Tag Archives: Legislature

Georgia Power claims credit for solar leasing bill

That

antique 1973 law may finally change to greatly facilitate
solar financing through power purchase agreements (PPAs),
now that Georgia Power has finally realized the good PR it’s
getting for its own solar power deployments.

Walter C. Jones, Jacksonville.com, 13 January 2015,

Solar access for residences, churches, small businesses could become easier under agreement,



ATLANTA | Homeowners, churches and small businesses would soon have
access to the financing available in two-dozen states for the
installation of solar panels with little upfront costs based on an
agreement announced Tuesday during a legislative hearing.

Coming up with $18,000 or more in cash to install photovoltaic
panels on the average home is difficult for most homeowners. But if
the agreement becomes law, they could lease their roof to companies
that pay them back with free electricity, selling the rest to the
utilities.

Or cities or counties.
Valdosta or Lowndes County, for instance, might save hundreds of
thousands of dollars a year on utility bills if they could finance
solar power through PPAs.

Georgia has the fastest-growing solar Continue reading →

Zero percent down solar installations for Georgia? Change a 1973 law first

Who would pass up cutting their monthly electric and transportation
costs by 60%?
Well, people in Georgia will get passed by unless
we change an antique 1973 law.

Chris Mooney wrote for Washington Post 24 December 2014,

How solar power and electric cars could make suburban living awesome again,



…the solar-EV combo may just be too good for suburbanites to pass
up — no matter their political ideology. Strikingly, the new
paper estimates that for a household that buys an electric vehicle
and also owns a solar panel system generating enough power for both
the home and the electric car, the monthly cost might be just $89
per month — compared with $255 per month for a household
driving a regular car without any solar panels.

I’m
no fan of sprawl, Continue reading →

Solar bills in the Georgia legislature

Every year since about 2000 one or more solar bills have been
before the Georgia legislature to modify the
1973 Territorial Electric Service Act
to enable solar financing.


2015 could be the year one of them finally passes,
what with

influential people finally waking up
to the cost-saving and energy-independence power of solar panels.
If you want

real energy reliability, lower power bills, and local jobs,
you can help pass whichever bill gets before the legislature this year,
and right now is a good time to help draft that bill.

Here are a few recent bills.

Rooftop solar catching on; 1973 anti-finance law really needs fixing

People are starting to wake up as the solar sun rises above their horizon.
This could be the year the Georgia legislature finally passes a bill
to amend the law that inhibits solar financing.
Even the City of Valdosta seems suddenly interested in helping with that.

Michael Caputo and Grant Blankenship, GPB, 12 December 2014,

(VIDEO) Will Solar Power’s Surge in Georgia Make It To Homeowners?,



Early adopter Creighton Rosental of Macon is what you’d call a solar
pioneer. The early adopter said that he had the 4-kilowatt panels
installed on the backyard side of his roof about five years ago.
Two-thirds of the upfront cost—about $30,000—was covered
by a federal tax credit and a Georgia state credit.

“They built a frame and mounted it to the roof, which was a
substantial fairly substantial enterprise.” Rosental said.

Continue reading →

Special Presentation by State Court Judge John Edwards @ LCC 2013-08-26



State Court Judge John Edwards came before the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners

to ask them to begin the process of asking for an additional State
Court Judge for Lowndes County. An additional State Court Judge
would have to be authorized by the Georgia Legislature, then filled
initially by an appointee by the Georgia Governor.

At this morning’s Work Session,
the Judge noted that with the

recent reforms enacted by the Georgia Legislature,
many crimes previously classified as felonies are now
classified as misdemeanors. This has reduced the burden on the
Superior Courts and on the prison populations (a good thing)
however, it has raised the load on the State Court without an
increase in resources.

Here’s

Part 1 of 2:

Continue reading →

ADS revolving door with local and state government

Not paid enough as an elected official?
Apply to Advanced Disposal for a job!
Then you can run for the statehouse, win, and sponsor legislation
about waste collection!
Oh, look: there’s Steve Edwards again.



CummingHome.com updated 25 September 2011 a press release originally
published 20 September 2009,

Former Mayor Joins the Advanced Disposal Atlanta Marketing Team,

Advanced Disposal Services, Inc., a regional provider of integrated
solid waste and recycling collection, transfer, and disposal
services, is pleased to announce the hiring of Brett Harrell as the
Municipal Marketing & Government Affairs Representative for the
Metro-Atlanta area.

Mr. Harrell brings a multitude of experience to his new position
having spent time as former Mayor of the City of Snellville where he
administered the city’s solid waste and recycling program serving Continue reading →

A bill for renewal of a fee on hospitals to pay for Medicaid



The Georgia legislature showed some responsibility for public health Friday,
even though it did so through a shell game.

Gretchen noted that
Aaron Gould Sheinin and Misty Williams wrote for the AJC Friday,

‘Bed tax’ clears final hurdle,

The state’s ailing Medicaid program benefited from critical care
Friday, when the House overwhelmingly approved a bill that will make
way for renewal of a fee on hospitals.

Senate Bill 24 will transfer the power to levy the fee — seen
as necessary to avoid a loss of $700 million in funding for the
medical care program that serves low-income Georgians — from
the Legislature to the state’s community health care agency.

Continue reading →

Georgia legislature still trying to suck up Tennessee River water

Because Atlanta can’t get a grip on its water usage, the Georgia legislature
is still trying to suck up Tennessee River water.
If the legislature is willing to try that, how long before they
try sucking up our Floridan Aquifer water for Atlanta?



Prefiled in December to be up early as the Georgia legisture starts meeting
today, is a bill to try to move the northern border of Georgia to match
an eighteenth century boundary that just happens to include a bit of the
Tennessee River in Georgia.
HR 4,

Georgia and Tennessee; boundary dispute; propose settlement,
was filed by

Rep. Harry Geisinger, R – Roswell, District 48,
and says in part:

WHEREAS, the State of Georgia proposes to the State of Tennessee
that the dispute be resolved by the states agreeing that the current
boundary between the two states reflecting the flawed 1818 survey be
adopted as the legal boundary between the states except for an area
described as follows which shall be made a part of the State of
Georgia by which Georgia shall be able to exercise its riparian
water rights to the Tennessee River at Nickajack:

Georgia is already in a

three-decade-long dispute with Alabama and
Florida over the Chattahoochee River.
Does adding a dispute over the Tennessee River
seem like a good idea to you?

And how can we best stop Atlanta from coming for our Floridan Aquifer?

-jsq

Nukes economically hard to justify —GE CEO Immelt

The CEO of General Electric,
the company that designed the reactors

at Fukushima and Hatch 1 and 2,
said nukes are economically hard to justify.
And that was back in July, before
the first new nukes permitted in 30 years,
at Plant Vogtle on the Savannah River,

slipped 15 months.
What’s winning? Shale gas, temporarily, but that’s just a bump
in the road on the way to wind and solar power.

Pilita Clark wrote for Financial Times 30 July 2012,

Nuclear ‘hard to justify’, says GE chief,



Nuclear power is so expensive compared with other forms of energy
that it has become “really hard” to justify, according
to the chief executive of General Electric, one of the world’s
largest suppliers of atomic equipment.

“It’s really a gas and wind world today,” said Jeff
Immelt, referring to two sources of electricity he said most
countries are shifting towards as natural gas becomes
“permanently cheap”.

“When I talk to the guys who run the oil companies they say
look, they’re finding more gas all the time. It’s just hard to
justify nuclear, really hard. Gas is so cheap and at some point,
really, economics rule,” Mr Immelt told the Financial Times in
an interview in London at the weekend. “So I think some
combination of gas, and either wind or solar … that’s where we see
most countries around the world going.”



GE CEO Immelt may also want to talk to GE’s own research director

Continue reading →

First ALEC, now Heartland Institute: losing sponsors

Heartland Institute, one of only two organizations to field a speaker

for
continuing Plant Vogtle delays and cost overruns
at this week's GA PSC hearing,
has been dropped by every pharmaceutical company.
When you're down to Heartland Institute and

renewable-energy-opposing
and

astroturf-funding super-lobby group ALEC,
itself
rapidly losing members (so bad
even Bank of America has dumped ALEC);
and when your public hearing speakers are 40 to 1 against continuing
with Southern Company and Georgia Power's nuclear boondoggle,
maybe it's time to end it.

Brad Johnson wrote for thinkprogress 19 December 2012,

Heeding Public Outrage, Pfizer Drops Climate Denial And Tobacco Front Group Heartland Institute,

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE) has confirmed that it will no
longer support the Heartland Institute, a political advocacy group
that questions the science of climate change and tobacco smoking.


Forecast the Facts, which is leading the

campaign calling on
corporations to drop Heartland, was informed of the decision by
Pfizer's Corporate Secretary Matthew Lepore. Pfizer was a major
donor to Heartland, giving $45,000 in 2012 alone.

Pfizer's decision means that there are no longer any pharmaceutical
companies known to support the Heartland Institute.

Pfizer's last contribution to Heartland was in 2012. Pfizer's
decision follows a groundswell of public outrage over the corporate
support for the Heartland Institute's toxic behavior, including a
billboard campaign that equated believers in climate change with
serial killers such as the Unabomber. Over 150,000 people have
signed petitions to corporate leaders to drop Heartland. Pfizer is
the 21st company to end its support for Joseph Bast's organization,
joining its competitors Amgen (AMGN), Eli Lilly (LLY), Bayer
(BAYRY), and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), as well as major companies like
General Motors (GM), State Farm, and PepsiCo (PEP).

That’s the best you’ve got for support, PSC, and you’re pretending continuing
to let Southern Company and Georgia Power run up a bill of $billions is in the
best interests of the people of Georgia?

-jsq