Tag Archives: Legislature

15 month delay for new Plant Vogtle nukes —state inspector at PSC



Southern Company's new nukes are delayed at least fifteen months,
at least a billion over budget and rising,
and not organized to meet safety filing requirements,
yet the Georgia PSC yesterday
let SO pass the buck to contractors and Georgia Power
continue charging customers for that boondoggle,
despite 40 to 1 opposition from attendees.

Ellen Reinhardt wrote for GPB News yesterday,

Plant Vogtle Construction Costs Rising,

An independent auditor told utility regulators Plant Vogtle
construction will be delayed at least 15 months and go millions of
dollars over budget.

Nuclear engineer William Jacobs said poor construction material,
contractor mistakes and oversight delays will mean the Unit 3
reactor won't be ready until July of 2017.

That's 15 months later than planned.

Surprise!

From $0.66 to $8.87 billion: original Plant Vogtle nuclear costs
Who could have expected that, given that back in the 1970s and
1980s

costs blew up 26 times the original estimate.
Back then SO complained about paperwork after Three Mile Island.
They're trying that same excuse now,
but even a former Commissioner-turned-lobbyist is incredulous,
as Kristi Swartz reported for the AJC yesterday,

Monitor: Paperwork problems a drag on Vogtle schedule,

“It's taken eight months to handle paperwork
deficiencies?” asked Bobby Baker, a former PSC commissioner
who now represents Resource Supply Management, an energy consultant
that works with large commercial, institutional and industrial
electric customers.

A current Commissioner was almost as incredulous:

Continue reading →

Original nuclear Plant Vogtle cost overruns

Why should we expect Southern Company to be any better at controlling
costs now than back in the 1970s and 1980s when its original
nukes on the Savannah River went massively over budget?
Massively as in 26 times as much per unit as originally projected.

Kristi Swartz wrote for the AJC 30 Jan 2012,

A financial look at Plant Vogtle nuclear projects,


From $0.66 to $8.87 billion: original Plant Vogtle nuclear costs
When the two original nuclear units at Plant Vogtle were planned,
the total cost estimate was $660 million.

Yet, as

Jon Gertner reported for NYTimes 16 July 2006,

The plant took almost 15 years to move from blueprints to being
operational. And by the time it began producing electricity in the
late 1980’s, its total cost, $8.87 billion, was so far overbudget
that Vogtle became yet another notorious example of the evils of
nuclear energy….

The grand plan was to have four reactors. Instead, it was scaled
back to two, Vogtle Unit 1 (finished in 1987) and Vogtle Unit 2
(1989).

That’s right, 4 nuclear units were planned for $660,000,000
fifteen (15) years later only 2 units were built,
for $8,870,000,000.
That’s more than $8 billion in cost overruns,
or more than 13 times the original cost estimate.
So per unit, that’s more than 26 times the original estimate,
or more than $4 billion per unit.

Swartz provided a handy table of cost estimates by year:

Continue reading →

Yes we can make a transportation Plan B after voting down T-SPLOST

Politifact Georgia's Terry Lawler examined a T-SPLOST supporter's assertion that there can be no Plan B if voters reject T-SPLOST July 31st and found that claim mostly false. I don't think he went far enough: we can change the legislature in this election, and a new legislature can come up with an entirely different plan.

PolitiFact Georgia read the state House of Representatives bill that was passed in 2010 to allow the referendum. In the last one-third of House Bill 277, there is a sentence that confirms that point.

"If more than one-half of the votes cast throughout the entire special district are in favor of levying the tax, then the tax shall be levied as provided in this article; otherwise the tax shall not be levied and the question of levying the tax shall not again be submitted to the voters of the special district until after 24 months immediately following the month in which the election was held."

That's only what the T-SPLOST enabling legislation says. The legislature could come up with a completely different plan. How about a Plan B like the ones proposed by the Georgia Sierra Club and the Atlanta Tea Party? How about we let the state gas tax automatic increases happen and use that to fund real transportation projects like busses and trains and airports?

-jsq

Sentencing reform passed joint committee in Georgia

Remember the Georgia legislature was considering sentencing reform? Now it's passed the Special Joint Committee on Georgia Criminal Justice Reform.

Bill Rankin wrote for the AJC Tuesday, Sweeping changes to state sentencing laws passes committee,

A key legislative committee on Tuesday approved sweeping changes to Georgia's criminal justice system in a sentencing reform package intended to control prison spending and ensure costly prison beds are reserved for the state's most dangerous criminals.

Well, that sounds good!

But wait, this is cautious Georgia:

Continue reading →

Keep an eye on the Land Bank Authority —Barbara Stratton

Today the Georgia Senate Rules Committee votes on
Sen. Tim Golden’s SB 284 “Georgia Land Bank Act; governing
creation/operation of land banks; provision”.
Received 24 February 2012. -jsq

A citizen’s committee needs to be formed to keep an eye on the Land
Bank Authority because they seem to think they are exempt from state
Sunshine Law rules. In addition Sen. Golden has a bill SB 284


introduced into the state senate that will allow the establishment
of regional land bank authorities. We citizens never consented to
all this regional government that is being forced on us. If we can’t
keep up with what the local land bank authority is doing just
imagine what a regional land bank authority will be able to
accomplish with zero public knowledge and input. This is one of the
most dangerous pseudo-government entities ever and it needs to be
addressed from the citizen level immediately. I applied for a
citizen vacancy on the Land Bank Authority, but of course those
positions are reserved for politically supportive individuals. Per

the sunshine laws, which Sam Olens has sworn allegiance to, a
citizen review committee would have to be advised of the meetings
that are currently never publicized.

-Barbara Stratton

SB 284 already passed Monday a week ago
in the Senate Finance Committee,
according to Nelson Mullins,

Gold Dome Report – 2-27-2012,

Continue reading →

Georgia prison population plummetting

In two years, the legislature went from denial to doing something
about the unsupportable costs of Georgia’s prison system.
The Georgia prison population is already plumetting, and will drop more.
This makes a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia an even worse business deal.
If it ever opens, it probably will close.

Two years ago the Georgia legislature was in denial,
as Carrie Teegardin wrote for the AJC 4 April 2010,

Georgia prison population, costs on rise,



As Georgia lawmakers desperately search for ways to slash spending,
they are not debating an option taken by other states: cutting the
prison population.

Georgia operates the fifth-largest prison system in the nation, at a


cost of $1 billion a year. The job of overseeing 60,000 inmates and
150,000 felons on probation consumes 1 of every 17 state dollars.

The state’s prison population has jumped by more than a quarter in
the past decade and officials expect the number of state inmates to
continue to creep upward. Georgia has resorted to measures other
than reducing the prison population to keep corrections spending
under control.

19 months later, things had changed,
as the Atlanta Business Chronic reported 15 December 2011,

BJS: Georgia prison population drops in 2010,

Continue reading →

Letting the foxes in the DNR henhouse —Katherine Helms Cummings

Guess who thinks letting regulated corporations contribute to the
natural resources regulatory agency is a good idea?

Received yesterday on

Stop Georgia Power from stopping you from affording solar. -jsq

And if GA Power having control over the grid here isn’t bad enough,
now the General Assembly is considering letting DNR ask for donations
from the corporations they issue permits to, and then enforce.

-Katherine Helms Cummings

She linked to this post on her blog,

HB 887 gives corporate foxes the key to the hen house,

I have a hard time believing that the DNR is going to hold a bake sale
to protect the rivers and streams of our state. Some House leaders,
including Judy Manning (R-Marietta) and Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City)
have said they are uneasy with HB 887. Rightly so.

OK, so who thinks it’s a good idea?

Continue reading →

Save money by streamlining the state penal code

Even the Bainbridge and Decatur County Post-Searchlight publishes news about their very own
state legislator explaining one of the biggest reasont why prisons are
a bad bet for a local economy:
because we can’t afford to lock up so many people anymore.

Brennan Leathers wrote 6 January 2012,

Georgia legislature going back to work
State Senator John Bulloch (R-Ochlocknee):

“We’re still struggling to find revenue to pay for operation


of the state government and its services,” Bulloch said.
“We’re going to have to fill holes that we filled during
worse
economic times using federal stimulus money and other temporary
money.”

Bulloch said he also understands Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has
instructed Georgia’s department heads to include 2-percent cuts in
their budget requests for this year.

One way in which legislators might opt to save money is by
streamlining its criminal penal code. According to Bulloch, Georgia
has a very high number of people serving supervised probation or
parole.

“A lot of those people who are in prison or under close
supervision by state officers are serving sentences for non-violent
offenses or minor felonies,” Bulloch said. “We may look
at alternative means for dealing with them, such as creating drug
courts or setting up drug-testing centers that would monitor drug
offenders without imprisoning them.”

Which would mean fewer people in prison.
Which would mean no need for new prisons.
And some existing prisons might close.



Do we want a private prison in Lowndes County so more prisoners
can compete with local workers here, too?
If you don’t think so, remember

CCA says community opposition
can impede private prison site selection.
Here’s a

petition urging the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authorithy
to stop the CCA private prison.
Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead.

-jsq

57 year overdue house cleaning —Barbara Stratton

Received today on

Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq

The 1926 statute that needs to be removed is

OCGA 20-2-370. The


1983 constitutional law
had priority of law precedence over the older statute &
CUEE was advised before they asked for signatures it could be protested
on those grounds before or after the vote. Thankfully we did not have to
go that route. I remember in high school I did a project on outdated laws
still in the GA Constitution including mandatory hanging for horse theft
(which I liked). There was also a law if you hit & killed a cow or pig
on the road you were required to get out & slit the throat so the owner
could salvage the meat & many others that were outdated & no longer
enforced. I trust these have now been removed. The general assembly
should be thankful that we are addressing this 57 year overdue need for
house cleaning & remedy this in January. Rule of Law should never remain
questionable when it is the duty of our lawmakers to provide clarity.

-Barbara Stratton

According to Justia.com:


2010 Georgia Code

TITLE 20 – EDUCATION

CHAPTER 2 – ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

ARTICLE 8 – CONSOLIDATION OF INDEPENDENT AND COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEMS

§ 20-2-370 – Referendum on repeal of special school law and consolidation of systems



O.C.G.A. 20-2-370 (2010)

20-2-370. Referendum on repeal of special school law and consolidation of systems

Whenever the citizens of a municipality or independent school district
authorized by law to establish and maintain a system of schools by local
taxation in whole or in part are operating a system of public schools
independent of the county school system and wish to annul their special
school law and become a part of the county school system, they shall
present and file with the governing authority of the city a petition
signed by one-fourth of the qualified voters of their territory; and the
governing authority shall then submit the question at an election to
be held in accordance with Chapter 2 of Title 21. A majority of those
voting shall be necessary to carry the election. Only qualified voters
residing within the municipality or district for six months prior to
the election shall vote. An election shall not be held for the same
purpose more often than every 12 months.

Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Georgia
may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties
or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the
information contained on this site or the information linked to on the
state site. Please check official sources.

Only a vote where both city and county residents could take part would reveal the will of the people —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on

Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq

While I live in the city as was able to vote on the consolidation issue,


I feel that only a vote where both city and county residents would
be democratic. Only a vote where both interested parties could take
part would reveal the will of the people and be admissible. Although
I opposed the effort to consolidate that was recently defeated, I feel
strongly that a true vote of both city and county residence is necessary
if consolidation should reach the ballot anytime in the future. For
this reason it is paramount that the old law that allowed the city only
vote be stricken to allow the georgia constitution to prevail. The GA
constitution allows for both city and county to vote and a majority in
both in order to pass.

Please contact your legislator to support repealing the 1928 law from
the GA law books.

Thank you ALL for your commitment to community,

-Karen Noll