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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
This post was authored by Eriqah Foreman Williams, Georgia Coal Diversity Organizer, with input from Amelia Shenstone. On July 21 Snapping Shoals EMC members, with support from SACE and our partners, stood up to the EMC’s board of directors to stop Plant Washington and Plant Ben Hill. Snapping Shoals EMC is one of the Georgia [...]
Southern Company, the dinosaur of the utility world, has now declared new coal plants a dead end due to competitive prices of natural gas. The April 18, 2011 Energy & Coal Price Report reports that Southern Company (parent company of Georgia Power) told the North Carolina Coal Institute spring meeting it has no plans to build any new coal plants. Southern [...]
UPDATE: On Jan. 8, the Marietta Daily Journal published an article including SACE and others’ on responses to the indictment. On Thursday, Jan 6, 2011 Dwight Brown, CEO of Cobb EMC, was indicted by a Cobb County Grand Jury on 31 counts of theft, false statement, racketeering, and conspiracy. Cobb EMC is the lead organizer [...]
In welcome and exciting news, the Georgia state court Judge, Ronit Walker, ruled Thursday that the proposed coal-fired Plant Washington air permits are inadequate to protect public health and the environment. According to the ruling, the permit for the proposed 850-MW facility violated Clean Air Act safeguards to limit harmful and toxic air pollution. GreenLaw [...]
In 2008, ten Georgia Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs) joined under the banner “Power4Georgians,” and went public with a proposal to build a new coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, GA, known as Plant Washington. From our perspective, this has been a bad deal for EMC members and the environment from the start, but considering recent trends, [...]
Another New Coal Plant Proposed in South Georgia by Power4Georgians Power4Georgians is at it again. Just recently, citizens in Ben Hill County started hearing rumors that Power4Georgians, a consortium made up of Snapping Shoals EMC, Central GA EMC, Washington County EMC, Upson EMC, and Cobb EMC is looking to develop another 850 MW coal-fired power [...]
Georgia Citizens attended statewide public hearings on Tuesday to voice their opposition to Plant Washington and their frustration with the lack of public opportunity for comment. On Tuesday, Oct. 6th, Georgia citizens gathered together at statewide public hearings sponsored by a coalition of organizations called Georgians for Smart Energy. Residents were there to voice opposition [...]
