Fresh Loaf

Tons of CO2 emitted in 2007 by Plant Scherer, a coal power plant outside Macon: 27,200,000

Since 2002, number of states with lower increase in CO2 emissions than Georgia: 48

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by replacing three incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs: 300

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by inflating your car tires correctly: 250

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by setting your thermostat two degree cooler in winter and warmer in summer: 2,000

Pounds of CO2 emissions stopped annually by switching from average American diet to a vegetarian diet: 3,000

Minimum number people, businesses and municipalities turning off all lights for one hour on March 29 for Earth Hour: 160,000

U.S. home fires caused by candles between 2000 and 2004: 16,400

Sources: Environmental Integrity Project, National Fire Protection Association, www.earthhour.org, International Herald Tribune, www.stopglobalwarming.org

Bookmark It

A planned expansion for Plant Vogtle, a Southern Co.-owned nuclear plant in Waynesboro, Ga., has been stymied because of the possible impact it may have on the nearby Savannah River. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, a federal panel that oversees nuclear facilities in the country, agreed with concerns voiced by such environmental groups as the Savannah Riverkeeper, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Center for a Sustainable Coast, and will now forward the matter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. For more details, click here.

The various concerned groups also sent a letter to David Ratcliffe, Southern Co.’s CEO, outlining the environmental risks and financial uncertainties the plant’s expansion could pose. Click here to view the letter the opponents of the expansion sent to Ratcliffe.

Bookmark It

Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Shnayerson wrote an excellent piece in the January 2007 issue examining Rudy Giuliani — presidential hopeful and “America’s mayor” — and his lucrative foray post-9/11 into the business and legal world. Bracewell & Giuliani — formerly known as Bracewell & Patterson before Mr. 9/11 joined the team — represents one of Georgia’s biggest polluters:

By the time Giuliani became part of [Bracewell & Paterson], in early 2005, it had also become the go-to law firm for major polluters: oil and gas as well as coal companies. Among its significant clients are Chevron/Texaco, Pacific Gas & Electric, Dynegy, Southern Company, Valero Energy, and Shell Oil.

Emphasis added. That fact’s been widely reported, known for quite some time, and notable if only because it shows a well-connected local company doing business with one of the nation’s most well-connected men. But included in Shnayerson’s piece is information about another company Giuliani’s firm represents: Macquarie, an Australian banking group that specializes in such public-private initiatives as toll roads and the uber-controversial Trans-Texas Corridor.

During his State of the State address, Gov. Sonny Perdue suggested that newly appointed DOT Commissioner Gena Abraham should oversee the State Road and Tollway Authority, which may hint at some more serious discussion of public-private initiatives. Abraham has said on record that the agency isn’t poised to take on such projects yet in its current mismanaged state, but she’s hinted in the past that it’s an area in which the DOT needs to explore its options.

For your enlightenment, read the VF piece about Giuliani. Note Macquarie’s dealings with the former mayor’s businesses and the opportunities those connections allowed. And just in case we hear some more concrete language from the state about allowing private companies to build and charge for access to roads, remember to keep the name of that Australian banking outfit filed somewhere in your mind.

Shnayerson ends the piece with a beautiful summation of just why any of this matters:

In the businesses that Giuliani built and bought these last six years, more deals have yet to be examined, more dots connected in the picture of his great financial success. But enough are there already, with lines between them, for a shape to have clearly emerged. It’s a picture of a politician leading a parade, as Mayor Giuliani so often did. Only the marchers behind him aren’t drum majorettes or wartime veterans or firefighters or police. They’re a ragtag band of Texas lawyers and energy lobbyists, penny-stock sharpies and security-industry entrepreneurs, agog with visions of the ultimate pay-to-play presidency.

Bookmark It

Power juggernaut Southern Co. and other utilities, along with oil companies and manufacturers, were doing their best to rail against a bill voted on last week by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The so-called Lieberman-Warner bill, which called for a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 compared with 2005 levels, was approved by a slim margin Dec. 5. The bill would also allow major polluters to swap pollution permits in a “cap-and-trade” system.

But Wall Street either didn’t notice what happened in the nation’s capital, or knew the bill didn’t have a chance in hell of passing when Congress eventually votes on it. The stocks of some of the biggest coal-burning companies and coal-mining operations rose Dec. 6, the day after the vote. Southern Co. was one of those lucky companies.

This coming via e-mail from Frank O’Donnell, executive director of D.C.-based Clean Air Watch:

For the record, here’s what happened for the week for the top three coal-burning power company sources of carbon emissions:
Southern Company – up $1.28 a share for the week, to close at $38.90
American Electric Power – up $1.50 to close at $49.17
Duke Energy – up $.77 to close at $20.56

And the three top coal mining firms:
Peabody Energy – up $3.25 for the week, to close at $58.89
Rio Tinto – up $.52 to close at $468
Arch Coal – up $2.30 to close at $40.16

Bookmark It

Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of energy juggernaut Southern Company, announced that it’s accepting proposals from wind- and solar-power providers, which the company will in turn sell to its Georgia customers. Yippee! Zero-emission energy for we!

Well, possibly. According to a Georgia Power representative, there are few providers in the state, as Georgia has historically been a region not too suitable for solar- and wind-power generation. (The company did recently find, however, that wind power would be feasible along the coast.) You’ve got until October of next year to hook those pretty pinwheels in your garden up to a battery and make our world a clean and spiffy place. And yourself a buck. Click on the link above to get the 40-page proposal.
Has Georgia Power not thought about contacting the Manns? That 45-foot-tall eco-monster of a turbine they built in Grant Park might just pay off.

Bookmark It

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:

(more…)

Bookmark It