Fresh Loaf

The Georgia Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear arguments in the controversial case of Plant Longleaf, a coal power plant proposed in Southwest Georgia’s Early County.

Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact reports:

The justices voted 6-0 this week not to consider the appeal, in effect upholding a July decision by the Georgia Court of Appeals that will allow the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to issue a permit for the Longleaf Energy Station.

The case involves a $2 billion, 1,200-megawatt power plant that was originally proposed by two energy companies, Dynegy of Houston, Tex., and New Jersey-based LS Power Associates. It would be the first coal-fired facility in Georgia in 20 years.

(more…)

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Surprise, surprise.

Most of the $1.6 billion in early financing fees that Georgia Power wants to charge customers for additional nuclear reactors would go to the company’s shareholders, and not to finance debt.

…

State Rep. Don Wix, D-Mableton, tried and failed to amend that bill to exclude the $1 billion he estimated would flow to shareholders, if SB 31 is passed.

Georgia Power comptroller Ann Daiss later called Wix’s calculations “reasonable.”

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It’s a wallet, you perverts!

The Associated Press reports that Atlanta-based Southern Co., parent company of Georgia Power, Alabama Power, God-We-Have-So-Much Power, and other utilities, spent more than $14 million last year on lobbying the U.S. Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Energy Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

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Coming in over the transom: A new “coal-fueled” power plant has been proposed for Washington County. Here are the filthy details.

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Gallons of water consumed by average Cobb County household in
October: 6,510

Gallons of water used by Cobb resident Chris G. Carlos in October:
440,000

Swimming pools that much water could fill: 58

Gallons of water power plants Atkinson and McDonough consume daily from the Chattahoochee River: 862 million

Number of power plants located along the Chattahoochee River: 10

New jobs that proposed coal-fired power plant Longleaf could
bring to Early County, Georgia’s sixth poorest county: 100

Gallons of water Longleaf is expected to draw from the Chattahoochee each day, according to the AJC: 20 million

“Drops” of water Longleaf will “normally” draw from the Chattahoochee daily, according to plant project manager: 0

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The New Republic, Southern
Environmental Law Center, Greenlaw

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Of the 15 senators and representatives representing Georgia in Congress, number who are millionaires: 11

Percentage of Americans in 2005 whose net worth exceeded $1 million: 3

Median family income in Georgia in 2005: $53,744

Annual salary of U.S. senators and representatives: $165,000

Amount Rep. John Linder, worth $23.5 million, says he earned in royalties from the book The Fair Tax, co-authored with talk-show host Neal Boortz: $500,000

Approximate tax owed on $500,000 book income: $147,206

Tax Linder would owe on $500,000 book income if his Fair Tax proposal became law: $0

Combined self-reported net worth of Republican senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss: $12.7 million

Cost over five years of children’s health-care funding that Isakson and Chambliss voted against last week: $35 billion

Cost over next decade of extending Bush-proposed tax cuts, a proposal both senators support: $1 trillion

Sources: Macon Telegraph, U.S. Census Bureau, CNN Money.com, the Center for Responsive Politics, Washington Post, MoneyChimp.com, Congressional Budget Office

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