It’s getting more urgent than ever to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy to minimize the devastation of climate change, according to a landmark report last week. And solar panels are cheaper than ever. But for Georgia Power customers, it’s not quite that simple. Most still need to get some of their electricity from the utility, and a program that made that mix of power sources affordable has just filled up.
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.
Plant Vogtle’s first new nuclear reactor may not start producing energy for Georgia consumers until at least next June, which would be a longer delay than Georgia Power predicted just last month.
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.
Hot functional testing has begun on the first of the new reactors, Unit 3, at the plant south of Augusta. That’s the final series of major tests the reactor must pass prior to initial fuel load.
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.
A new environmental report says that Georgia Power’s parent company and other regional utilities are not doing enough to reduce greenhouse emissions to avoid climate disaster.
A new water line is up and running at the first home in a middle Georgia town where concerns over water quality fueled support for proposed coal ash legislation last year.
The fight over the future of Georgia Power’s coal ash ponds has returned to the Gold Dome. And its outcome could influence whether thousands of Georgians will need to worry about groundwater contamination potentially caused by the toxic waste sites.
Georgia’s largest electric public utility and its parent company received failing grades in an advocacy group’s new report sizing up the climate plans of the country’s regulated utilities.
Georgia Power is putting off some of this year’s milestones in the construction schedule for the nuclear expansion at Plant Vogtle, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Veteran Georgia Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald withstood a challenge from Democrat Daniel Blackman Tuesday, winning reelection to a six-year term.
