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Georgia Power, environmental racism at its finest

April 29, 2016 By Regina Willis 2 Comments

If you want to put up a power plant next to a population with little ability to protest, then Georgia Power’s plans to build a nuclear — or natural gas — power plant in Stewart County is perfect.

Stewart Detention Center, a privately run facility that warehouses people detained by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), is slated to be next door neighbors with Georgia Power’s newest facility.

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Georgia Power owns about 7,000 acres of land in Stewart County, off the Chattahoochee River. While everything is still in the planning stages, a new nuclear power plant, in particular, needs to be viewed skeptically, as it comes with very long term consequences to the environment and people.

Shell Bluff, Ga. has been fighting against the radioactive contaminants from the nearby Plant Vogtle in their community for decades, as Georgia Power goes over budget, adding two new nuclear reactors to that site.

“Georgia Power is currently years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget on a project to build two new nuclear power units at its existing Vogtle nuclear plant near Augusta,” the AJC reports.

Filings with the Georgia Public Service Commission state that Georgia Power “is exploring sites suitable for new nuclear generation” and “has identified a site in Stewart County, Georgia that is suitable for further study and evaluation.”

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Stewart Detention Center, near Columbus, Ga. and Fort Benning, has been the site of much conflict, as detainees have decried the poor conditions inside the facility. Currently, a man is holding a hunger strike against his indefinite detention, merely wanting the facility to follow their own rules and either deport or release him.

While Georgia Power has insisted it’s just exploring the option of a new nuclear power plant, and nothing has been decided, environmental groups have already begun to express their concern.

Mark Woodall of the Sierra Club, told the Ledger-Enquirer:

“Everybody’s shocked that anyone would go forward with another nuke,” said Mark Woodall of the Sierra Club, which is opposed to adding any more nuclear-power to the system.

Nuclear power is “not safe or affordable,” said Woodall, adding that the uranium used for fuel must be mined, and “uranium mining is a mess.”

“Solar’s here. It’s cheap. It’s a lot of jobs,” he said.

Those detained at Stewart Detention Center will have no ability to advocate against, or move away from, the environmental toxins that power plants — especially nuclear power plants — bring to communities. Privately run detention and prison facilities in Georgia are already failing to provide basic healthcare, and people are needlessly dying. What will happen to the folks at Stewart Detention Center if a nuclear power plant goes up right next door?

Related

Filed Under: Environment, Immigration and Refugees, Race & Racism Tagged With: Environmental Racism, Georgia Power, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nuclear power, Plant Vogtle, sierra club, Stewart Detention Center

Comments

  1. AthensMatt says

    April 29, 2016 at 8:47 am

    This article is written by someone grossly uneducated in nuclear power. Nuclear power plants can be some of the cleanest energy available if done correctly. They are regularly tested both operationally and security. Most plants pass with very high scores in both areas.
    Claiming Georgia Power, whom I have no affiliation with, is searching for areas or populous of people whom can’t fight them building a power plant is preposterous. Putting a power plant just anywhere, whether its as the author suggests in places where people can’t fight it, it a less suitable location because its acceptable to near by residents is exceptionally foolish. That type of thinking is exactly what would bring about problems with the power plant that the author is fearful of.

    Environmentally speaking, this should be very welcomed. Currently 80% of US energy comes from burning coal. Environmentalists are right, we are warming the earth with the constant burning of fossil fuels. So unless everyone wants to turn off the lights and cell phones we are going to need power, and more of it every day with more and more electric vehicles hitting the roads.

    Pick your poison…

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Augusta Chronicle Runs Propaganda for Southern Company’s Plant Vogtle | Aym Playing says:
    June 13, 2016 at 6:55 pm

    […] in a location south of Columbus, Georgia. Incidentally, the proposed location is right next to a federal immigration detention facility run by a private prison corporation. Appreciate the […]

    Reply

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