Environmental groups warn of new pollution if state permits coal-burning
plant in Early County.
To make their point, they stood along River Street with a large inflatable coal
power plant with smokestacks bearing labels such as "acid rain" and
"mercury poisoning."
A few tourists gathered nearby as representatives from three Georgia-based environmental groups called on Gov. Sonny Perdue to stop the
permitting of a new coal-burning power plant in southwest Georgia's Early
County.
The plant, proposed by a New
Jersey-based power company, would annually emit
more than 9 million tons of carbon dioxide, more than 240 pounds of mercury,
6,400 tons of sulfur dioxide and 3,700 tons of nitrogen dioxide, a major
contributor to smog, said Jennette Gayer, an advocate for Environment
Georgia.
Gayer, who'll be taking the same message to Macon and Columbus this week, said the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has closed
the public comment period and will likely issue a full permit in May.
That will allow Longleaf Energy Associates, a branch of LS Power in Princeton, N.J., to build the 1,200 megawatt
plant it first proposed five years ago.
An e-mail request sent to LS Power seeking comment was not immediately
returned on Monday.
Leah Edwards, development associate for the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra
Club, said she also has environmental justice concerns about where the
plant will be located. While produced in Georgia, she said much of the plant's electricity will be sold to communities in Alabama and Florida.
"Early County is the 11th most polluted county in our state
(according to a toxic release inventory compiled by Georgia Pacific) and
it's more than 50 percent African American," said Edwards.
"They're locating this in an impoverished community."
Sara Barczak, the safe energy director with the Southern Alliance for
Clean Energy, said last week's finding by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change that global warming is already affecting the environment
should serve as a wake up for Georgia residents.
"We need to pursue clean, safe energy technologies that reduce carbon
emissions, not those that increase them," Barczak said, adding that
bioenergy, wind and solar solutions could lessen global warming pollutants and
create new jobs in coastal Georgia.
