel has been a tireless advocate for youth sports,” Trump posted on his social media site this week. “During my first term, he served as co-chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.”
Trump and Walker’s friendship goes back to the 1980s, when the United States Football League team Trump owned, the New Jersey Generals, signed Walker to his first professional contract.
Walker is just the latest Republican with Georgia ties nominated by Trump to serve in his administration.
The list includes former Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., to serve as U.S. ambassador to China, former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., to head the Small Business Administration, and former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, to serve as director of the Veterans Administration.
All of the nominations are subject to confirmation by the Senate, which will be in Republican hands when the new Congress convenes next month.
by Dave Williams | Dec 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia energy regulators have signed off on a 3.5% rate increase for customers of Georgia Power.
Members of the state Public Service Commission (PSC) unanimously approved the increase Tuesday, which will raise average residential customer bills by $5.48 per month.
The rate hike is the latest of a series of increases the PSC has granted Georgia Power during the last couple of years that have raised monthly bills by more than $40.
Two of those rate hikes were associated with the completion of two new nuclear reactors at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle. The second of those new units went into full commercial operation last spring.
Another rate increase the commission approved in May of last year was to help offset rising fuel costs.
While Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald voted for the latest rate increase, he questioned the timing of Georgia Power’s request, just as inflated food and gasoline prices are beginning to come down.
“We need (to do) everything we can to hold down rate increases … and give America a chance to breathe again,” McDonald said when the proposed rate hike came before the PSC’s Energy Committee last week.
Brandon Marzo, a lawyer representing Georgia Power, told commissioners the Atlanta-based utility sympathizes with McDonald’s position but that the rate hike is necessary.
“The investments related to this … are being made and have been made,” Marzo said.
The rate increase will take effect Jan. 1.
by Dave Williams | Dec 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Justice Department is suing the city of Brunswick for trying to close a homeless shelter.
The federal suit charges the city with violating the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act through its efforts to interfere with and permanently close The Well, a faith-based shelter affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
“Federal law protects the right of religious groups such as The Well to use their land to help others,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The division will continue to vindicate the rights of groups to exercise their religion and fight local laws that unlawfully restrict those rights.”
The city began working to close the shelter after city officials blamed The Well in connection with unrelated criminal activity. Although The Well adopted safety and security measures suggested by the Brunswick Police Department, the city filed suit in state court seeking to close the shelter.
“We will take the steps necessary, including filing suit, to protect religious exercise against unreasonable and improper restrictions,” said Jill Steinberg, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “This office will steadfastly defend against unlawful local action the right of institutions like The Well to lawfully use their land to help their community as an expression of their religious beliefs.”
The suit claims the city’s efforts to close The Well have imposed a substantial burden on The Well’s religious exercise, that the city lacks a compelling interest and has not employed the least restrictive means of enforcing its purported interest.
The complaint seeks injunctive relief prohibiting the city from interfering with the shelter.
According to The Brunswick News, the city commission passed ordinances in 2022 and 2023 restricting public camping and passing heavy regulations on new homeless shelters.
The commission voted to temporarily shut down The Well from April to June of last year. The shelter reopened in July 2023 with upgraded security measures, but city commissioners and the mayor publicly asked The Well to stay closed.
by Dave Williams | Dec 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s Republican presidential electors formally cast their votes for former President Donald Trump Tuesday in a ceremony at the state Capitol.
The 16 electors, consistently largely of local GOP leaders, met on the same day electors in every state cast their votes either for Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, depending on which candidate the majority of voters in their state supported on Election Day last month.
Trump received 312 electoral votes – well above the 270 needed to win the election – to 226 for Democrat Harris. The former president carried Georgia by more than 115,000 votes.
Democrats have complained in recent years about the Electoral College, which was incorporated into the U.S. Constitution by the nation’s founders.
Democrat Hillary Clinton won more popular votes than Trump in 2016 but lost to Trump in the Electoral College. The same thing happened to Democrat Al Gore in 2000, when he won the popular vote but lost to Republican George W. Bush.
But Georgia Republican Chairman Josh McKoon, who served as an elector and chaired Tuesday’s meeting, defended the Electoral College as a wise decision by the founders.
“They didn’t want the most populous state in the nation picking the president,” McKoon said. “That’s why every state is able to participate in the Electoral College.”
McKoon said he was gratified that Tuesday’s meeting ran “like clockwork” in contrast to four years ago, when Republicans fielded an alternate slate of electors that met at the Capitol to vote for Trump, even though Democrat Joe Biden had won the popular vote in Georgia. The real electors – all Democrats – met on the same day inside the state Senate chambers to vote for Biden.
On Tuesday, McKoon said the Republican group met on the advice of lawyers who said the alternate slate of electors was necessary to preserve Trump’s legal options to challenge the results of the 2020 election. Those challenges were later dismissed in a variety of courts.
Congress will meet on Jan. 6 to count the electoral votes from across the nation. Trump will take the oath of office Jan. 20 on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
