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Stop paying for Plant Vogtle, replace corrupt Public Service Commissioners

Plant Vogtle continues to be a testament to corporate greed and government cronyism at the cost of $91 million per month for ratepayers. The project is five years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.

Georgia Power/Southern Company executives are giving themselves millions of dollars in annual bonuses (on top of their salaries), while passing their billions of dollars in failures onto working Georgians.

The Public Service Commission exists to stop big energy corporations from unfairly taking advantage of rate payers. But the five commissioners — all Republican — are not doing their jobs. The $7,700 utility lobbyist dinners probably have something to do with it.

To make matters worse, Gov. Nathan Deal recently appointed his friend and supporter Tricia Pridemore to the Public Service Commision in February 2018. Pridemore co-chaired both of Deal’s inaugural committees, later served as Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development, and was appointed by Deal to the State Ethics Commission in 2016.

But this year we can score a major victory in the fight against government corruption because both Tricia Pridemore and Chuck Eaton are up for re-election.


Despite what Deal and Georgia Power think, the issue of who pays for Plant Vogtle is not a done deal. There are legal charges pending, including a challenge brought to court by former Ga. Gov. Roy Barnes, who is representing Georgia Watch pro bono.

Ethics watchdogs all over Georgia are looking into the PSC regulators and their relationships with Georgia Power, and finding “cozy relationships with the utility and slack record keeping.” Ethics watchdogs all over Georgia are looking into the PSC regulators and their relationships with Georgia Power, and finding “cozy relationships with the utility and slack record keeping.”

The 2018 elections give progressives an opportunity to push back. Let’s make sure to show the PSC that we won’t continue to pay for Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle failure and we won’t tolerate the Commission’s blatant corruption.

 

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