Tag Archives: Activism

T-SPLOST losing statewide, but not in Region 11

It sounds like good news for T-SPLOST opponents, until you look at the details.

Eve Chen wrote for 11Alive yesterday, 11Alive Poll | T-SPLOST would not pass today

Among likely voters surveyed by SurveyUSA for 11Alive News, across the state, 48% said they would vote against T-SPLOST and 36% said they would vote for it if the primary were today; 16% were still undecided. The margin of error was 3.4%.

But look at the details. The big No regions are Atlanta metro and northwards (see Question 1). In our Region 11 it’s Yes 41%, No 33%, Not Certain 26% so there’s work to be done. Do we want to end up stuck with projects we don’t need after Atlanta votes down its region in a referendum that was designed to pass in Atlanta?

My favorite is question 6:

How likely is it that the state government would properly handle the funds if the transportation tax increase is passed?

In region 11, Very 17%, Somewhat 24%, Not Very 25%, Not At All 21%, Not Sure 14%. Trust problem, GDOT?

And nobody is buying the scare tactics. See Question 4, for which every region says by around 2 to 1 that traffic would stay about the same without T-SPLOST. Question 3 indicates few even think T-SPLOST would improve traffic. We also know a Plan B is possible. How about a Plan B including public transportation for south Georgia to help people get to work?

-jsq

Dear Southern Company: Green Energy Now! –Protesters

At yesterday’s Big Bets movie premiere, Southern Company doubled down and dug deeper in the hole.

Joeff Davis wrote for Fresh Loaf yesterday, Protesters picket utility’s Midtown film premiere, blast construction of new nuclear reactors

On the same day that tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Tokyo against the restart of Japan’s nuclear reactors, roughly 30 protesters chanted, marched, and handed out flyers today in Midtown to protest against Georgia Power’s construction of two new nuclear reactors in eastern Georgia. The two units, which are located about 175 miles from downtown Atlanta, are the first to be built in the United States in nearly three decades.

“Georgia Power is using our money to pay for something we don’t need, we don’t want and is killing us,” said Margie Resse as she handed out flyers outside the Fox Theatre. Southern Company, Georgia Power’s parent company, had reserved the historic Midtown venue to screen a documentary that it commissioned about the utility’s 100-year history for shareholders and executives.

The flyers claimed that Southern Company used “its notorious lobbying machine to

push a $2 billion rate hike” onto Georgia ratepayers to build “two risky nuclear reactors on the Savannah River,” which the groups say are months behind schedule and $900 million overbudget. The flyer urges ratepayers to refuse to pay a fee tacked on to utility bills that helps pay for the reactors’ construction.

Southern Company Spokesman Steve Higginbottom, standing just inside the Fox Theatre’s entrance and speaking barely above the protesters’ chants, said that Southern Company supports the rights of protesters but disputes their claims.

The “$900 million” figure cited by protesters, he said, has been alleged by Westinghouse, the manufacturer of the reactor, and Shaw, the project’s general contractor.

Um, Southern Company’s response is to talk about infighting among the consortium building the new nukes? SO could be digging themselves a hole deeper than the one the reactors sit in….

I do compliment Higginbottom and Southern Company on being consistently civil, however.

-jsq

CNN report on cancer in Shell Bluff, GA: near nuclear Plant Vogtle

CNN reported in 2010 on Shell Bluff, Georgia, near Southern Company’s nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Why is there so much cancer in such a small population? Why are not just the older folks, but younger folks, dying? Who is looking into all this before Southern Company builds two new reactors? Um, not clear. Does that seem right to you?

Here’s the video:

-jsq

Yes we can make a transportation Plan B after voting down T-SPLOST

Politifact Georgia's Terry Lawler examined a T-SPLOST supporter's assertion that there can be no Plan B if voters reject T-SPLOST July 31st and found that claim mostly false. I don't think he went far enough: we can change the legislature in this election, and a new legislature can come up with an entirely different plan.

PolitiFact Georgia read the state House of Representatives bill that was passed in 2010 to allow the referendum. In the last one-third of House Bill 277, there is a sentence that confirms that point.

"If more than one-half of the votes cast throughout the entire special district are in favor of levying the tax, then the tax shall be levied as provided in this article; otherwise the tax shall not be levied and the question of levying the tax shall not again be submitted to the voters of the special district until after 24 months immediately following the month in which the election was held."

That's only what the T-SPLOST enabling legislation says. The legislature could come up with a completely different plan. How about a Plan B like the ones proposed by the Georgia Sierra Club and the Atlanta Tea Party? How about we let the state gas tax automatic increases happen and use that to fund real transportation projects like busses and trains and airports?

-jsq

Southern Company movie Big Bets at the Fox in Atlanta this afternoon

If you happen to be in Atlanta, there's a movie premiere this afternoon! Southern Company has made a movie out of its corporate biography, Big Bets, and is showing it today.

1:30 PM 16 July 2012
The Fox Theatre Atlanta
660 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30308

Oh, sorry, SO didn't send you a ticket? Well, I hear there will be people standing outside with signs starting around 1:30 PM. Maybe you'd like to join them. And if you're not in Atlanta, maybe you'd like to do something where you are.

Here's a preview of the movie, starring FDR: as the villain!

This appears to be the entire book online as a PDF. It starts in on FDR on page 100:

FDR had become known in utility circles as a “dangerous man” for advocating state ownership of power projects and denouncing the “sins of wildcat public-utility operators” and the “Insull monstrosity” with insinuations that all utilities were guilty of betraying the public's trust. He also proclaimed the rights of any community unhappy with its service to take over private utility operations and develop their own power sites—a “birch rod in the cupboard” to be used when good service was not provided by private companies.

Imagine that, generating your own community power! Imagine it, but you can't do it. Southern Company and Georgia Power fixed that in the 1973 Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act.

What you won't see in the movie or read about in the book, Big Bets, is much about the bet-the-farm risk of nuclear power (bond-rater Moody's phrase), or how much water nuclear uses, or the profit opportunity of renewable energy such as solar and wind power. You can see some shareholders ask SO CEO Thomas A. Fanning about some of those things in these videos from the shareholder meeting back in May. If you run into him at the movie premiere, maybe you can check in with him on whether any of his answers have evolved, for example, does he still think SO won't get to solar or wind power this decade? Or maybe you’d like to ask Southern Company some questions online.

-jsq

Pro-pot reform equals votes

Why are we still arresting people for pot? Do we need to feed the private-prison-industrial-complex that bad? Nobody here profits by this racket (at least we hope they don't) other than illegal drug dealers. It's time to legalize, tax, and regulate.

Paul Armentano wrote for AlterNet 10 July 2012, There's Been a Tectonic Shift on Marijuana Across the US, Except in Washington — Why Can't We Pop the Beltway Bubble?

America is at a tipping point when it comes to the politics of pot. Never in modern history has there existed greater public support for ending this nation's nearly century-long experiment with cannabis prohibition and replacing it with a system legalization and regulation. Moreover, state and local politicians beyond the ‘Beltway bubble’ for the first time in many decades are responding to this sea change in public opinion, even if their colleagues in Washington are not. From Rhode Island to Texas, from New York City to Chicago, lawmakers are finally acknowledging that being pro-pot reform equals votes. The question is: Why isn't Washington getting the message?

How much change in public opinion?

Continue reading →

Sidewalk snaps up behind coal in Georgia: Snapping Shoals EMC drops Power4Georgians

Only a few months ago, Cobb EMC pulled out of Power4Georgians and their coal plant plans; now Snapping Shoals EMC does the same. The sidewalk is indeed snapping up behind coal in Georgia. As once again customers of an EMC decide to run for its board. Southern Company and Georgia Power, are you listening? Not just about coal; also about those new nukes.

The insurgent candidates have a facebook page, Smart Energy for Snapping Shoals.

PR yesterday from Georgians for Smart Energy, Snapping Shoals EMC Backs Away From Risky Coal Plant Venture

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GA PSC Forum videos online now

I hear somebody asked about Georgia Power's Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) stealth tax charge to customers for Southern Company's new nukes at Plant Vogtle. Maybe some of these candidates for the Public Service Commission could help get Georgia Power and SO to stop suppressing solar and wind in Georgia, maybe even to lead the way.

GIPL wrote today,

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Political Forum on the Georgia Public Service Commission. We had a great turnout, and learned a lot about the 2012 candidates for the PSC.

This is a statewide election, so please share this video far and wide with your friends. The primary election will be held on July 31, and the PSC will also be on the ballot in November.

Participants in last night's forum included (from left to right) Republican Matthew Reid and Democrat Steve Oppenheimer, who are both challenging incumbent Republican Commissioner Chuck Eaton in District 3, and Republican Pam Davidson and Libertarian David Staples, who are running against incumbent Republican Commissioner Stan Wise in District 5.

Beth Bond from Southeast Green moderated the media panel featuring Kristi Swartz from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Walter Jones from Morris News Service, and Jonathan Shapiro from WABE.

Georgia Interfaith Power & Light hosted this forum. Co-hosts included 14 local environmental, religious, and advocacy organizations, including Southeast Green, Georgia WAND, GA Sierra Club, Civic League of Regional Atlanta, Glenn Memorial UMC Environmental Committee, GreenLaw, Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, Common Cause, League of Women Voters, Georgia Watch, Ryan Taylor Architects LLC, Sustainable Atlanta, Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta, Inc., Trinity Presbyterian Church Sustainability Committee, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Here's the video:

-jsq

Sierra Club and Tea Party have produced Plan B for T-SPLOST

Yes, there is a Plan B for T-SPLOST. Two of them, actually, and they are in agreement on several major points.

David Pendered wrote for the Saporta Report yesterday, Called to produce their Plan B, groups detail their alternatives to proposed 1 percent transportation sales tax

Two organized opponents of the proposed 1 percent transportation sales tax said Thursday they are baffled by the allegation by tax advocates that the opponents have not offered an alternative to the tax.

The Sierra Club issued its alternative in writing in April, and members of the Atlanta Tea Party have voiced a consistent set of alternatives since October.

“We have common ground on this issue. There some things we don’t agree on, but we agree that this tax has got to be stopped,” said Debbie Dooley, a co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party.

Both the Atlanta Tea Party and Sierra Club responded Thursday to a request from SaportaReport.com to provide their alternatives to the referendum. The request came after the campaign for the sales tax challenged them Wednesday to release their solution to relieve traffic congestion, in lieu of the transportation sales tax.

The article includes details of each of their responses, plus this handy list.

Continue reading →

Solar already beats gas

Here’s an answer to the question of How long until solar beats gas?

Gayle Reaves wrote for fwweekly 11 July 2012, Serious about Solar,

Even on not-so-sunny days, solar still produces. David Power, deputy director of Public Citizen’s Texas office, said that back in February, when cold weather and power plant outages produced blackouts, CPS‘ solar farm was on line and producing. “It was a pretty nasty day, cloudy, and there was a couple of inches of ice on the solar farm,” he said. “But they were still getting 30 to 35 percent of normal production out of it, even on the worst day you could imagine.”

Costs for solar panels have dropped dramatically in the last few years, although by some measures solar energy is still more expensive than that from gas-burning plants.

Power said that the comparisons that show solar to be more expensive are measuring the cost of building a solar plant compared to generating power from a fossil-fuel plant that may have been built and paid for decades ago. In marginal cost comparisons, he said, solar power comes out as costing either the same or less than building a new natural gas plant. “For that you have to get air quality permits and pay for fuel costs,” he said. “For the other, the sun shines, you get electricity, and you just have to wash it off once in a while if it doesn’t rain.”

So the answer is it’s already happened: solar beats gas now. So Southern Company’s fracking plan B makes no more sense than its nuclear Plan A.

-jsq