Born in the horse-and-buggy days of 1900, my mother’s
mama was a God-fearing and earthy soul. If
she
had something to say, Nanny didn’t hold back. Her fiery tongue could curl the bark on a
chinaberry tree. My
grandmother died in
1983, but she “lives” inside my head. I
can hear her pontificating on a variety of
subjects.
I can
imagine what she’d have to say about this toxic-coal-ash debacle, especially
about the leaking ponds
on Georgia Power properties scattered around the
state. She’d say, “Well, the chickens are
coming home to
roost.” And to punctuate her words, she’d fork two fingers, press
them to her lips and spew a stream of
strawberry-snuff juice into a pillow of
Kleenex stuffed in a Maxwell House coffee jar.
Snuff
juice is nasty.
Coal ash is nasty and dangerous.
To see how cavalier so many
members of Georgia’s General Assembly have been about governing coal ash
is
enough to make a preacher cuss. For
three years, I’ve watched a forthright few try to do the right thing,
introducing new laws to protect Georgians and our environment.
Time and time again, those
measures were neutered or killed in the Natural Resources and Environment
Committee
of the House of Representatives. The longtime
chair, Rep. Lynn Smith, appeared to listen to i
industrial lobbyists more than
considering what’s in the best interest of 10 million Georgians. Nothing
seemed
to move out of her committee unless two entities, the governor’s office and
Georgia Power, applied
stamps of approval.
I join others in congratulating
Gov. Nathan Deal. History will record him
as one of our most successful
governors. His accomplishments are obvious. So is his loyalty to our state’s largest
utility. Should Gov. Deal
and his
longtime chief of staff, Chris Riley, become political consultants, don’t be
surprised if Georgia Power is
one of their prized clients.
Just before the start of the
2019 Gold Dome session comes a not-so-surprising announcement. A press
release from the Southern
Environmental Law Center (SELC) read: “At least 10 of Georgia Power’s toxic,
unlined coal-ash ponds sit dangerously close to the groundwater beneath them,
according to the utility’s
recent filings required under the federal Coal
Combustion residuals rule.”
Furthermore, SELC senior
attorney Chris Bowers said, “Georgia Power’s coal-ash ponds were built in the
worst possible places—near streams, lakes, floodplains, next to rivers and
right above groundwater … we
now know that at least 10 of its ponds sit too
close to the groundwater aquifer.” Four
of these ponds are
along the Chattahoochee River at Plant Yates near Newnan,
where Rep. Lynn Smith lives.
You have heard me say this
before: “Georgia Power is a tremendous
asset of our state, and it’s a vital gear
in our economic engine. I appreciate its important role, so I am not
against Georgia Power. I am not against
Rep.
Smith, either. Instead, I am for responsible handling of toxic coal ash.”
The issue has been suppressed
for too long. Coal may have been our
ticket to cheaper electricity, but
now there’s the expense of cleaning up the
mess. You don’t solve the coal-ash
pollution problem by creating
another problem.
That’s what happens when you dump toxic coal ash on other communities
such as Wayne
County.
For
three years, we’ve observed Rep. Lynn Smith and her committee playing political
footsie with lobbyists
and downplaying the need for stronger toxic-coal-ash
laws. Neighboring states are using our
Peach State for
a dumping ground. That ought to make you mad enough for your
words to curl the bark on chinaberry trees.
I wish no ill fortune or
pollution on any community, but maybe there’s a lesson for Rep. Smith to be
gleaned from what’s happening in Coweta County.
We aren’t in her district, but Georgia’s natural resources
In the meantime, Nanny would
say, “Honey, the chickens are coming home
to roost.”
