Nuclear Watch South Statement on PSC Vote to Continue Vogtle Construction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Contact: Erin Glynn, 404-939-4701, eglynn@calliins.com  | Glenn Carroll, 404-378-4263, atom.girl@nonukesyall.org

NUCLEAR WATCH SOUTH STATEMENT ON GEORGIA PSC VOTE TO ALLOW VOGTLE 3 & 4 CONSTRUCTION TO CONTINUE

Georgia Public Service Commissioners have recognized the outrageous expense and risk associated with completing the troubled Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at Vogtle 3 and 4. The Commission voted to limit Georgia ratepayer exposure to the project to 7.4 billion dollars, a number that Georgia Power has repeatedly stated is insufficient, and is attaching even that level of support to a hoped-for Act of Congress to pass a future tax credit extender that was excluded from the tax bill now awaiting the President’s signature. 

Additionally, the Commission opted today not to vote on the controversial Revised Joint Owners Agreement between for-profit Georgia Power and the nonprofit co-owners of Vogtle, which has been testified to as potentially criminal under Federal Anti-Trust law. Therefore, Nuclear Watch South sees today's vote as progress towards a full and final cancellation. 

“The Vogtle project is contingent upon conditions which cannot be met,” says Erin Glynn, attorney for Nuclear Watch South.

[Vogtle 3 & 4 also put $12 billion of federal taxpayer-back nuclear loan guarantees at risk. See Beyond Nuclear's Loan Guarantee website section, for more info. on this.]

After Airport Blackout, Georgia Utility Faces Key Nuclear-Plant Vote

Georgia Power CEO says nuclear vote and airport blackout are ‘separate issues’

As reported by Russell Gold, in the Wall Street Journal, on  Dec. 19, 2017 at 5:30 a.m. ET:

The Atlanta airport blackout could hardly have come at a worse time for Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power.

Days after the outage, which authorities say appears to have been caused by a fire in a piece of Georgia Power equipment, state utility regulators on Thursday are set to decide the fate of a half-finished nuclear plant the company is building that is years behind schedule and billions over budget...[the rest of the article is behind a pay wall].

Trump's Dirty Energy Bailout: Recording & Resources

This from Allison Fisher at Public Citizen:

Hi All,

Thank you for your interest in the Climate Reality Check’s December call with Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program and Casey Roberts, Senior Lawyer, Sierra Club Environmental Law Program. (See the original conference call invite, in the Update below, for bios on the speakers and an introduction to the subject matter covered on the call.)

ICYMI - You can listen to the call here:  https://fccdl.in/XQvE4g5NR

Resources and Actions:

For background on the DOE’s bailout proposal, check out David Roberts at Vox:

• https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/10/4/16407278/rick-perry-doe-plan-coal-nuclear-energy-markets
• https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/12/9/16745084/rick-perry-coal-bailout-ferc

For more on the RTO’s bailout proposal, check out this blog by Tyson Slocum: http://www.citizenvox.org/2017/12/11/trumps-biggest-threat-clean-energy/

Who will be affected by the Bailout?

RTO map:  https://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/rto.asp.  DOE's proposal would apply to PJM, ISO-NE, and NYISO.  The PJM proposal put forward in response to the FERC process would apply only in PJM

What can states do? Get your state consumer advocate to weigh in on the proposals before FERC:

CAPS: http://www.pjm-advocates.org/Home.html

What can individuals do? Sign these comments to FERC opposing the bailout: http://action.citizen.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=13640

[What else can individuals do?  Sign NIRS's comments to FERC opposing the bailout:

http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5502/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1408141]

Let me know if you...want to get involved in efforts to stop the bailout...at afisher@citizen.org

Best,

Allison

Update on December 15, 2017 by admin

Dear Friends,

On Thursday, December 14, at 3 pm Eastern / 2 pm Central / 1 pm Mountain / 12 noon Pacific time, the Climate Reality Check team will hold the latest in our series of national conference calls to help strengthen community organizing on climate, entitled:

Bailout: how Trump is going to save coal and nuclear AND boost fracked gas.

[See recording of call, above.]

This fall, the Trump administration unveiled a radical plan to rescue failing nuclear power and coal with a massive national bailout. The plan, if implemented, would cost the public billions in higher energy bills and come at the expense of efficient and affordable wind and solar.

But Trump’s plan is just the tip of the iceberg.  A new industry scheme has emerged that would benefit natural gas plants as well.

On December 11, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is scheduled to make a decision on the proposed bailouts.

Join us on this month to hear Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program and Casey Roberts, Senior Attorney for Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program discuss:

·         the implications of FERC’s December 11 decision

·         how different bailout schemes would work

·         how much these proposals would cost consumers and what they mean for renewable energy

·         what strategies are emerging to stop them

Talk to you soon!

The CRC team* – Allison, Nancy, Jean and Ted

*The CRC team is Allison Fisher, Public Citizen; Nancy LaPlaca, Energy Consultant; Jean Su, the Center for Biological Diversity and Ted Glick, Beyond Extreme Energy and movement builder.

Have an idea or speaker for a call?  Email Allison at afisher@citizen.org

More about our presenters:

Tyson Slocum is director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, covering the regulation of petroleum, natural gas and power markets. Tyson promotes an equitable energy transition that provides distributed renewable energy generation and sustainable transportation solutions for working families. Tyson serves on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Energy & Environmental Markets Advisory Committee, and frequently intervenes before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission representing the interests of household consumers.

Tyson presents his research in congressional testimony and appears regularly in the media, including guest appearances on The Colbert Report. Tyson is a member of the faculty at the University of Maryland Honors College, where he teaches energy and climate policy. Prior to joining Public Citizen in 2000, Tyson served as an analyst with the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy.

Casey Roberts is a Senior Attorney for Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program.  During her first few years at Sierra Club, she handled litigation involving coal-fired power plant in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Minnesota. Before she joined Sierra Club in 2011, Casey was a fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council, representing endangered fish in California rivers, and at Altshuler Berzon LLP, working on labor union, low-wage employment, and civil rights litigation.

Casey received her JD from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of Ecology Law Quarterly and worked with Communities for a Better Environment and Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger.