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POWER4Georgians
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This article is part of the Coal Issues portal on SourceWatch, a project of CoalSwarm and the Center for Media and Democracy. |
POWER4Georgians is a consortium of ten Georgia electric membership cooperatives (EMC) (Central Georgia EMC, Cobb EMC, Diverse Power, Excelsior EMC, GreyStone Power, Jackson EMC, Pataula EMC, Snapping Shoals EMC, Upson EMC, and Washington EMC).
In January 2008 the consortium announced plans to build a $2 billion, 850-megawatt (MW) supercritical coal plant in Washington County, Georgia. Applications for air permits were filed with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division in January.[1] (See Washington Plant for more details).
The domain name for the consortium was registered in late December 2007 by Bob Vickery from Allied Energy Services.[2]
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Georgia legislature proposes coal moratorium
House Bill 276, proposed by Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), would put a 5-year moratorium on building new coal plants and eliminate the burning of Appalachian coal mined by mountaintop removal by mid-2016. The Appalachian Mountain Preservation Act would gradually prohibit Georgia coal consumers from using Central Appalachian mountaintop removal beginning in 2011. The bill is backed by environmental groups including Appalachian Voices but received strong opposition from POWER4Georgians.[3][4]
Co-ops leave amid questions of corruption
In May 2009, Jackson EMC and Diverse Power announced they had left Power4Georgians because of the uncertainty over carbon emissions regulations. GreyStone Power and Excelsior EMC also withdrew in May.[5]
Just one day before the withdrawals began, the Institute for Southern Studies released a report about possible corruption related to the project. In April 2009, law enforcement officers searched the homes of top officials with Cobb Electric Membership Corp. A grand-jury investigation is underway into charges of theft from Cobb EMC via a spin-off corporation called Cobb Energy. Dwight Brown, the CEO of both Cobb EMC and Cobb Energy and also the founder and manager of POWER4Georgians, is among those under investigation. The ISS report also cited the questionable hiring of a fully-owned subsidiary of Cobb Energy to construct the $2.2 billion plant. Subsidiary Allied Energy Services received the contract with no competitive bidding process, in spite of the fact that it has no experience building coal plants.[6]
Coal projects sponsored by POWER4Georgians
Contact details
Website: http://www.power4georgians.com/
Articles and Resources
Resources
References
- ↑ "Co-ops Propose $2 Billion Coal-Fired Plant in Georgia", Reuters UK, Jan. 24, 2008.
- ↑ "power4georgians.com", Joker.com, accessed April 2008.
- ↑ "Georgia bill proposes moratorium on new coal plants," Reuters, February 4, 2009.
- ↑ Margaret Newkirk, "Bill would restrict coal power plants," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 4, 2009.
- ↑ David Markiewicz, "2 more co-ops drop out of coal plant group," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 19, 2009.
- ↑ Sue Sturgis "Ga. utilities pull out of coal plant project that faces questions of corruption," May 21, 2009.
Related SourceWatch Articles
External links
- "Tracking New Coal-Fired Power Plants", National Energy Technology Lab, May 2007, page 18. (PDF)
- "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed January 2008. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
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