Commercial and Residential Locksmiths in Euharlee

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When the Supreme Court ruled Thursday to limit the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants, a battle over the future of coal in Georgia was already playing out.

The state’s largest electric utility wants to phase out its coal-fired power plants. But state regulators could put the brakes on that plan, prolonging their planet-warming emissions.

Georgia Power’s latest plan to generate and supply electricity calls for shutting down most coal units in the next five years, including two at North Georgia’s Plant Bowen, the most-polluting coal plant in the state according to a recent analysis.

The utility says it ran the numbers, and it no longer makes economic sense to keep the aging coal plants open.

State regulators, though, are not convinced. In a proposed agreement between Georgia Power and Georgia Public Service Commission staff, staffers said they did their own analysis and found closure of the Plant Bowen coal units is a “close call.”

The final decision is up to the elected commissioners. And recent headlines about high natural gas prices have some of them worried about abandoning coal.

“When you compare that cost of running a combined cycle [natural gas plant] today with a coal unit, does this not give you concern?” Commissioner Bubba McDonald asked at a recent hearing.

A representative for Georgia Power responded that natural gas prices should even out over time, and that coal prices can be volatile too.

The company’s plan is to close the two units at Plant Bowen by the end of 2027. But the commission could decide to keep them open for eight years beyond that.

Every one of those years would make climate change worse, according to Bryan Jacob of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE).

“Every year earlier that you could retire those prevents that much more CO2 emitted that year,” he said.

In 2020, Plant Bowen emitted nearly eight million metric tons of greenhouse gasses, according to EPA data.

SACE partnered with environmental nonprofit Southface Institute to intervene in Georgia Power’s planning process, meaning they have presented testimony on the plan and had a representative question other witnesses. Currently, SACE and other intervenors are preparing their final briefs before the commission makes its decision.

Jacob said they will urge commissioners to allow Georgia Power to close the Plant Bowen coal units as planned.

“No one made a compelling case for keeping it open,” he said.

Georgia Power’s parent, Southern Company, has pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2050. A new report by SACE found that Southern Company is on track to reach that goal by 2071. That’s fifteen years earlier than last year’s outlook – but still far short of the company’s own target.

And while retiring coal plants helps reduce emissions, Georgia Power plans to replace much of the energy from those coal plants with natural gas – which still generates greenhouse gasses and contributes to climate change.

For that reason, SACE and other intervenors are calling on the commission to reconsider the six Power Purchase Agreements the utility is proposing, through which it would buy electricity generated by burning gas.

“It’s not necessary to approve all six of those,” said Jill Kysor of the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is intervening on behalf of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and the Partnership for Southern Equity.

One of the PPAs doesn’t start until 2028, so these intervenors are urging the commission to hold off and consider it in the next planning cycle, in 2025. If the commissioners decide to keep the Plant Bowen coal units open longer, Jacob said, they should reject more of the gas PPAs. The utility simply won’t need all that extra power, he said.

Georgia Power officials have said in the hearings that the PPAs it proposed are good deals – and worth moving ahead with.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said for years that immediate, drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. The group’s most recent report detailed current threats to human lives and property thanks to warming that has already happened; those impacts will only get worse without action on emissions.

“We need to get out of coal for sure,” Jacob said. “And, logically, get out of gas.”

Georgia Power should instead replace power from coal with renewable energy like solar and wind, nuclear power and better energy efficiency, Jacob said.

In past rounds of planning, the commissioners have directed Georgia Power to add more renewable energy. The agreement between the utility and commission staff calls for the amount of renewables that the company initially proposed, about 2,300 megawatts. But just like with the coal unit closures, commissioners have discretion.

“Ultimately, it’s the commission’s decision where they want to land on any of these issues,” Kysor said.

A malfunctioning turbine caused the blast about 4 p.m., said Bartow County Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Millsap, but a full investigation is still under way, according to Georgia Power.

Company officials in a statement released late Thursday said the four units at Plant Bowen, one of the largest generating facilities in its system, are offline, pending the outcome of that investigation.

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Alison Smith Guyton We are in Hunter's Landing behind elem school. The blast shook our house, like it sucked out the air from our house then it expanded back. They let off steam quite frequently over there, and that wakes me up in the night...but never like this in the 19 yrs we've lived here...

Rebecca Lynn Mimna i live on grassdale rd when it all happened it sound like thunder to me so i went back to what i was doing. then 30 minutes later i hear about plant bowen over m[y] scanner.

Brandi Dimmig Hames I live close to old Cass High & thought it was thunder too!

Beth Young Richardson Heard a very loud boom in the city of Taylorsville, I looked outside to see what had exploded. Very loud sound like steam, I couldn't believe it was the plant, it sounded so much closer.

Terry Kemp I live in aragon all our doors and windows shook a little. We looked for 5 min for what the cause was. Then heard the news.

Lynn Bates Southerland I live directly across the river from Plant Bowen and it shook the whole house, felt like an earthquake.

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The coal ash would be used in concrete to construct bridges, roads, and buildings in Georgia and the greater Southeast. Coal ash has been demonstrated to provide significant value to certain products, such as concrete, in which it adds strength and durability.

Georgia Power is calling it the single largest beneficial use project of its kind in the U.S., and the largest ever for the utility.

Eco Material Technologies, a producer of sustainable cementitious materials and cement replacement products, will manage the project at Plant Bowen.

This is the latest development since Georgia Power partnered with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to open a research facility at Plant Bowen – the Ash Beneficial Use Center – to identify, test and speed the development of beneficial uses of coal ash. The facility allows for pilot projects and testing of technologies to continue to increase the recycling and use of coal ash.

Infrastructure installation to accommodate the work at Plant Bowen will begin immediately, with ash removal expected to begin by 2024 and increasing to 600,000 tons of ash per year. The final amount of coal ash harvested and used under this project is expected to be 9 million tons in total.

Georgia Power already recycles 85% of all ash and gypsum, including more than 90% of fly ash, it produces from operations for various beneficial uses such as concrete production as well as other construction products.

Plant Bowen is a 3.5-GW coal-fired power plant situated near Euharlee, Georgia. It is one of the nation’s largest capacity coal-fired plants and its four units were brought online in the 1970s.

Georgia Power Co. bills could go up another 17% in June to cover the higher costs of natural gas and coal that the utility is burning to generate electricity for its 2.7 million customers.

The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. told regulators Tuesday that it needs to collect billions more going forward, and that ratepayers will likely owe the company an additional $2.6 billion for fuel it has already bought by June.

That means a typical Georgia Power Co. residential customer could pay as much as $23 a month more on their bills over the next two years to cover the costs, if the Georgia Public Service Commission approves. The company says falling natural gas costs could bring that amount down to $17 a month.

"Just as Georgians paid higher prices at the gas pump in 2022, Georgia Power also paid more for the natural gas — on average three times more — and other fuels we used to generate electricity," company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins said in a statement. "These increases are solely a result of rising energy prices — and Georgia Power earns zero profit from these fuel costs."

That will be atop rate increases already coming. Rates went up 2.5% last month, bringing a typical residential bill to $131.60 a month, after the Public Service Commission approved a three-year rate plan in December. Increases of 4.5% will follow in 2024 and 2025.

Customers will also have to pay the costs of the third and fourth nuclear units at Plant Vogtle near Augusta. Unit 3 is projected to begin operation in May or June, leading to a roughly $4 a month increase for residential customers. A larger rate increase is likely to follow when Unit 4 begins operations, now projected before March 2024.

Public Service Commission staff have warned that all the changes could increase residential bills by $55 to $60 month.

Typically, a utility is allowed to charge customers for the cost of fuel, but isn't allowed to make a profit on those charges, unlike the profits Georgia Power is guaranteed for investing in power plants and transmission lines. The five-member elected commission typically decides how much Georgia Power can collect to pay for fuel once every two years. In the meantime, if prices change, the company can collect too much or too little.

During this two-year period, even though the commission approved a 15% boost in fuel costs that began in January 2022, the company collected far too little money, as natural gas prices skyrocketed because of an improving economy and the Ukraine war, and coal prices rose even more steeply in part because of supply and labor shortages. Georgia Power says the price of gas tripled from 2020 to 2022, and the price of coal ended up five times higher.

Liz Coyle, the executive director of Georgia Watch, a nonprofit that advocates for consumers, acknowledged that the high unrecovered fuel balance is "highly, highly unusual," but said commissioners need to delay rate increases for Vogtle to give ratepayers some relief.

"Any way you look at it, people are struggling to pay their power bills, and the rate increase and unit 3 and 4 are bad," Coyle said.

Georgia Power says it wants to make up the under-collected amount over three years, instead of the typical two, because the debt is so large. The utility says spreading $900 million in collections into the third year would cut the boost in bills by about $7 a month.

The company says that natural gas prices have been falling since it made its projections of the cost in September, and the cost to a residential customer could be closer to $17 a month. Georgia Power said it would file updated projections later.

Georgia Power also wants the commission to give it the ability to make larger changes to cover cost swings between fuel-cost rate cases, asking for permission to raise or lower fuel charges by as much as 40% in the interim, instead of the current 15%. Because of unrecovered debt, that ability would likely only be used to further raise customer bills in the next two years.

The company also proposes to raise a fuel cost discount for low-income senior citizens from $6 a month now to $8 a month.

These students were named to the respective lists for the spring 2018 semester.

Patch Staff

ROME, GA — Georgia Highlands College has released the list of Bartow County students named to the spring 2018 President’s List and Dean’s List.

To be named to the President’s List, students must earn a 4.0 grade point average and attain a minimum of nine semester hours of credit. To make the Dean’s List, students must complete a minimum of nine semester hours and achieve at least a 3.5 average.

The following students from Bartow County were named to the President's List: Harrison Banks, Cartersville; Samuel Boice, Cartersville; Sarah Bracken, Euharlee; Joria Brooks, Adairsville; Tara Butler, Kingston; Morgan Callari, Cartersville; Elizabeth Carver, Kingston; Alexandria Chitwood, Cartersville; Avery Cissa, White; Kaden Cochran, Adairsville; Michaela Crowe, Cartersville; Robert Crowe, Cartersville; Zackery Danz, Cartersville; Jesus De La Cruz, Cartersville; Brandy Folger, Adairsville; Angelica Gallegos, Cartersville; Lizeth Garcia Perez, Cartersville; Bradley Gilmore, Cartersville; Jared Goodwin, Rydal; Jocelyn Greene, Adairsville; Tyler Gustat, Cartersville; Grant Harris, Cartersville; Antonio Hernandez, Cartersville; Tanner Hund, Cartersville; Ashlie Hunt, Kingston; Brandi Ingram, Cartersville; Kaitlin Irish, Cartersville; Noah James, Cartersville; Megan Janisch, Cartersville; Bailey Jones, Rydal; Stephanie Jordan-Cain, Cartersville; Huda Kamal, Cartersville; Charles Keeney, Cartersville; Heather King, Cartersville; Kylie Knox, Taylorsville; Meredith Knox, Cartersville; William Lange, Cartersville; Thacker Lively, Emerson; Johanna Maserjian, Taylorsville; Lauren McKaig, Cartersville; Hunter Mccreary, Cartersville; Shelby Meatyard, Cartersville; David Moseley, Cartersville; Marissa Mowry, Cartersville; Vincent Myrick, Cartersville; Tina Ogletree, Cartersville; Morgan Ong, Cartersville; Karishmaben Patel, Cartersville; MacKenzie Payne, Cartersville; Jorita Perkinson, Cartersville; Madison Poe, Cartersville; Ashlee Price, Adairsville; Tori Pritchett, Kingston; Joshua Queen, Euharlee; Roger Redd, Adairsville; Brandi Rhodes, Cartersville; Joshua Rowland, Cartersville; Ashlynn Russell, Cartersville; Sean Simmons, Aragon; Abigail Smith, Cartersville; Lauren Tew, Kingston; Christienne Tolero, White; Kimberly Veliz, Cartersville; Justin Vocke, Cartersville; Avery Wade, Taylorsville; Samantha Walker, Cartersville; Kendyl Westmoreland, White; Kyra Williams, Cartersville; Anna Wilson, Adairsville; and Susan Wood, Cartersville.

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Bartow students appearing on the Dean's List for the spring 2018 semester are: Oskar Arnold, Cartersville; Timothy Bates, Cartersville; Anna Bedell, Cartersville; Kaitlyn Belcher, Rydal; Molly Belcher, Cartersville; Jasmain Belew, Cartersville; Camden Bridges, Cartersville; Carley Bruce, Emerson; Sh’nae Carr, Cartersville; Anthony Catanzaro, Euharlee; Ann Marie Chastain, White; Seth Colston, Cartersville; Christina Cooper, Cartersville; Lucas Corbin, Cartersville; Sidney Cothron, Cartersville; Rachel Craig, Adairsville; Morgan Creel, Kingston; William Crowe, Cartersville; Tyler Darnell, Cartersville; Charles Davis, Cartersville; Tambari Deeyaa, Cartersville; Megan Dillard, Cartersville; Jaina Dixon, Adairsville; Levi Dooley, Euharlee; Jeffrey Dunn, Kingston; Kristin Epps, Cartersville; Brooke Eure, Cartersville; Lacey Evans, Rydal; Ryan Frazier, Rydal; Anna Furrow, Cartersville; Sierrah Gani, Cartersville; Sarah Garber, Cartersville; Sara Garrett, Cartersville; Harlee Goldermann, Emerson; Braden Harris, Cartersville; Calvin Hayes, Taylorsville; Kameron Hendrix, Adairsville; Miriam Hibbard, Cartersville; Kyrah Holley, Cartersville; Cheyenne Holt, Adairsville; Erin Horgan, Cartersville; Taylor Hutson, Cartersville; Nia James, Cartersville; Coleman Jeffers, Euharlee; Jordan Kale, Cartersville; Ruhma Kamal, Cartersville; Ashley Kaufman, Cartersville; David Kindred, Cartersville; Asia Knox, Cartersville; Dalton Knox, Cartersville; Heather Kready, Cartersville; Anna-marie Lawson, Adairsville; Daniella Liley, White; Garam Lim, Cartersville; Jillian Malave, Cartersville; Leah Martin, Cartersville; Cynthia Mata, Cartersville; Tara Mathis, Cartersville; Brighton Mccollum, Cassville; Kelsey Mckinley, Cartersville; Chandler Morris, Cartersville; Matthew Morrow, Adairsville; Ivana Motes, Cartersville; Haley Murphy, Cartersville; Joseph Nash, Kingston; Ashley Oliver, Cartersville; Caleb Parker, White; Rutva Patel, Cartersville; Maria Payne, Cartersville; Kourtney Perry, Cartersville; Haley Pittman, Adairsville; Amanda Planchet, Cartersville; Matia Probus, Cartersville; Elizabeth Quinonez, Cartersville; Mayinampati Reddy, Cartersville; Cecilia Reyes-Cruz, Cartersville; Xavier Richey, Kingston; Kelli Rollins, Cartersville; Andre Sanders, Cartersville; Jillian Scanlon, Cartersville; Joshua Scott, Cartersville; Abigail Smith, Euharlee; Emily Sutter, Cartersville; Daniel Tidwell, Taylorsville; Hennessy Valle, Cartersville; Carsyn Wade, Cartersville; Shawn Weatherby, Cartersville; Collin Weese, Cartersville; Christian Welch, Euharlee; Haley West, White; Kassie West, Adairsville; Amanda Woods, Cartersville; Noah Woods, Cartersville; and Kayla Wooten, Cartersville.

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