The
Georgia legislature, in its great (yawn) wisdom, saw fit to grant
Georgia Power the, ah… power to charge us ratepayers, in advance,
for two nuclear reactors. The 16 billion dollar plus reactors are
under construction at Plant Vogtle on the Savannah River just south
of Augusta. CWIP (Construction Work in Progress) was passed as the
Georgia
Nuclear Energy Financing Act.
In
testifying at the committee level, many citizens argued against the
proposal brought by a legislator, known technically as a lapdog. One
participant's testimony was rather brief, to wit: The
apparently irresistible lobbying and campaign contributions that
seduced national legislators into signing onto privatization and
deregulation schemes over the past decades brought us to the economic
melt-down we are now just beginning to enjoy. The
push for SB31 is more of the same. I hope you’ll consider that
history and two other things in your deliberations: Nuclear power is
the wrong horse; This
bill is an industry fantasy and a consumer rip-off. Truer
words were never spoken.
One
of the committee members, demonstrating the quality of that
legislative wisdom, dismissed such arguments, pointing out that they
were, “just anti-nuclear”. I used to think that arguments should
be judged or refuted based on their merit or lack of such, not on
whether those advancing the argument have opinions contrary to yours
on other issues. I humbly, and gratefully, stand corrected.
Many
of the arguments put forth by the opposition predicted that, as with
past nuclear projects, the cost estimates would very likely not
coincide with the actual costs. Another way of saying this is that
the rip-off of ratepayers will be greater than originally stated.
Down the road a bit now, the legislation passed in 2009, this has
proven all too true, to the tune already of more than 1.6 billion
U.S. dollars. That's about 4 wind generators which could operate
almost immediately, not 16 years in the future, just in over-runs.
The project is also fifteen months behind schedule.
When
activists opposing the original Plant Vogtle offered predictions that
proved similarly correct, no note was apparently taken to, in future,
attend to those who in the past have been shown to be credible and be
skeptical toward those who in the past have been shown to be not, to
in fact lie. The original plant costs were more than ten times over
cost estimates. We’re not talking petty cash here. Those estimates
were in the billions. One theory was that the anti-folks weren’t
listened to because they didn’t wear three-piece suits nor display
$200 haircuts. A few tried that and it didn’t seem to matter so
maybe it has more to do with campaign contributions and/or ideology.
Could be. Maybe that’s what they mean by legislative wisdom.
The
Public Service Commission (my, that sounds so uplifting, so
servicing… reminds me of Reagan calling nuclear warheads
peacekeepers) is made up of five commissioners who are elected
statewide. Statewide campaigns are expensive to run. Gee, I wonder
where folks get the money to run for such an office and I wonder if
successful candidates would feel beholden to, ah… service whomever
it was who funded their campaign? And would said funders continue to
fund campaigns of those who didn’t provide proper service? Like,
for example, if Georgia Power requested a rate increase, ever so
politely – would PSC then, in effect, stand for Power Service
Commission? So far it sadly has. Some citizens advocate public
financing of elections so that serving the funders would mean what it
says, Public Service Commission. Of course those citizens probably
are anti-nuclear so we can safely dismiss that point of view.
News
Flash! The PSC recently required Georgia Power to add 525 megawatts
of solar energy to their energy system. This was a 3-2 vote,
confusing everyone who sees PSC, with ample history to support such a
view, as being in the pocket of the industry. Georgia Power, in it's
twenty year plan had appallingly envisioned zero solar so this is
significant. I mean, solar over nuclear is an obvious no-brainer but
not for those who call the shots in Georgia, until now. It has been
suggested that Georgia Power did not take a stand against this
proposal because it is saving its ammo for rate increases down the
road to cover the cost over-runs on those nukes and the slip in
ratings the company has suffered due to their pursuit of such a
dangerous and uneconomical technology. I would venture that company
executives are also confident that they can always meet the megawatt
requirement with paper shuffling or campaign contributions.
It's
not clear why Georgia Power went to the legislature for the CWIP tax
(yes, TAX!) when it has rarely had any problem having its way with
the PSC. Maybe it just likes to exercise its... power. The
legislative vote passed but not by much and some claim that had the
vote been delayed a week it would have lost. Guaran-damned-teeing an
11% profit to a corporation, in advance!, tends to leave folks open
to charges of corporate welfare. Socialize the risks, capitalize the
profits... not a motto easily swallowed even by seasoned ideologues.
PSC however was complicit by approving the action. Activists are now
attempting to repeal CWIP on the grounds that Georgia Power either
deliberately misled the legislature or is incredibly incompetent as
shown by its cost over-runs and legal squabbling with contractors. Or
both. And the competence of the legislature itself can be called into
question for making such a one-sided deal. Even if Georgia Power
never completes the plant it still gets the money. There is no
provision to share any profits with ratepayers. If we're going to
have Socialism let's have it for the people not for business
interests. Try www.nonukesyall.org
for more information or ways to help out with the Quit CWIP campaign.
One
of the primary factors in Ga. Power getting CWIP through the General
Assembly was to create a special provision for how the fee would be
applied to industrial and commercial users so that their rates
wouldn't significantly increase. They were opposing it like
crazy and suddenly their opposition disappeared--once the back room
deal was made. Because it was put into the law using very
technical and obtuse language, the average person wouldn't have been
able to figure it out. We did our research and started yelling
about it but the fast track they used for moving the bill along gave
little time for understanding what had transpired. I still
believe that if we'd had just one more week we would have killed it.
But Ga. Power's 70+ lobbyists made sure that it was rushed
through in a completely unprecedented fashion.
It
remains to be seen how the other increases due to Vogtle get applied
to industrial and commercial users via the PSC. My bet is they
will get a special deal, once again, thus silencing that powerful arm
of opposition.
