Georgia
Georgia’s Utility Regulator Rushes Deal for Georgia Power Before Public Hearing – CleanTechnica
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ATLANTA, Georgia — An hour before hearing testimony from the public and advocacy groups, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) posted a settlement agreement approving Georgia Power’s plan to build the most expensive gas plants in the country, leaving Georgians to foot the bill.
The settlement, which the PSC is expected to vote on during its Dec. 19 meeting, approves Georgia Power’s “Requests for Proposals,” or RFP, despite clear warnings from the Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and PSC’s own staff that Georgia Power’s plan hinges on a data center bubble. The utility’s proposal is expected to cost at least $15 billion in capital costs, though the total costs have yet to be publicly disclosed. The proposed settlement would dramatically increase Georgian’s energy bills for years to come for data centers that might not even be built. Several counties in Georgia have already passed moratoriums on data centers, awaiting more insight into their potential impact on local communities.
“This proposed settlement is the largest single investment in electric infrastructure in the state’s history. It calls for building the most expensive gas plants in the country and will result in higher prices for consumers and more pollution in our communities. It will cause temperatures to go up, more frequent and more powerful storms, and deadlier floods and heatwaves,” said Dekalb County resident Lisa Coronado during the Dec. 10 hearing. “But Georgia Power doesn’t care about any of that. When the temperatures go up, Georgia Power makes more money because Georgians run their air conditioning more often. When climate-change fueled storms wreck our infrastructure, Georgia Power passes repair costs onto us.”
The settlement includes promises of “downward pressure” for ratepayers’ bills, but Georgia Power’s claim that typical ratepayers will eventually see a reduction of $8.50 per month is short-sighted. First, Georgia Power has made similar promises in the past and continued to raise rates. Second, the proposed rate decrease would only cover three years, whereas ratepayers will have to pay for gas plants for 45 years.
In response, the Sierra Club released the following statement:
“The PSC’s own expert staff said Georgia building gas plants was not in the best interest of ratepayers,” said Adrien Webber, Sierra Club Georgia Chapter Director. “At a time when the PSC should be fighting for affordability for Georgians, they instead push through a plan that will continue to squeeze Georgia families already struggling to make ends meet. As we consider our next steps, it’s clear that the people of Georgia demand change from our PSC and the Sierra Club will continue to fight to make that change happen.
“‘Georgia Power’s agreement is still based on the idea that data center projects are coming, which is not guaranteed,” Webber continued. “The PSC’s own staff saw Georgia Power’s plan as overbuilding for projects that may or may not appear, threatening to leave the cost for ratepayers to pick up. It’s infuriating that Georgia Power and the PSC refuse to even take public comment or insight from advocates into consideration before coming to this agreement. Filing this agreement just an hour before the second round of hearings shows that the PSC refuses to be held accountable to the people of Georgia.”
About the Sierra Club: The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
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CRISP COUNTY, Ga. (WGXA) — Four teenagers are facing multiple felony charges for the murder of a 20-year-old man in Cordele last month.
On Friday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced the arrests of 17-year-old Bianca Armani King-Knight, 17-year-old Kaylee Posey, and 19-year-old William Troy Posey all from Crisp County and 19-year-old Trenton Donnell Lane from Wilcox County, in connection to a shooting that left one person dead and another injured on the 1000 block of Dayton Road.
The GBI identified the victim as Correnthian Jeremiah Cooks, 20, who died at a local hospital after being found shot on around 6:45 p.m. on June 27. While the other male victim received treatment and was later released.
All four teenagers were charged with one count of felony murder and three counts of aggravated assault on June 29 and are currently being held at the Crisp County Jail.
The investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information is urged to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Americus at (229)-931-2439, the Cordele Police Department at (229) 273-3102 or submit an anonymous tip online.
Stick with WGXA as we learn more and keep you ready for what’s next.
Georgia
“Operation Southern Slow Down” returns to target speeding drivers across Georgia and Florida
Heading out on the road for a little summer vacation? Law enforcement agencies across the South have a warning: Slow down or face consequences.
The ninth annual “Operation Southern Slow Down” will run from July 13 to 19 across Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
All five states and local law enforcement agencies will be taking part in the speed enforcement and awareness campaign, which officials say is designed to prevent crashes and save lives by reminding drivers of the dangers of speeding and reckless driving.
During the time period, drivers will see more law enforcement on roads across all five Southern states.
Last year’s operation ended with nearly 53,000 citations and warnings for speeding, 2,230 for reckless driving, and over 3,000 for violating distracted driving laws. Over 1,400 drivers were arrested on DUI charges, including 501 in Georgia.
“Operation Southern Slow Down” began in 2017 in an effort to reduce crashes and save lives. Federal crash data shows that speed was a factor in one out of five fatal traffic crashes in Georgia from 2020 to 2024. A 2023 report by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety found that over half of those killed or seriously injured in multi-vehicle crashes where speed was a factor were not the speeding driver.
“Unsafe driver behaviors like speeding are a major contributor to fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways,” said Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared W. Perdue, P.E. “Remember that your actions behind the wheel can have life-altering impacts: slow down and drive responsibly to help get everyone to their destinations safely.”
Authorities say drivers should always wear a seat belt and make sure to give others who are traveling at high speeds on the roads plenty of space.
ATLANTA – At least ten police officers across Georgia have been arrested and charged with misusing the Flock camera database for personal reasons, adding to growing privacy concerns about the technology.
The cameras, usually mounted to a black pole, record license plates and other data of whoever passes them.
Georgia police database tracking
What we know:
A series of recent arrests has exposed the misuse of Flock license-plate-reading cameras by police officers throughout the state.
In Greene County, Deputy Quin’sha Goss was fired on Tuesday and charged with misusing the system.
The recent arrests include five police officers in Albany, who were also charged earlier this week.
That’s alongside a lieutenant, a sergeant and a deputy in Cherokee County charged last month with violating their oath.
System audits flag searches
What they’re saying:
Flock Co-founder Paige Todd stated that many recent arrests resulted from departments utilizing a new audit assistance tool that automatically flags unusual searches.
“In this case where misuse happened, the technology itself was not creating the misuse. It was it was human beings,” Todd told FOX 5’s Rob DiRienzo.
Todd argued that the public safety benefits of the technology heavily outweigh individual instances of human misconduct.
Todd explained, “best way to prevent misuse is now, every member of law enforcement out there knows that this audit exists,”
Todd added that the system has successfully helped track down thousands of individuals across the country.
“We, I believe, solve about a million crimes with our technology,” she said. “10,000 missing people have gone home because of it. This feels like pretty small in comparison.”
Privacy concerns trigger pushback
The other side:
The ACLU of Georgia called the incidents a critical wakeup call regarding constitutional protections and tracking limits. Christopher Bruce of the ACLU of Georgia said, “Jeopardizing your civil rights and civil liberties is never just an unfortunate event. You have constitutional rights, especially a right to privacy. And the question is who polices the police?”
Information security analyst Peter Tran noted that the network relies heavily on automated data collection.
“It uses AI,” Tran said.
Tran said many are uneased by the logging searchable personal data into a nationwide database.
“It becomes a privacy and security issue. So, you’re whereabouts where you shopped, your name, your address,” he said.
SEE ALSO: Dunwoody sets ‘guardrails’ for Flock surveillance cameras use
The blowback has prompted dozens of U.S. communities to end their contracts.
Videos have circulated on social media instructing people how to tear them down or disable them.
In Barrow County, the sheriff said three Flock cameras were recently damaged there.
The sheriff said damage to the devices could be considered a felony.
The Source: The information in this story is based on original reporting by FOX 5’s Rob DiRienzo, who interviewed Flock co-founder Paige Todd, ACLU of Georgia representative Christopher Bruce, and security analyst Peter Tran, as well as tracking data from local sheriff offices.
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