Changes

Georgia Power operates [[Scherer Steam Generating Station]]. In January 2009, Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies compiled a list of the 100 most polluting coal plants in the United States in terms of [[Coal waste|coal combustion waste]] (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the [[TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill]].<ref name="iss">Sue Sturgis, [http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/01/coals-ticking-timebomb-could-disaster-strike-a-coal-ash-dump-near-you.html "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?,"] Institute for Southern Studies, January 4, 2009.</ref> The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.<ref>[http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/ "TRI Explorer"], U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed January 2009.</ref>

In March 2009 the Georgia Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power's request to convert its [[Plant Mitchell]] Unit 3 from coal-fired to biomass. Located near Albany, Georgia, the facility will reportedly be able to produce 96 megawatts of power once the conversion is completed in June 2012, making it one of the largest biomass power plants in the United States. Georgia Power says it will draw on wood fuel from suppliers within a 100-mile radius of the power plant, and plans to begin the conversion by spring 2011.<ref>[http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=12363 "Georgia Power Wins Approval to Switch Coal Plant to Biomass Power"] U.S. Department of Energy Website, March 25, 2009</ref>