Note: This story has been updated with comments from Georgia Power.
The largest grassroots environmental organization in the country has filed an appeal against the Georgia Public Service Commission for its decision to grant Georgia Power the power to charge its customers $525 million to pay for coal ash management.
In the appeal filed Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court, the Sierra Club said the PSC erred in its decision to allow Georgia Power to pass on coal ash costs to taxpayers because the company did not provide detailed cost accounting and because Georgia's Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has not yet formally approved the proposed ash pond closure plans and issued permits.
“Mountains of coal ash leaking into Georgia waters is a serious problem that our utility and our Public Service Commission decided to punt,” said Stephen Stetson, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Georgia. “There is growing agreement that Georgia Power should have lawful permits in hand for full cleanup of its coal ash basins before customers have to pay higher power bills.”
A spokesman for the PSC declined to comment on active litigation, but John Kraft, a spokesman for Georgia Power, said the issue of cost recovery was thoroughly discussed and evaluated through an open and transparent regulatory process with the Georgia Public Service Commission.
“Georgia Power took early action to quickly and safely begin closing all of our ash ponds, and our closure plans fully comply with the federal Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule as well as the more stringent requirements of the state CCR rule. We strongly disagree with any claims to the contrary,” Kraft said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia Power has plans to close 29 of its coal ash ponds -- pits containing waste from coal-fired plants that may contain arsenic, lead, mercury and other heavy metals that can be toxic to humans. The plans to close 29 ash ponds around the state include excavating 19 while 10 would be covered on top and left in the ground in unlined basins.
In addition to money for the coal ash closures, the near $2 billion approved by PSC would also include storm repairs and other operating costs. Consumers will see their bills increase over a period of three years that began in January of this year.
In an interview with the AJC, representatives of Georgia Power said the amount associated with the management of coal ash ponds is closer to $448 million over three years.
To date, the EPD has approved only one permit for Georgia Power’s closure plans at Plant McIntosh in Rincon.
