How Some Decisions Get Made

The GA EPD just announced that a permit to expand the number of combustion turbines at Plant Dahlberg was granted. I covered this story earlier in the year when public meetings were held and various organizations were disputing some of the claims that Southern Power made about the affect that this expansion would have on the community and the amount of pollutants that would be emitted. For more details on that, look for my story on the Grady Journal soon.

Besides the environmental and health impact, what interests me now is how the permit was actually passed. In a very formal but completely lackluster public hearing, concerned citizens were allowed to go on the record stating specific problems that they had with the permit, or general concerns about how the new construction would affect them or their community. The comments are not responded to then, but in writing by the EPD. However, the formal responses to the grievances are not available to the public until after the permit is issued! The only option after that is a lawsuit.

Most interestingly, Southern Power representatives and the engineer at the meeting in Jefferson shrugged off comments and casually acknowledged a lack of specific details about the amount of pollutants already emitted by the plant. None of the people at the meeting made any specific comments about changes they wanted made to ease restrictions. Well, if you look at the permit, a majority of the final comments responded to are not by the public, they are by Southern Power, and they are asking for restrictions on pollutants to be eased. Does it make any sense that they can make these requests, not stating them publicly at the meeting, and then no one has an opportunity to see these requests - all of them granted - until the permit has already been passed?