by Dave Williams | Oct 24, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia environmental regulators have revoked a permit for a wood pellet manufacturing plant in Telfair County following a legal challenge opposing the project.
The state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) approved a modification of Telfair Forest Products’ air-quality permit last July without requiring the company to install legally required pollution controls or conduct air impact analyses.
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), representing the environmental group Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, challenged the permit amendment, arguing it would double the Lumber City plant’s emissions of pollutants in violation of the federal Clean Air Act.
The EPD revoked the amendment this week at the request of the company, according to a news release from the SELC. As a result, the environmental group announced it would withdraw its legal challenge filed with the Georgia Office of Administrative Hearings after the revocation is legally final.
“Telfair Forest Products was poised to be the posted child for how air quality regulations have failed communities surrounding biomass wood pellet plants,” said Jennifer Whitfield, a senior attorney in the SELC’s Georgia office.
“It is troubling that it took the threat of litigation for the EPD to do the right thing,” added G Webber, director of the Sierra Club’s Georgia chapter. “Still, it is gratifying to know that the residents of Telfair County will not face such an unhealthy level of air pollution.”
The biomass industry is booming in Georgia, the nation’s No.-1 state for the forestry industry. Wood pellets produced by cutting down trees are shipped to markets in Europe and Asia, where they are burned for power.
While environmental groups oppose the process because of the unhealthy air emissions, the industry’s supporters say wood pellet plants create jobs in rural counties with chronically high unemployment rates.
by Dave Williams | Oct 24, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A multinational manufacturer of transformers for a wide range of industrial applications will expand its footprint in Georgia by investing $15.3 million during the next five years in a plant in Waynesboro, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday.
TMC Transformers USA Inc. – which is based in Italy and has 500 employees and offices in Europe, America, and East Asia – will create at least 110 jobs in Burke County with the new facility.
“When we lead economic missions overseas and meet with companies like TMC, we do so to bring more opportunities back to hardworking Georgians,” Kemp said. “Job creators like them can build a strong foundation alongside communities like Waynesboro.”
TMC established its first U.S. production plant early last year in Burke County.
“The launch of the new plant highlights TMC’s strategic plans for substantial growth in North America,” said Cristiano Palladini, president of TMC USA. “We’re excited that Waynesboro will be a welcoming base for us.”
The new plant is expected to begin operations in 2026. The company is now hiring for roles in management, administrative staff, production technicians, operators, testers, sales, and quality control.
Interested individuals can learn more about careers with TMC at tmctransformers.us.
The state Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce term worked on the project in partnership with the Development Authority of Burke County.
by Dave Williams | Oct 23, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Former President Donald Trump brought his campaign to Republican-friendly Middle Georgia Wednesday, appearing before an enthusiastic crowd at Christ Chapel in Zebulon.
Billed as a Believers and Ballots Town Hall, the event had a religious flavor. In a much different format from Trump’s usually raucous rallies, the former president answered questions from the audience with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones serving as moderator.
Calling the Nov. 5 election the most important in U.S. history, Trump promised to put an end to illegal immigration by deporting illegal immigrants, a group he accused of being responsible for a disproportionate number of violent crimes in America.
“It’s the single biggest problem we have,” he said. “We’re going to do something to stop it real quickly.”
Democrats have countered that illegal immigrants actually commit fewer crimes as a group than the general public. On Tuesday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported illegal border crossings have reached the lowest point since President Joe Biden took office in 2021.
Trump also vowed to curb inflation by pursuing a “Drill, baby, drill” policy aimed at making the U.S. energy independent. He said lower energy prices would bring down costs throughout the economy.
In answer to a question on Israel, a nation that evangelical Christians strongly support, Trump listed several accomplishments of his administration, including moving the American embassy there to Jerusalem and withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump also repeated complaints that he has been targeted unfairly by state and federal prosecutors. The former president was convicted in New York earlier this year of 34 felonies for falsifying business records in connection with payments of hush money to a former porn star to cover up a sexual relationship that was threatening to become public shortly before he won the presidency in 2016.
He also has been indicted on charges to trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Biden.
“I’ve been investigated more than any human being in this country,” Trump said. “The FBI, DOJ (Justice Department), they all were coming. … They don’t do that except in Third World countries.”
Jones thanked Trump for working with country music star Jason Aldean of Macon to start a GoFundMe page for victims of Hurricane Helene that raised $7 million.
Trump said Gov. Brian Kemp, who ran afoul of the former president when he refused to participate in efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, did a good job coordinating the state’s response to the massive storm.
“We had a lot of help from your governor,” Trump said. “He’s been great.”
Both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, have made multiple campaign trips to Georgia, one of seven battleground states where the election will be decided. Harris will be back in the Atlanta area for a rally Thursday night that will feature former President Barack Obama and rock legend Bruce Springsteen.
by Dave Williams | Oct 23, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., introduced legislation Wednesday aimed at strengthening federal oversight of state foster care systems.
The bipartisan bill, cosponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, follows a 13-month investigation a Senate subcommittee chaired by Ossoff conducted into the abuse and neglect of children in Georgia’s foster care system.
Among the Human Rights Subcommittee’s findings were incidents involving “hidden” foster care placements, which occur when a state child protection agency places a child with a caregiver informally.
In many cases, these placements involve relatives. Such placements are happening without the oversight of a court, and these children are not counted in official foster care numbers.
Ossoff’s bill would require states to measure and report to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) incidents in which children are separated from their parents and placed with a caregiver informally. HHS would be required to submit a publicly available report to Congress on the use of hidden foster care.
“This bipartisan legislation … will strengthen federal oversight of state foster care systems and better protect foster children from physical abuse, sexual abuse, or human trafficking,” Ossoff said.
The subcommittee interviewed more than 100 witnesses and reviewed thousands of pages of documents to investigate the human rights violations children may be suffering in foster care.
by Dave Williams | Oct 23, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – More than 1.8 million Georgians cast their ballots during the first week of early voting, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Wednesday.
That record number, which included early votes through Tuesday, was expected to cross the 2 million mark by midday Wednesday, representing more than 26% of the state’s electorate.
Raffensperger reported the early voting numbers during a news conference in which he also revealed that a citizenship audit his office conducted last summer turned up only 20 non-U.S. citizens on Georgia’s voter rolls out of 8.2 million registered voters. The secretary of state’s office canceled their voter registrations
“Georgia has the cleanest voter list in the entire country,” Raffensperger said. “Georgians can trust in their elections.”
Gabriel Sterling, the agency’s chief operating officer, said the 20 registered voters who turned out not to be citizens were identified because they had signed affidavits indicating they weren’t citizens in order to get out of jury duty. They came from Bibb, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Henry counties, he said.
Sterling said the secretary of state’s office referred156 other registered voters suspected of being non-citizens to local authorities for further investigation.
Raffensperger said the agency identified 432,474 registered voters last year who have changed residences, moving either inside Georgia or out of state. He credited those results to Georgia’s membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a network of states that share data on voters.
“I believe every state should be a member of ERIC,” he said.
Sterling also shot down a conspiracy theory that Georgia’s Dominion voting system has been “flipping” votes.
“There’s zero evidence of machines flipping votes,” he said. “That was true in 2020, and it’s true now.”
Sterling said non-citizens have no incentive for trying to game the voter registration system because, if they get caught, they lose their chance to become a citizen.
“It’s very high risk and low reward,” he said.
Early voting in Georgia will continue through Nov. 1, four days before Election Day.
by Dave Williams | Oct 23, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Leading global insurance company American International Group Inc. (AIG) will establish a new innovation hub in DeKalb County that will create more than 600 jobs, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
The project will triple AIG’s current Atlanta-area office space to accommodate more than 1,000 employees.
“Again and again, job creators are choosing the No.-1 state for business not just for first-time investment, but for expansion as well,” Kemp said. “AIG’s decision to grow their footprint here in Georgia is just the latest confirmation that we have what businesses want and are leveraging those assets to their fullest so we can bring new opportunity to all parts of our state.”
AIG’s new Atlanta innovation hub, set to open in 2026, will be designed as a collaborative workspace where various teams can work together to test new processes and incubate digital capabilities for customers.
“This investment is part of our commitment to continue to enhance our expertise to help our clients and partners navigate complex and emerging risks while building additional capabilities for the future,” said Peter Zaffino, AIG’s chairman and CEO.
The company will be hiring to fill various roles in underwriting, claims, operations, data engineering, and artificial intelligence. Interested individuals can learn more at www.aig.com/careers.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked on the project in partnership with the economic development authority Decide DeKalb, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the University System of Georgia, and Georgia Power.
