Victory: Cobb EMC Pulls Out of Coal-fired Power Plants

Late on the evening of January 24, the board of directors at Cobb EMC made an unprecedented about-face, and voted to freeze the EMC’s funding for two coal-fired power plants: Plant Washington and Plant Ben Hill. Without their biggest investor, these coal plants are now more on the ropes than ever. A consortium of utility [...]

Tide begins to turn against coal-fired Plant Washington

In Georgia, another coal plant is dead, and murmurs from Cobb EMC indicate that the tide may be turning against construction and pursuit of Plant Washington and its twin coal-fired power plant proposal, Plant Ben Hill. Plant Longleaf, a coal-fired power plant proposed near Blakely, GA, was canceled in December 2011 after millions of dollars and more [...]

Enough Lies and Misinformation

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is set to finalize a crucial new clean air rule to limit mercury pollution. Meanwhile opponents of clean energy are tripping over themselves to have the most outlandish (and erroneous) criticisms of the rule. For instance, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the following on December 15th: Athens[, GA] Republican [...]

Report on power plant water use garners SE media coverage

On November 15, the EW3 (Energy and Water in a Warming World) Initiative released a report titled, Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource. Across the Southeast the media paid close attention to the valuable new information in this report, and in large part because of the efforts of SACE staff [...]

New Leadership Signals Trouble Ahead for Plant Washington

Board of Director elections held Saturday, November 12 at Cobb EMC raised the profile of member dissatisfaction with the Atlanta-area utility co-op’s decision-making and leadership to a new level. New board members swept all four seats in the election by huge margins and will be sworn in at today’s Cobb EMC board meeting (Nov. 22, [...]

Georgia Review on Energy and Water in a Warming World Report

To follow our recent blog post about activities in North Carolina last week surrounding the release of the Energy and Water in a Warming World (EW3) initiative’s new report, Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource, here’s a look-back on our events in Georgia. Why release such a report in [...]

New Report Highlights Power Plant Stress on Freshwater Supplies in Southeast

A new report by the Energy and Water in a Warming World Initiative (EW3), “Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource,” details how water use by power plants for cooling needs stresses freshwater resources around the country, including here in the Southeast. The report also reveals that the reporting of water [...]

When a Clean Energy Standard is None of the Above

A new report has been released by the Energy Information Administration (U.S. Department of Energy) analyzing the impacts of a so-called federal “Clean Energy Standard.” But before we delve into the study, a bit of political history is necessary to put the CES and this analysis in context. President Obama jumped onto the CES bandwagon in [...]

Citizens take charge of their health, test for toxic mercury

This blog was written by Eriqah Foreman Williams with input from Amelia Shenstone. On Saturday October 15, free burgers, beautiful weather, and a high school marching band drew Covington, GA residents to an unusual event – a community health fair, including free mercury testing courtesy of SACE. Southern Alliance for Clean Energy partnered with Quad [...]

White House Stands Behind Victims of Kingston Disaster

The White House took a strong stand for the environment yesterday, issuing a statement against a proposed bill currently looming in Congress that would undermine the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to adopt strong safeguards for coal ash management. In that statement the Administration specifically identified the 2008 Kingston disaster as a reminder of why strong [...]