Fresh Loaf

You’d have to be a hopeless local politics wonk — or a reporter — to even have been aware that Borders was the subject of an ethics complaint. Now that it’s been dismissed, you can return to your state of blissful and well-earned ignorance. You’re welcome, however, to read on if you’re one of the aforementioned hopeless wonks.

Right off the bat, I should mention that Borders wasn’t accused of any of the typical charges against elected officials — missed document-filing deadlines, misappropriation of campaign funds, nepotism, coprophilia, etc. Instead, the allegation was that the Atlanta City Council President engaged in improper lobbying during the 2007 General Assembly on behalf of her then-employer, Cousins Properties.

If the complaint had been found valid, Borders could have been fined. But even worse would’ve been the embarrassment and distraction from her mayoral campaign. As it was, the accusation was dismissed because the only evidence of wrong-doing was circumstantial — although eyebrow-raising to many at the Gold Dome.

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The Commies may have bested us in the space race, but state Rep. Tim Bearden will be damned — damned, I say — if he’ll let them drill for oil first.

Yesterday, a House Energy Subcommittee convened to hear House Resolution 32, a piece of legislation penned by the Republican lawmaker from Douglasville that urges Gov. Sonny Perdue to begin leasing land off Georgia’s coast so private companies could dri— oops, sorry, “explore” — for oil and natural gas.

The bill’s message is one near and dear to many lawmakers’ — as well as some citizens’ — hearts.

There are some hurdles, however. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recently pulled the reins on a push to drill offshore. And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says any oil tapped from the outer continental shelf wouldn’t make an impact until 2030.

That’s not stopping other countries from drilling, Bearden said.

“China is drilling off the coast of Cuba,” he told his colleagues.

Well, maybe not. China isn’t drilling off Cuba’s coast. At least not just yet.

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Ethics complaints filed by a Sierra Club lobbyist for alleged improper influence-peddlin’ at the state Capitol for the controversial “private cities” bill require further investigation,  says Rick Thompson, executive director of the Georgia State Ethics Commission.

The complaints, filed by Gold Dome-fixture and eco-lobbyist Neill Herring, allege Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, political consultant Derrick Dickey and two developer brothers from Dublin, Ga. lobbied without registering for “infrastructure development districts” — a mechanism that would’ve allowed developers to issue tax-free bonds to pay for sewers, roads and schools on their properties. The districts are legal in 17 other states. (You may have seen television advertisements for one, Florida’s “The Villages.”) Opponents of the concept call them “private cities” and say they are catalysts for sprawl. The legislation passed the General Assembly but failed a statewide referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot. (CL weighed in on the issue prior to the General Election.)

Thompson says commission staff needs to gather additional information to investigate Herring’s complaints.

The commission sifted through a laundry list of ethical complaints at its hearing yesterday against state representatives, lobbyists and Mayor Shirley Franklin. (According to the AJC’s Jim Galloway, the mayor’s agreed to pay a fine for “paperwork violations” and “failing to fully explain some of her campaign expenditures.”) Thompson says complaints filed by ethics watchdog George Anderson against Fulton County Superior Judge T. Jackson Bedford for not adequately completing campaign finance disclosures were dismissed by the commission because Bedford corrected the error.

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Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders and a former member of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s staff have been named, along with a South Georgia construction firm, in state ethics complaints for unregistered lobbying at the Gold Dome.

Neill Herring, a longtime Sierra Club lobbyist, filed the complaints with the State Ethics Commission last week. (To view Herring’s statement of facts, click here.) The grievances center around alleged unregistered lobbying for SB 200 and SR 309, two pieces of legislation that dealt with the testy issue of  “infrastructure development districts.” The initiative passed both chambers in the General Assembly and was signed into law by Perdue in 2007.

Commonly called “private cities” by their critics, the districts allow developers to issue tax-exempt bonds and levy assessments on property owners to pay for roads, sewers, or even amenities like golf courses. The practice is legal and used in 17 other states. The districts often begin as greenfield projects in cash-strapped counties and offer developers an incentive to pursue a project. Environmentalists, however, say private cities are catalysts for sprawl and grant government powers to a private entity.  The Sierra Club has been at the front of the fight against the concept. Voters will be presented with a referendum on the general election ballot that asks whether such districts should be legal in Georgia.

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A little more than one year after filing suit against a coal plant proposed for an impoverished pocket of southwest Georgia, opponents emerged victorious in the case and say the decision alters the legal landscape for one of the chief causes of global warming.

Justine Thompson of GreenLaw, the environmental law firm that fought the power plant, says Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore established a precedent this morning when she reversed a ruling by a lower court regarding a permit issued by the state Environmental Protection Division to Dynegy Co., the Houston-based company that planned to build the plant in Early County. Moore’s ruling — the first in the nation — states that the state agency must consider carbon dioxide emissions when it issues air-quality permits.

“A bombshell court ruling today,” Frank O’Donnell of the Clean Air Watch, a Washington D.C.-based environmental group, wrote in an e-mail about Moore’s decision. “This ruling could have far-reaching implications. Those proposing coal plants elsewhere are going to be running for the Excedrin.”

Bruce Nilles of the Sierra Club says the ruling is nonbinding for other states but would most likely be considered when cases involving new or modified coal power plants come before a court. Nationwide, he said, 130 new coal plants are proposed. Of those, nearly 80 are in the permitting process and more than half are being battled in court by the Sierra Club.

“In a case that is being watched across the country, Judge Moore has sent a message that it is not acceptable for the state to put profits over public health,” Thompson said in a statement. “This ruling goes a long way toward protecting the right of Georgians to breathe clean air and sends a message to EPD that it must tighten the standards it uses to approve air pollution permits for companies seeking to build any more coal-fired power plants in this state.” (more…)

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It’s hard to miss the opponents of coal-fired power plants — they’re decked out in bright colors, holding signs warning of the hazards of the carbon-belching behemoths, and are large in number when the chance arises to trumpet their cause. Those who support the nation’s cheapest and most predominant power providers wear suits, travel in stealth mode, and have high-dollar lawyers do all the talking for them.

That was the case this morning in Fulton County Superior Court when Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore presided over a packed courtroom to hear arguments over Georgia’s first coal-fired power plant in 20 years.

Houston-based Dynegy and LS Power plan to build the plant in southwest Georgia near Albany. Lawyers from the environmental law firm GreenLaw representing the Sierra Club and Friends of the Chattahoochee argued that the 1,200-megawatt plant would not regulate the estimated 9 million tons of carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas and chief culprit of global warming — and be in violation of state and federal law. Also of concern was the permitting process conducted by the state Environmental Protection Division.

The proposed plant has been called both a Godsend and a curse for impoverished Early County, one of the poorest in Georgia. Proponents for the $2-billion plant argue that it will create 750 construction jobs and 100 permanent positions and in years would become the county’s largest taxpayer. Critics point to the fact that its presence would result in a health hazard for its citizens and the rest of the state, ultimately stunting the county from making any real gains in the future. That’s not to mention the concerns about global warming.

Lawyers from Longleaf argued that while the issue of global warming and the impact of coal-fired power plants needs to be addressed, the discussion should not take place in the courtroom. They argued that critics were using the court to push that discussion and that it’s a policy decision best left to policymakers such as the Georgia General Assembly and the U.S. Congress.

The state is still in denial as to whether global warming even exists. The U.S. Senate, however, is beginning such a discussion this week, one which President Bush is expected to veto if it proves successful in bringing about change to the country’s current stance on global warming.

Moore is expected to deliver a ruling in 30 days.

“No one can be employed if they’re falling down dying,” she said, adding that she had 19 boxes of documents sitting in the clerk’s office that she needed to examine. “We need to look at both the economy and the environment. That’s what I will do.”

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Like breathing clean air? Don’t want to inhale toxins? You might want to keep your eyes peeled on Fulton County Superior Court tomorrow.

Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore will hear arguments over whether coal power plants should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant and harmful to humans. The argument stems from the state Environmental Protection Division’s decision to issue an air pollution permit to Dynegy, the nation’s largest plant builder, for its proposed plant in impoverished Early County. The 1,200-megawatt plant slated to be built on the banks of the Chattahoochee in southwest Georgia is estimated to emit 9 million tons of CO2 every year — the equivalent of 1.5 million cars driving 12,000 miles each year.

A group of environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Friends of the Chattahoochee are fighting the plant. GreenLaw, an Atlanta-based environmental law firm, is arguing the case. The judge’s ruling — which is expected within 30 days of the hearing — could halt or suspend the plant’s construction.

The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. at at the Fulton County Superior Court located at 185 Central Avenue, Atlanta, GA.

For more information about the case, click here.

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FUND TRANSIT State Rep. Dubose Porter, D-Dublin, stands alongside mass-transit supporters Monday and voiced the need for more cash for more options.

It’s become a mantra of passionate rail and bus supporters during the current legislative session: Do something, anything, to kick start the state’s static transit situation.

On Monday afternoon, the message was echoed. Members of Citizens for Progressive Transit, Georgia Public Interest Research Group, the Sierra Club, Mothers and Others for Clean Air and Georgia Brain Train Group, among others, rallied for legislators to pass a proposal that would generate cash to expand bus and rail services.

Advocates say their movement has momentum this year in the form of a state Senate resolution that was nipped and tucked last week by the House. State Rep. Dubose Porter appeared alongside the groups yesterday and said it’s time to start thinking about moving people by rail.

“We cannot pave our way out of gridlock,” Porter said. “This is someone from rural Georgia talking… The bill that is moving through [the General Assembly] is about allowing regions to determine their future.”

Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, supports the need for more transit funding, but told InsiderAdvantage’s Dick Pettys that the current form of the Senate’s proposal reads like an “Atlanta bill.” That could be a problem. Porter said that can be changed if the House dedicates the remaining penny of the motor-fuel tax that’s traditionally gone to the state’s general fund to instead fall under the care of the state DOT. For rural regions which lack the density upon which transit thrives, the generated revenues could go toward road projects.

Also on Monday’s agenda: Release findings of a study they say shows using public transit saves money and gas and lessens our impact on the environment. Rob Thompson of Georgia PIRG presented a study that concluded metro Atlanta transit agencies reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 662,036 metric tons per year and save consumers $228 million in gasoline expenses. (Ariel Hart of That Other Paper has a report questioning some of the study’s findings.) View the agency-by-agency data after the jump.

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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An Atlanta-based environmental law firm today in Fulton County Superior Court appealed a recent decision that would allow a coal-fired power plant to billow in southwest Georgia. GreenLaw, a firm representing Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club, says that the proposed Plant Longleaf in Early County has the potential to release 9 million tons of global-warming pollution annually — the equivalent of putting 1.3 million new cars on Georgia’s roads each year. Dynegy, the company that would build the plant, says it would add jobs to one of the poorest counties in the state.

Opponents of the proposed plant have criticized the state Environmental Protection Division for what it calls a flawed permitting process. The agency did not impose a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide Plant Longleaf would release.

“The need for this plant has never been established,” says Bobby McLendon, a timber farmer and member of Friends of the Chattahoochee who lives near the proposed plant. “But more important, we know that the particulate matter from this plant will increase the number of asthma attacks and incidence of heart disease in Early County, as well as in Albany 50 miles east and in Columbus 80 miles to the north. Why are Georgia’s environmental protection officials content to swap dirty power for the healthy lives of people here in South Georgia?”

GreenLaw attorneys plan to submit evidence that the court did not hear during the first hearing. A hearing for oral arguments will likely be set within 90 days, the group says. For more information about the case, click here or visit GreenLaw’s website here.

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A federal judge in Atlanta this morning approved a permit for Plant Longleaf, a coal-fired power plant in Early County, in the process giving the green light to a facility that is expected to pump out 9 million tons of carbon dioxide each year — the equivalent of 1.3 million cars. GreenLaw, the environmental law firm that brought the case to court on behalf of the Sierra Club and Friends of Chattahoochee, says it will file an appeal before Feb. 1.

GreenLaw criticized the state Environmental Protection Division for not conducting an independent analysis on the potential impacts of Plant Longleaf, including the impact of plant emissions on local crops.

“This is the first coal-fired power plant in over 20 years, and we had hoped the state would do its own independent analysis,” says Justine Thompson of GreenLaw.

Bobby McLendon of Friends of the Chattahoochee and a resident of Early County, says he’s concerned about the plant’s potential health impacts, such as particulate matter. And while he says the medical community in Early County is worried about those effects, the local business community welcomes Longleaf.

“A lot of people down here in the banking business and chamber of commerce-type business, I think they want the thing,” McLendon says. “They think it’ll help.”

Early County is one of Georgia’s poorest counties and Plant Longleaf is expected to bring 100 jobs. McLendon says he doesn’t like to “talk about his neighbors,” but has tried to emphasize the long-term effects the plant may have not just on health, but on the environment as well. Thompson stresses that the plant would also impact the surrounding counties, and even more broadly, contribute to Georgia’s already large share of global-warming pollutants.

“The EPD has forgotten their middle name is ‘protection,’” says Patty Durand of Sierra Club’s Georgia chapter. “It’s time for the state of Georgia to say ‘enough’ to dirty coal. The EPD failed the citizens of Georgia by not conducting a thorough analysis of this plant.”

To view GreenLaw’s statement, click here. Included is the judge’s ruling and facts about Plant Longleaf.

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Several local civic groups and activists including members of Atlanta WAND, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Sierra Club’s Georgia Chapter, and singer Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls will rally outside the Atlanta office of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 2 this afternoon.

Those rallying are opposed to Southern Company’s plan to build two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, plans that must be approved by the NRC. They point out that nuclear power is not only unsafe, but it also consumes huge quantities of water. In his Aug. 22 cover story about Southern Company’s nuclear strategy, CL’s Scott Henry noted that an expanded Plant Vogtle would consume more water each day than the entire city of Atlanta.

Here’s the press release:

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