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News Articles: Coal Ash Ponds

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Critics push for coal ash cleanup as state panel considers Georgia Power 12% rate hike

State regulators are set to vote next week on Georgia Power’s long-term plan that environmental and clean energy advocates say falls short of renewable energy goals and of responsibly closing coal-fired power plants.

July 15, 2022
|
By:
  • Stanley Dunlap
Plant Scherer

Tagged as: 

  • Energy

Georgia Power pressing ahead with coal ash storage plan, slow rollout of clean energy

The Georgia Public Service Commission is set to vote July 22 on Georgia Power’s long-term energy plans for coal plant closings, solar energy production, electric vehicle infrastructure and more.

May 31, 2022
|
By:
  • Stanley Dunlap
Juliette residents speak at State Capitol

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Juliette residents tap into new county water line, but coal ash concerns remain

When it closes, Plant Scherer will leave behind about 16 million tons of toxic coal ash, which is the waste generated when coal is burned to produce energy. The plant is one of four Georgia Power sites where coal ash is poised to be left in unlined pits where it is in contact with groundwater.

May 09, 2022
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
Plant Scherer Coal ash poind

Tagged as: 

  • Energy

Georgia Power exec: Closing coal ash ponds will still leave contaminated groundwater

Four coal ash ponds Georgia Power plans to close in place will continue to expose ash to groundwater after the closures are completed, an executive with the utility disclosed this week.

April 08, 2022
|
By:
  • Dave Williams
Plant Scherer in Juliette

Tagged as: 

  • Energy

State coal ash cleanup process unsettled after new federal EPA directive

Georgia’s top environmental regulator says his agency is adjusting to what he called the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “new interpretation” of an Obama-era coal ash disposal rule.

January 31, 2022
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
Plant Scherer

Tagged as: 

  • Energy

How a powerful company convinced Georgia to let it bury toxic waste in groundwater

For the past several years, Georgia Power has gone to great lengths to skirt the federal rule requiring coal-fired power plants to safely dispose of massive amounts of toxic waste they produced.

January 20, 2022
|
By:
  • Max Blau
The coal ash pond, foreground, where waste from Georgia Power's coal fired Plant Scherer is stored. The EPA said it will not allow coal ash to be stored in contact with groundwater as it is now at Plant Scherer.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

New EPA action could mean big changes for Georgia coal ash storage

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is taking a stronger role in keeping coal ash, the toxic material left over from burning coal to make electricity, away from groundwater. 

January 12, 2022
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
Georgia Power's Plant Scherer, fronted by the pile of coal being prepped to burn to make electricity, in 2019.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Environmentalists' 2021 list of Georgia water problems features old and new issues

Georgia environmental advocates have released their annual list of water issues they say need to be addressed — their so-called Dirty Dozen. 

December 15, 2021
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
Plant Scherer in Monroe County

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Sierra Club appealing coal ash ruling to Georgia Supreme Court

Georgia Power plans to excavate and remove the ash from 19 ponds and close the other 10 ponds in place. Lawyers for the Sierra Club have argued the PSC failed to take into account Georgia Power’s culpability in creating the coal ash problem to begin with, and thus should not be allowed to pass all of those costs onto customers. 

December 08, 2021
|
By:
  • Dave Williams
Plant Scherer

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

State Regulators Poised To Set Georgia Power's Toxic Coal Ash Storage Legacy

Here in Georgia, the state Environmental Protection Division has issued the first proposed permit allowing Georgia Power to press forward with plans to leave more than 1 million tons of coal ash in an unlined pit at Floyd County’s Plant Hammond near the Coosa River.

August 09, 2021
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
Georgia Power's Plant Hammond in Rome an undated photo. Coal ash pond 3 is more than half of the property and only yards from the Coosa River.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Public Comment Sought On Northwest Georgia Coal Ash Plan

Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division appears poised to approve a storage plan that would allow the toxic material left over from burning coal to generate electricity, so-called coal ash, to remain potentially in the path of an underground aquifer feeding the Coosa River in Northwest Georgia. 

August 06, 2021
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
Gloria Hammond says Georgia Power first asked to buy her home near the coal ash pond at the utility's Plant Scherer not long after her husband, Cason, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. GRANT BLANKENSHIP / GPB NEWS

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Georgia Today: Is Coal Ash Poisoning Water In Juliette, Ga.? Residents Say Yes And They Want Answers

Stories of unexplained illnesses, cancers and death have been the talk of Juliette, Georgia, for years. The town outside Macon is home to Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the country. Juliette residents say coal ash from the plant is poisoning their water supply. Now, they’re calling for policymakers to help. 

April 23, 2021
|
By:
  • Steve Fennessy and
  • Jess Mador
Plant Scherer Aerial View

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Sierra Club Challenging Plan To Charge Georgia Power Customers For Coal Ash Cleanup

The Sierra Club filed an appeal Friday to a court decision upholding Georgia Power Co.’s plan to collect from customers $525 million in coal ash pond closure costs. The state Public Service Commission (PSC) gave the Atlanta-based utility permission to pass along those costs as part of Georgia Power’s 2019 rate case. 

April 12, 2021
|
By:
  • Dave Williams
Georgia State Capitol

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Environmentalists Win Trust Fund Protection In An Otherwise Disappointing Legislative Session

When the dust settled from this year’s General Assembly session, environmental advocates were looking at some success but mostly disappointments.

April 06, 2021
|
By:
  • Dave Williams
Plant Scherer

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Bill To Increase Monitoring Of Coal Ash Faces Uncertain Future

A Georgia Senate committee put off voting Wednesday on a bill to tighten monitoring requirements for ash generated by coal-burning power plants.

March 24, 2021
|
By:
  • Dave Williams
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