Update August 2010: The air permit hearing date has been changed to September 13th starting at 9:30 a.m.. The hearing is scheduled for Mondays & Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. and Tuesdays & Wednesdays, 9:30 - 5:00 p.m., for two to three weeks. There will be no hearing on September 23rd and 30th. The hearings will be held at the Office of State Administrative Hearings, 230 Peachtree Street, Atlanta. Directions to the OSAH location of the hearings are here: http://www.osah.ga.gov/directions.html. The hearings are open to the public.
Update July 26, 2010: Administrative Law Judge Ronit Walker ruled on Plant Washington's water withdrawal and water discharge permits late Friday, July 23. The Judge heard informal arguments as to whether the state is allowing an interbasin transfer without following proper procedures, and and whether the location for measuring the discharge into the Oconee was adequate on July 20. The judge's ruling can be viewed here.
Update May 2010: On May 10, 2010, attorneys from GreenLaw filed petitions for hearings challenging three permits for Plant Washington.
Plant Washington, which is being contested by the Fall-line Alliance for a Clean Environment (FACE) and Sierra Club’s Georgia Chapter, as well as Altamaha Riverkeeper (for the water permit only), and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) and Ogeechee Riverkeeper (both organizations for the air permit only), is a project of Power4Georgians, a company composed of Cobb EMC and four other EMCs. TheSouthern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is co-counseling with GreenLaw on this project,
The Plant Washington air permit fails to set safe limits on harmful air pollutants that would be emitted by Plant Washington, including sulfuric acid mist and particulate matter. Particulate matter is linked to respiratory illnesses, heart disease and even premature death.
The state water withdrawal permit fails to set necessary limits on the amount of water the plant can take from the Oconee River for use at a proposed plant located in the Ogeechee River watershed. Without adequate limits, communities such as Dublin, area farms and other downstream users along the Oconee River would be left without sufficient water resources.
The state water discharge permit fails to limit the temperature of heated wastewater discharged by the proposed plant into the Oconee River, changing the river’s ecology, depleting available oxygen in its waters, and harming fish and other wildlife that depend on the river system.
Petitions can be found here:
PLANT WASHINGTON WATER WITHDRAWL PETITION
PLANT WASHINGTON WATER DISCHARGE PETITION
PLANT WASHINGTON AIR QUALITY PETITION
Update April 2010: On April 8, EPD issued final permits for air emissions, surface water withdrawal, groundwater withdrawal and surface water discharge. GreenLaw is currently revieweing these permits. Citizens have 30 days in which to file an appeal.
All of the permits issued by EPD can be found here.
Update February 2010: In 2009, Power4Georgians submitted an application to Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to build a coal-fired power plant at a time when citizens in every state across the nation are questioning the safety and efficiency of generating electric energy from burning pulverized coal. In August 2009 EPD released draft permits for several of the permits that will be required to operate and construct the coal-fired power plant in Sandersville. The permits include a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit, which will address the air emissions of such pollutants as mercury, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and more. The permit can be found on EPD's website here.
EPD also released a draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, a water withdrawal permit, and a groundwater withdrawal permit which are not available on EPD's website, but can be obtained by visiting EPD in Atlanta.
A public hearing was held in at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 20 in Sandersville. The hearing was attended by 321 people; 51 spoke against the plant, 14 in favor of it.
Working in partnership with SELC, GreenLaw sent detailed comments on the plant's air, water, and solid waste permits to EPD on October 27.
The comments on the permits can be viewed here:
Air Quality Permit Comments
Solid Waste Permit Comments
Water Discharge Permit Comments
Groundwater Withdrawal Permit Comments
Surface Water Withdrawal Permit Comments
To add your name to those opposing new coal plants in Georgia, click here.
Final permits are expected to be issued in Spring 2010.
Update from 2008: In January 2008, Power4Georgians, LLC, a consortium group composed of ten members of Georgia’s Electric Management Corporation (EMC), submitted a proposal for a coal-fired power plant to Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD), the agency responsible for issuing permits for pollution sources in Georgia.
Power4Georgians seeks to construct an 854-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, Georgia, 60 miles east of Macon and close to Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer.
On
February 22, 2008, GreenLaw attorneys, acting on behalf of over a dozen citizen groups, submitted a detailed analysis of Power4Georgians’ permit application for a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit, the permit that addresses air quality emissions from the proposed plant.
View Comments on Plant Washington
GreenLaw's 45-page analysis (2-22-08) identified serious flaws with the proposed plant. For example, the applicant did not even consider numerous technologies that would improve air quality and protect the health of both citizens and agricultural crops.
One of the greatest problems outlined in the comment document was the failure to provide adequate air pollution modeling that would show the real impact the plant would have on Georgia’s air quality.
Macon, while technically meeting federal air standards (attainment), is currently facing serious problems with the amount of PM2.5, small particulate matter.
GreenLaw pointed out the need for the state to require much more adequate modeling of this dangerous pollutant which lodges in the lungs and contributes to respiratory diseases. Another flaw of the application is the failure to consider IGCC, or coal gasification, a technology that controls air pollution much more effectively than traditional plants and which other states have required to be considered in determining the best available control technology (BACT).
Furthermore, the plant has no proposed limits on the amount of its global-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
