Friends who live in Georgia, right now we have an opportunity to advocate for clean power. Every 3 years, Georgia Power has to update its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the Public Service Commission (PSC), which is a 20 year plan for how it will produce power: will it use coal, gas, nuclear, solar, or wind, and what will it do about energy efficiency? This is our chance to make public comments, and take action to have healthy air for living and address climate change!
Our friends at Decatur Cares About Climate have prepared a website that explains how to comment on the Georgia Power IRP, gives advice on what to say, and has a link to the PSC website. Please use their link to submit a comment to the PSC. You don’t have to live in Decatur to use it, it is open to anyone.
The IRP that Georgia Power proposed, contains some good and some not-so-good proposals. It plans to retire one coal power plant this summer, and to close all of them by 2035. That is good for our health. But it plans to rely too much on “natural” (fossil fuel) gas, which is not good for our health.
Georgia Power plans to add 2300 megawatts (MW) of solar, but could add more. It’s plan for 2030 includes only 38% solar, wind, or hydropower and would still make 34% of our electricity from “natural” (fossil fuel) gas. Many scientists say we need to be at least using 50% clean renewable energy by 2030 in order to prevent the worst damage from climate change, and obviously a higher percentage is better.
Georgia Power does not plan to increase energy efficiency programs (weatherization of homes) beyond what it planned in 2019, even though that reduces energy costs for customers and allows for more reliable energy use planning. It is also not allowing enough net-metering which would make residential solar panels more attractive and economical to customers.
Burning fossil fuels, whether coal or “natural” gas, creates air pollution that damages our health. Air pollution (which is primarily from burning fossil fuels) causes at least 1 in 7 deaths in the U.S. and causes much more illness in the form of asthma, emphysema, other lung disease, heart disease, heart attacks and heart failure, strokes, dementia, mental health problems, and it’s linked to high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and kidney disease. Air pollution is very damaging to children, causing preterm birth, cognitive problems, asthma, asthma attacks, developmental problems, damaged lung growth, and is linked to mental health problems and higher blood pressure for children as well as adults.
Right now, building new solar is only a little more expensive than operating existing natural gas plants. And new solar is getting cheaper every year. It is not in either Georgia Power’s customer or shareholder interests to continue to rely so much on “natural” (fossil fuel) gas. It damages our health, it makes climate change worse, and it damages the economy.
04/20/2022
