New power plants not the best option

New power plants not the best option

By RITA KILPATRICK

Georgia Public Service Commissioner Stan Wise's guest column, "Environmental lobby's effort backfires" (@issue, March 11), contained several misleading statements.

Yes, air pollution has been reduced over the past 30 years. This is largely because of stronger clean-air laws passed by intelligent, forward-thinking elected officials armed with the latest public health science and the support of the "environmental lobby."

The reckless support of nuclear power by Wise, an elected public official, shows a lack of historic understanding of power generation and electric power rates in our state. The last nuclear plant to be completed in Georgia, Plant Vogtle, cost more than $8.4 billion to build, causing the largest rate increase in Georgia history.

Supporting greater efficiency in the way we use electric power would go a long way toward slowing the rush to build more polluting power plants and unsightly transmission lines.

This summer Georgia Power Co. plans to come before the PSC again asking for a rate increase. It would be a step in the right direction if the commission required the company to support energy efficiency programs that will save consumers money, create jobs and protect the environment.

One of the most surprising parts of Wise's misguided column was his criticism of a state-specific renewable energy accreditation standard for "green power" developed over a two-year period by Georgia residents, companies and government agencies.

The Georgia-developed accreditation standard received a Good Housekeeping-like seal of approval called "Green E."

One of the criteria in the "Green E" standard is to require new renewable generation sources such as wind, solar and biomass. This protects consumers from a power company taking a power source that has been providing electricity for years and repackaging it as something new and clean while charging well-meaning ratepayers a higher price.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what Wise was prepared to support.

Fortunately, some other PSC commissioners stood up for consumers when the environmental lobby pointed out the company's failure to follow the agreed upon "Green E" standard for Georgia.

Rita Kilpatrick is the Georgia policy director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.