May the Green Be With You

By Dolph Honicker

The convergence of three perfect storms shows why the state legislature was in such a rush to do the bidding of Southern Co., its subsidiary, Georgia Power, and their 70 lobbyists to fleece ratepayers.

Late last week the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's three-judge panel told Georgia utilities their application to build two new reactors at Plant Vogtle was incomplete because it failed to consider how nuclear waste would be managed if a storage site remains unavailable when the new reactors begin operation.

Then came the bombshell of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu's announcement that the Department of Energy was dropping plans to store radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada after a 27-year, $13.5 billion outlay.

Earlier, Congress killed a $50 billion subsidy for the nuclear industry from its stimulus plan. And Wall Street won't touch such high-risk investments in this worst of all possible economic worlds.

What to do?

Georgia House legislators, in a 207-66 vote, approved a sweetheart license plan adopted by the utilities known as (CWIP) construction work in progress.

That means you start paying for the nukes now and, 10 or 12 years from now your homes will be juiced with nuclear electricity--provided the plants are ever built and that you're still alive to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Otherwise, it's billions of dollars sucked from the economy that could have gone for renewable energy.

If an automobile dealer offered to deliver a 2020 Jazzmatic SUV 10 or 12 years from now if you started making payments today, you'd think he was loony. But the powerful utilities, rather than risk their own capital, prefer the pay-them-as-you-go plan.

"Radioactive nuclear waste is already piling up right here in Georgia," said Bobbie Paul, executive director of Georgia WAND (Women's Action for New Directions). "Nuclear reactors continue to leave a horrible legacy for all future generations. It's totally irresponsible for the utilities to push a plan that will only make this situation worse."

The Rev. Charles Utley, pastor of a church in Waynesboro within view of Plant Vogtle and a community organizer for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, said, "Radioactive waste storage in Burke County puts our people's lives at risk. It's an injustice."

"Utilities should instead build clean, safe and affordable energy solutions such as wind, solar, tidal and biopower that don't pose these risks," declared Sara Barczak, program director with Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, one of the intervening organizations in their Savannah field office.

LaGrange, though it has no shortage of electricity, is part of the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) and has agreed to buy a portion of the two new reactors proposed for the Vogtle site. Plans are to sell the electricity it has obligated to buy to Jacksonville, Fla., and to a South Alabama utility.

The NRC's licensing board will conduct a further hearing for the contentions to the early site permit from March 16-19. in Augusta.

Fortunately, the people appear to have an ally in their corner, Barack Hussein Obama, America's first black president, who also is a deep shade of green.

{Dolph Honicker is a semi-retired newspaperman and a freelance writer}.