Canceled coal plant doesn't impact Cobb EMC-backed project

By Janel Davis and Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An energy company's decision Monday to cancel plans to build a coal-fired power plant in south Georgia could reignite pressure against two other proposed coal plants partly backed by Cobb EMC.

New Jersey-based LS Power said it was pulling the plug on the $2 billion, 1,200-megawatt pulverized coal plant, a project announced nearly 10 years ago.

The demise of plans for the Longleaf Energy Station in Blakley is the result of a legal fight between LS Power and the Sierra Club that focused on a power station in Texas. As part of the settlement, LS Power agreed not to build the Longleaf plant and reduce the amount of emissions that the Texas coal plant would produce.

“This should be the writing on the wall for Plant Washington that coal is not the future of energy in Georgia,” said Colleen Kiernan, director of the Sierra Club’s Georgia chapter.

Economic and environmental reasons also played into that decision, said Michael Vogt, LS Power vice president.

“As difficult as it was to agree to cancel the Longleaf project after spending 10 years and millions of dollars, our view is the economic conditions right now just don’t support continuing development,” Vogt said.

The Longleaf decision has not dampened plans by POWER4Georgians, a conglomerate of six Georgia electric co-ops — including Cobb EMC — to move forward with its plans to build the $2.1 billion Plant Washington coal facility near Sandersville, said group spokesman Dean Alford.

Environmental groups also have challenged Plant Washington for its possible high pollution output.

“We’re in a different position because we have responded to some of the latest and greatest [clean energy] technologies,” Alford said. “We think the law is on our side.”

That Washington County plant, scheduled to come online in 2016 or 2017, would provide power to up to 850,000 households, according to the group.

The coal plant has also faced criticism from some members of Cobb EMC — one of the main players in the POWER4Georgians conglomerate — because of the development costs involved to support the plan, as well as environmental concerns.

A group of customers who sued the Marietta-based EMC have requested costs related to Plant Washington be included in a forensic audit of the co-op. And newly elected Cobb EMC board members have questioned whether the co-op should change its mission to begin producing energy.

The Longleaf decision was expected to be discussed at a Cobb EMC board meeting on Tuesday.

The state’s Environmental Protection Division re-issued an air permit on Plant Washington in November after a state administrative law judge rejected the original version for environmental concerns. The environmental groups that challenged the draft permit have until Dec. 19 to decide whether they will contest the new permit.

POWER4Georgians is also proposing building a coal plant in Ben Hill County. That facility is still in the planning stages.

LS Power’s decision to scrap plans for a traditional coal-fired power plant comes during the same week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to issue rules to regulate mercury emissions from coal plants.