Tag Archives: Cobb EMC

Coal EMCs: no budget for this boondoogle —Katherine Helms Cummings

Received yesterday on

Coal Plants Washington and Ben Hill not quite dead yet. -jsq



I asked Washington EMC Chair Mike McCoy today after their monthly board
meeting what their budget is for 2012 and this boondoggle. They haven’t
got a budget. They are meeting next week with the four remaining co-ops
(assuming some don’t peel off before then) and they will work on a
budget then.

You can check my blog out for more of the hair raising and mind boggling
details of what they are doing in the “best interests” of the owner
members and community.

-Katherine Helms Cummings

On her blog,

Rural and Progressive,
she posted yesterday

Is Washington EMC “winging it” on Plant Washington finances?
and today

WEMC Board Member supports forensic audit.
Very interesting.

-jsq

Coal Plants Washington and Ben Hill not quite dead yet

Somebody’s been watching too much Twilight.
Plant Washington now joins the undead.


But maybe Plant Ben Hill is really dead.

Dave Williams wrote for the Atlanta Business Journal yesterday,

Georgia coal plant project to push on,


Cobb Electric Membership Corp.‘s board of directors voted Tuesday to
pull out of the $2.1 billion 850-megawatt Plant Washington project,
citing the uncertain impacts of tightened federal regulation of
carbon emissions. Cobb EMC was the largest participant in the
consortium

Power4Georgians.



The consortium began looking for other partners to replace Cobb EMC
well before Wednesday’s decision, which had been anticipated, said
Dean Alford, spokesman for Power4Georgians.

“This in no way changes the course,” he said.
“It’s still full steam ahead.”

But he wouldn’t say who else would help fund it.
We’ll see whether he’s blustering or actually has any further backers.

John Roach and Kim Isaza in MJDOnline yesterday,

EMC backs out of plan to build coal-fired plant,
had a list of the other current partners:

Continue reading →

Cobb EMC backing off of coal at Plant Washington

Could Plant Ben Hill be next?

Kim Isaza wrote for MDJOnline yesterday,

Cobb EMC’s pursuit cools on coal-fired power plant

Cobb EMC’s interest in building the coal-fired Plant Washington


appears to be dead, and the company has begun soliciting bids for
its future power supplies.

The electric cooperative has already spent $13.5 million toward
permitting for the coal plant, which would be a new direction for
the company from simply delivering electricity to also generating
it.

On Jan. 24, Dean Alford, a spokesman for the Power 4 Georgians
consortium of EMCs behind Plant Washington, is slated to address the
Cobb EMC board, presumably in an effort to save the plant, for which
his company, Allied Energy, got a no-bid development contract from
P4G.

The Cobb EMC board could decide at that meeting whether to put any
more money toward the project.

Many details of the 850-megawatt Plant Washington, including exactly
why it is needed and any firm idea of what it will cost to build and
operate, have been kept quiet, sparking critical questions from EMC
members and environmental groups. It was proposed under former EMC
head Dwight Brown, who is facing 34 criminal charges of theft and
racketeering relating to his leadership at EMC.

So can somebody come up with an 850 MW solar plant to propose by 24 Jan 2012?

-jsq

Cobb EMC incumbent concedes election: insurgents win 4 for 4

Last week,

3 out of 4 insurgent candidates won places on the board of Cobb EMC,


the utility that wants to build a coal plant in Ben Hill County,
as close to here for smoke drift as the Okefenokee.
Another was headed to a runoff that would have cost around $70,000.
Not anymore! It’s 4 for 4.

Janel Davis wrote for the AJC yesterday,

Cobb EMC incumbent concedes election,

Kennesaw businessman and incumbent Cobb EMC director RJ Patel conceded the race for his board seat Monday evening eliminating a need for a runoff next month and advancing four new members to lead the utility.



That means

Charles Malcolm ‘Cooter’ Swanson
is the new Area 7 board member.

The new members are still a minority of 4 out of 10 on the Cobb EMC board,
but that’s better than 0 out of 10.

-jsq

PS: Owed to Ellen Corrie and
No Coal Plant in Ben Hill County!

Cobb EMC members win board election in landslide



Cobb EMC wants to build a coal plant in Ben Hill County,
about as far from here as the smoke blows as the Okefenokee Swamp.
They’ve run into some resistance at the polls.

Tod Rehm wrote for Peach Pundit 12 November 2011,

CobbEMC Owners Association 3 for 4 with one runoff in board elections

The



CobbEMC Owners Association, a group of customers dedicated to the
reform of the EMC’s Board of Directors has made great steps in returning
control of the utility to its customers. CEOA-endorsed candidates took
three out of four seats today, with the fourth candidate narrowly missing
a majority with 49.47% of votes cast.

Only 1.3% of eligible customers voted, with 2471 votes being cast. Winners
were:

Area 1, Ed Crowell 79%

Area 6, David Tennant 68%

Area 10, Cheryl Meadows 80%

Hm, 4 to 1 odds!
That reminds me of

another recent election.
Apparently when the people get organized fat cats can lose big.
Cobb EMC’s incumbents already

lost a special election back in September,
that one about mail-in voting.

About the Cobb EMC runoff,
Kim Isaza wrote for MDJonline.com today,

EMC members elect 3 new directors; Area 7 goes to runoff

Continue reading →

Cobb EMC loses special election by huge margin



Cobb EMC lost a

court-ordered special election yesterday by 2561 to 1113,
according to

Take Back Cobb EMC’s facebook page.
That was the vote against mail-in voting,
because the insurgents believe mail-in voting helps incumbent directors win
re-election.
It’s Cobb EMC’s incumbent directors who want to build a coal plant in
Ben Hill County,
about 70 miles north of here.

MJDOnline explained the issues 14 September 2011,

Don McKee: Decision day comes Saturday for Cobb EMC members

There are two questions in the form of proposed bylaw amendments to be
decided by members Saturday: (1) whether to allow mail-in voting for
directors, and (2) whether to prohibit payment of retirement benefits
to directors.

Reform groups Cobb EMC Owners Association, Take Back Cobb EMC and Cobb
EMC Watch strongly oppose allowing mail-in voting until new directors
are elected. They argue that mail-in voting would give an overwhelming
advantage to incumbent directors with unlimited EMC member funds at
their disposal in campaigning for re-election versus the very limited
funds available to challengers.



“The historical evidence of mail-in voting shows that it favors the
incumbents over challengers,” Cobb EMC Watch says. “It gives the
corporation tremendous leverage to manipulate and influence the voting
process. The corporation can use its much greater financial resources
to back its slate of candidates.”

One would guess the second item on the ballot passed:

Continue reading →

Coal-planning Cobb EMC board to meet

Cobb EMC to hold first member meeting since spate of legal problems.
Its current directors still want to build a coal plant in Ben Hill County.

Kim Isaza wrote for MDJonline.com today,

Sides set for first EMC meeting: Date set for Sept. 17, but Cobb Superior court judge must first grant approval



Pending approval from Judge Stephen Schuster, the first meeting of Cobb
EMC members in nearly three years will convene at 10:15 a.m. Sept. 17.

At that meeting, members will decide two issues: whether to allow voting
by mail-in ballots at future elections, and whether to amend the electric
cooperative’s bylaws to limit director compensation to a daily rate
while also prohibiting future directors from being paid retirement
benefits. Previously vested benefits would not be affected.

And look which one the directors really don’t like:

Continue reading →

“about as fruitful as trying to squeeze information out of the Kremlin”

Which organization was this judge referring to?



Schuster told the directors that he thought [that organization] was
supplying “vague” information and he directed that henceforth
the sides meet monthly in his office for updates on the liquidation
process. In short, Schuster is learning first hand — just like members,
the media and the public at large have learned — that prying information
out of [that organization] is usually about as fruitful as trying to
squeeze information out of the Kremlin.

No, not that city council!
No, not that county commission!
Not even the state board of corrections.
(Although some of them might want to try that bureaucratic shoe on to see
if it fits.) Here’s who:

Continue reading →

No land for solar in Georgia?



Nelson Hawk, after an excellent panel presentation at the

Georgia Solar Summit,
repeated the old canard that there’s not much land available for solar in the
southeast.
I couldn’t stand it, and blurted out “parking lots!”
And airports, and road rights of way, and, let me think: rooftops!
Or waste water treatment plants, like

Valdosta just used,
or barns on the north edges of fields, or the acreage
Georgia Power is wasting on nuclear plants, or….





Gretchen Quarterman and Dan Corrie

Dan Corrie notes that Cobb EMC bought up
3600 acres in Ben Hill County for a coal plant.
That acreage could generate quite a bit of solar power!

-jsq

Transparency for power companies?



Danny Orrock writes an op-ed in the AJC,

Pro & Con: Do Georgia’s electric co-ops need better oversight?

Fundamental determinations like power rates and capital
expenditures should not be made in the dark — if Georgia Power customers
can participate, there’s no reason EMC customers shouldn’t have the
same opportunity. Transparency benefits members and the utility. The
situation at Cobb EMC would likely not be so contentious if members
had been allowed to meaningfully engage with the board and management
several years ago.

Sounds like a good idea, especially considering
Cobb EMC is the one that wants to build a coal plant in Ben Hill County.

On the same page, Paul Wood argues that

Continue reading →