ethics – Page 7 – Rural and Progressive

Um no, not really

This letter was submitted to newspapers sold in the Washington EMC area:

Um, no. Not really

There is a critical error of fact in a press release issued by Power 4 Georgians last week. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has NOT stated that Plant Washington is exempt from any of the proposed carbon, or greenhouse gas (GHG) rules proposed by the agency, for existing or new power plants. In fact, it has become even clearer that, if built, Plant Washington will be subject to carbon pollution standards. The only question is how protective those standards will be.

Plant Washington’s developer Power4Georgians has requested yet another extension from Georgia’s Environmental Protection Agency for his dinosaur-fuel based project. Southern Environmental Law Center attorney John Suttles commented that, “If Power 4 Georgians commenced construction a year ago like they said, they wouldn’t need additional permit extensions.”

Power4Georgians is choosing to delay construction.

With no announced Power Purchase Agreements or billions in required financing announced, of course the project requires extensions. If the project was fully funded and customers were waiting for power, wouldn’t the plant already be under construction?

The arguments against Plant Washington continue to grow larger and stronger with time. More energy producers are switching to renewable fuel sources due to reduced costs. Ratepayers are demanding more power produced by sunshine and wind. Major financiers have abandoned coal projects. A similarly speculative project, the Longview Power Plant in Maidsville, West Virginia, began operations in December 2011 and filed for bankruptcy less than two years later. Meanwhile, ratepayers for power plants like the Prairie State Energy Campus have seen their monthly bills go up by as much as 51 percent due to the soaring costs of coal plants.

We’ve never needed Plant Washington in the first place. If you don’t believe me, drive out to the 10 megawatt solar farm in Davisboro and see where Cobb EMC in Marietta is buying clean, affordable electricity generated right here in our own community.

Katherine Cummings
FACE Executive Director
Washington EMC owner/member

Being asleep at the wheel is costing GA taxpayers

From Better Georgia

When it comes to expensive, frustrating and broken websites for government programs, the President’s got nothing on Gov. Nathan Deal.

Georgia taxpayers are shelling out nearly half a million dollars a week just in overtime pay to fix Gov. Deal’s broken system for Georgia’s neediest families – those applying for help to feed their families.

And, what does Gov. Deal think about this problem?

He told 11Alive’s Rebecca Lindstrom that, despite a November letter from the federal government warning that unless the state takes corrective action, $75 million in funding could be in jeopardy, he was unaware of the scope of the problem until recently:

“I’d only become aware that it was of that magnitude just fairly recently.”

Gov. Nathan Deal, March 14, 2014

WATCH: DFCS spending $470,000 week in OT to fix food stamp backlog

For months, Georgia’s neediest families have found it almost impossible to apply for food stamps.

They’ve often waited on the phone for hours only to be disconnected.

Those who were lucky enough to have internet access got repeated error messages on the website. And thousands of Georgians who already qualified for assistance were accidently kicked off the program. In early March, DFCS officials acknowledged a 100,000 case backlog.

Half a million tax dollars each week in overtime costs.

$75 million of federal funds in jeopardy.

Thousand of families in crisis.

And Gov. Nathan Deal is asleep at the wheel – again – during a preventable crisis.

Sound familiar? It should.

Ignoring problems until they become a crisis that threatens the health and safety of Georgia families and costs taxpayers millions is an all-too-typical pattern for Gov. Deal.

This time, because the governor’s appointees invested in an out-dated, insufficient system to process applications for food stamps, Georgia taxpayers are now on the hook for nearly half a million dollars a week in overtime cost alone for the 2,000 DFCS employees who are struggling to fix the mess.

Despite spending nearly a half million dollars per week, callers are still left holding for hours and more than 44% of the calls still go unanswered.

Not being able to get their calls through is more than an inconvenience for Georgia’s 1.9 million recipients of food stamps. Getting cut off means going hungry or scrambling to get help from local charities – or both. Of those who qualify for food stamps in Georgia, 52% are families with children.

Nearly a quarter of those receiving food stamps are 6 years old or younger.

The media has been reporting on this growing crisis for months.

Yet, Gov. Deal was unaware?

We don’t know why the State of Georgia invested in a technology boondoggle, but we know, from his own mouth, that Gov. Deal just wasn’t paying attention. Now, instead of creating more problems for needy Georgians caught up in this crisis, Gov. Deal should wake up, pay attention and stop wasting our tax dollars.

Call Governor Deal’s office today. Tell Gov. Deal that instead of making it even harder on Georgia’s neediest families, he should fix the system his political appointee broke. And, after you call, let us know how it went. Call now.

Sincerely,
Bryan Long
Executive Director
Better Georgia

Lewis requires no coach

My Congressman, Rep Paul Broun, spent $33K of taxpayer dollars to hire a rhetoric coach. He didn’t do that because he isn’t making his opinions clear to voters. He made the hire because he knows he can’t get elected saying what he believes (you know, Big Bang Theory and Evolution are lies from the pits of Hell).

Another Georgia Congressman, John Lewis, honed his speaking skills as a young man fighting for civil rights. He never falters in speaking up for those who are discriminated against, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

Maybe that’s why he has time to take the occasional dance break and get Happy.

Quit whining!

I can’t even wrap my head around Minnesota’s Republican State Rep Andre Keiffer’s comments on equal pay legislation for women in her state.

Keiffer must be sharing a playbook with Texas GOP leader Beth Cubriel, who thinks women are just so “busy,” and we should learn to be better negotiators.

Ralph Reed is still stuck in the middle of the 20th century too. He thinks we can reduce the demand for food stamps by making divorces harder to obtain for women who have children.

We need more Elizabeth Warrens and Al Frankens in all levels of government.

Even Bill Koch has given up on coal

“The #coal business in the United States has kind of died,” says Koch brother. Energy Trend Tracker

Who are you calling bossy?

Get some religion on Coal Ash Wednesday

North Carolina artist Kathy Clark is calling for the tradition of Ash Wednesday to also be Coal Ash Wednesday. She is encouraging people to reduce their use of electricity as much as possible today as a reminder of the damage coal ash continues to do in the Dan River.

Clark is urging people to use a bare minimum or no electricity from 7:00-7:30 tonight. Whether you observe Lent or not, this is an excellent opportunity to consider how you use electricity (and other fuel) and how you can reduce your consumption. It is time to get some religion about energy use in our country.

Just press pause

Senator Josh McKoon R-Columbus, thinks that Georgia taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used for legal medical choices that a teacher or state employee covered by state health insurance might make with her doctor because some people might find her decision to be “morally repugnant and reprehensible.”

Does this mean Jehovah Witnesses who pay state taxes and object to blood transfusions can expect state health insurance to no longer cover transfusions because it is in direct contradiction to their faith?

How about Georgian’s paying their taxes who object to the death penalty as “morally repugnant and reprehensible.” Does this mean no one will be executed in our state as long as a taxpayer says they find the death penalty to be in conflict with their personal beliefs?

Will any Amish come forward and ask that we abandon the grid, mass transit, and all things electric?

What if a taxpayer is just kind of annoyed by something, but not really worked up about it? Will the state hit the pause button while said taxpayer sorts out their feelings?

McKoon’s sponsored SB98 is “morally repugnant and reprehensible.” It is reflective of the GOP and Tea Party’s lack of respect for teachers and state employees. We entrust them to teach our children and do our state’s work, but not enough to let them make health decisions without the General Assembly cherry picking what is covered by the state’s health insurance.

Georgia doesn’t need to legislate hate

Rocco's Litte Chicago Pizza in Tucson, AZ — Rocco’s Litte Chicago Pizza in Tucson, AZ

Arizona’s Republican United States Senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, are joining the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and major corporations and calling for Gov Jan Brewer to reject SB 1062, a bill designed to allow discrimination against gay people (and who knows who else) based on the religion of the person who feels a need to discriminate. The uproar and pushback are so strong that four major companies are reconsidering decisions to bring thousands of jobs to the state. Arizona hobbled itself over establishing a Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday years ago, and there is already plenty of talk about moving the 2015 Super Bowl out of the state if Brewer signs the bill.

Arizona’s bad idea is also a bad idea for Georgia, and there are two bills in the General Assembly that would hurt our state by legalizing discrimination based on the “preservation of religious freedom.” The House version of this hate bill masquerading as religious freedom is HB 1023. The Senate’s version is SB 377.

I was stunned to find Rep Mack Jackson’s name on the House version of this bill. Mack, a Democrat who serves District 128 where I live, is the minster of St. James Christian Fellowship in Tennille.

My first questions to him were, “Have you talked to Dr Lowery about this? Would Dr. King support you on this?”

I value religious freedom and the separation of church and state. But there’s a big difference between religious freedom and legalizing discrimination based on one’s personal faith.

What lies at the heart of this bill is legalizing discrimination against gay people. In addition to a business choosing to refuse service to gay people, they could also discriminate against Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, …….. How about overweight and obese people if your faith deplores people who are more than a healthy weight (that could reduce revenues for businesses in the South where we seem to have an epidemic of weight issues)?

It is stunning that in the state where Dr King is buried, and Civil Rights champions Dr Joseph Lowery and Rep John Lewis call home, any state legislator would put their name on a bill like HB 1023/SB 377.

Crossover Day in the General Assembly is Monday, March 3rd. That means you need to act now! You can sign this petition, contact your legislators, or do both.

As this morning has progressed Mack replied to my text message saying he took his name off the bill (it still appears in the online version). A couple of hours later he posted on Facebook that he didn’t sponsor this bill. Now, as I am posting here, he has texted me saying, “My name was on the bill but was taken off in the clerk’s office after it was brought to my attention the effect of this bill. It is never my intention to discriminate against anyone. I did not sponsor the bill.”

Thank you for stepping back Rep Jackson. You and others under the Gold Dome will better serve your constituents if you fully understand the impact legislation will have on individuals, families, businesses, and our state before filing bills. Our job is to hold you accountable.

At a glance, February 21, 2014

The Atlantic covers a Brookings Institute report on income inequality in 50 of America’s cities. Atlanta leads the list.

Got water? Centerville resident Bill Ferguson says SB 213, the Flint River bill, isn’t a good idea. He explains why in today’s Macon Telegraph.

Rep Mike Dudgeon’s HB 874, which would have made solar power much more affordable for Georgians, has just about seen the sun set on it. Dave Williams at the Atlanta Business Chronicle covers it.

Freshly sworn in to the Georgia House of Representatives, Rep Sam Moore, R-Macedonia, thinks:

convicted child molesters should be allowed in schools and on playgrounds
Rep Moore thinks we should be able to shoot police officers (You’d be right if you bet he voted in favor of the gun bill allowing guns in bars, restaurants, churches, and schools)

Would it be a good idea to remove coal ash waste from places where there is groundwater and surface water contamination? “You don’t need to be Joe Chemist to figure that out.” says Avner Vengosh at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.

Four and counting

Remember that little ice event we had in Middle Georgia last week? As bucket trucks streamed into Washington County, preparations were underway to house approximately 25 linemen in the wellness center at Washington County Regional Hospital.

While the storm was making its way east towards us, Lower Oconee Hospital in Glenwood closed its doors. That’s the fourth small hospital to close while Governor Deal has been in office. Fifteen to twenty more are at risk for closure, but much-needed federal dollars are being turned away by Deal and his supporters in the General Assembly.

Beth O’Connor, the Virginia Rural Health Association’s Executive Director wrote in the Roanoke Times yesterday, “Hospitals are not businesses. If someone goes to a hair salon, grocery, clothing store or movie theater, but does not have money, they will not receive service. But federal regulations require hospitals to treat anyone who walks through the Emergency Room door – regardless of ability to pay.”

O’Connor goes on to point out that Virginia’s legislators are turning away $5M per day of federal funding that her state’s small hospitals need. Those federal dollars are tax dollars paid for by hard-working Virginians. But Virginia’s tax dollars are going to other states.

So are ours. Georgia’s tax dollars are also going to other states where leaders know Medicaid Expansion makes sense for the health of small hospitals and the people they serve.

And now there are efforts underway to allow a part-time legislature to have the power to fix Georgia’s already hobbled healthcare system.

Governor Deal could take action right now, today, and direct the tax dollars we’ve already paid, to come back to Georgia. Instead of taking the long view that stretches beyond November’s election, Governor Deal refuses to help small hospitals and the 1 Million rural citizens who count on them every day.

What will happen when Governor Deal hits the campaign trail outside Atlanta and finds it littered with closed hospitals? Will the four counties now without a hospital be campaign stops? Will he be met at campaign rallies in rural Georgia by already angry teachers and recently unemployed hospital healthcare professionals?

You can tell Governor Deal and our state legislators to bring our federal tax dollars home to serve Georgians. Sign the petition and tell Governor Deal to Save Georgia’s Hospitals Today!

Where will the next one happen?

The Charlotte Observer reports that Duke Energy notified the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Sunday afternoon that one of their coal ash ponds at the Dan River Power Station was spilling coal ash waste and toxin contaminated water into the Dan River. The company’s early estimate was that 82,000 TONS of toxic coal ash waste and up to 27 MILLION gallons of water had poured into the river supplying municipal drinking water systems downstream.

Duke Energy officials waited until 4:03 on Monday afternoon to inform the public.

The Observer quotes power company officials saying on Tuesday that it was “definitely unexpected” that a reinforced concrete pipe would break.

Except Duke Energy didn’t use concrete pipes for two thirds of the length of the pipe where the leak continues to spill into the Dan River. The company thought it had used concrete pipes in the 1960s when they built the coal ash ponds, but now they know that only one-third of the length of the pipe work is concrete.

Ooops.

Late yesterday Appalachian Voices reported that coal ash has reached the intake point at the Danville water works. Virginia Beach authorities have turned off the pumps at Lake Gaston until the full impact of the spill is determined.

The water problems aren’t over for West Virginians either. The News Observer reports that Dr. Rahul Gupta, health officer for Kanawha and Putnam counties urges parents with children ages three and younger, as well as people with weakened immune systems, to avoid drinking the water. Yesterday two schools had to close when students and teachers were overwhelmed with the licorice fumes associated with the coal processing chemical that contaminated water resources last month.

There are plenty of potential coal ash spills waiting to happen. Today’s Washington Post notes that there are 207 plant sites in 37 states where coal ash contamination has violated federal air and water health standards. Georgia could be next.

Georgia is riddled with coal plants and the toxic waste they produce. Even as Georgia Power begins to shutter coal units, the coal ash remains. Middle Georgia’s Plant Branch and Plant Scherer as ranked as Significant for hazards. After the doors are locked at Plant Branch next April, the tons of coal ash and toxic-soaked water will still be there in retention ponds, right there on the banks of Lake Sinclair that feeds the Oconee River.

How can this be? Easy.

IN HARM’S WAY: Lack of Federal Coal Ash Regulations Endangers Americans and Their Environment, a report by the Environmental Integrity Project includes this on coal ash waste regulations and monitoring, “Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia either require no monitoring of their numerous ash ponds or monitoring only after the ponds have been closed, a rare event as most ponds are operated perpetually as ‘storage’ sites. Monitoring data from state files in Georgia were so minimal that no assessment of impacts could be made.”

Power companies in Georgia are allowed to self-monitor their coal waste storage sites. Not the state agency that issued their permits, not river keepers, not municipal agencies. The power companies get to make the waste and monitor the safety of its storage.

We’ve allowed corporations, lobbyists, and legislators to put us at risk for decades and we can’t afford any longer to think “it won’t happen to us”. The “us” is everyone in the Charleston, West Virginia, Danville, and now Virginia Beach.

And the time to speak up is now.

Why I’m not going purple today

If you are using social media (at least Facebook) you may see a lot of profile pictures washed in purple as part of World Cancer Day today. There are all kinds of good ways to support cancer research, cancer patients and survivors, health care professionals, and caregivers.

I have a friend who begins chemo tomorrow. She’ll beat this.

Cancer sucks.

I’m not going purple today. Instead I’ve picked up the phone and shared a call to action.

The Georgia Senate Natural Resources Committee is meeting this afternoon to consider SB 299, which will strip away water protection and leave us just as exposed and vulnerable as the people in West Virginia. I called and left a message asking Chair Ross Tolleson to vote NO on this bill.

Yesterday a shuttered Duke Energy coal plant spilled at least 50,000-82,000 pounds of coal ash and 27 Million gallons of water into the Dan River near Eden, North Carolina. The coal ash and water are saturated with cancer causing heavy metals and toxins that never “go away” or evaporate.

There are all kinds of ways we can support cancer patients today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. The ribbons and the walks are fine, but we also need to have the hard discussions about what we are doing to the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Because cancer sucks.

January 30, 2014

You can watch the shouting matching here or read about it. And by the way, we don’t get paid what we’re worth and we ought to be.

This piece from The Weekly Sift, The Distress of the Privileged, is worth a read too (It’s long but will be time well spent).

UGA and Emory journalism professor Rebecca Burns has a keen piece in Politico on why Tuesday’s snow was such a disaster. Burn’s points here also hold true for the multitude of problems that will occur when the Braves move to Cobb County (add heat and humidity to the picture then).

Jay Bookman writes about Georgia’s bare bones budgeting, and what it means for our state.

Gonna be tough to top that

He’s back! President Obama has his feet back under him and the State of the Union address he just delivered made it clear that he and the Democrats are on their game.

The President isn’t going to wait around for the Republicans to hold who knows how many pointless votes on policies and programs they can’t overturn. Instead, he will work with Democrats and any willing Republicans, and he’ll use Executive Orders to move our country forward on minimum wage increases, equal pay for equal work, world-class education for our country’s children, peace in the Middle East, keeping our troops at home, making the voting booth easily accessible for legal voters, and immigration reform.

Obama said we are building a stronger economy using renewable energy fuel resources. The President also told climate deniers to get out of the way.

Come on Mr President, put a cherry on top of tonight’s speech and say No to Keystone XL now.

I listened to Rep Cathy McMorris Rodgers deliver one of four responses to be offered up by the Republicans tonight (Tea Party darlings Sen Rand Paul and Mike Lee are responding too while Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen R-Florida will deliver remarks much like McMorris Rodger’s but in Spanish).

McMorris Rodgers touched on some of the points Obama raised like access to health care, jobs, and education, but she didn’t do much more than share some personal examples about how important those things are to her and her family.

And really, did the Republicans and McMorris Rodgers think they need to pander to women by asking a woman who just had a baby two months ago to deliver their flimsy response?

Women and people of color will be wooed and courted by Republicans and Democrats from now until the November elections are over. The President and Democrats came to the front door tonight with a huge bouquet of long stem roses, jewelry, and heated seats on the 50 yard line of this Sunday’s Super Bowl. The Republicans can’t decide on a team captain.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Former Gov Mike Huckabee is waving Todd Akin’s flag now. Will Georgia’s doctor-politicians Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey, and Tom Price sing the chorus on women’s inability to control our libidos, therefore forcing us to rely on government subsidized birth control? Robin Abcarian ticks through the Republican Party’s continued failure to woo women voters.

New filings by Cobb EMC member against co-op and settlement payouts covered in the Marietta Daily Journal

Rep Greg Morris wants SNAP recipients to take drug tests since they get state funds. State legislators get state funds without peeing in a cup. Courts have ruled against similar laws. This is a sure way to make sure children are hungry .

Growlers to Go bill would boost growing state’s brewery industry. (Plus adding spirits to wine?) Sen Burt Jones has filed SB 303 that also fast tracks referendum voting for dry cities and counties. Maggie Lee at Macon Telegraph covers this plus Georgia Democratic Party Chair DuBose Porter’s response to Rep Sharon Cooper suggestion to pull the plug on rural hospitals.

Twiggs County budget decisions include choosing an audit firm and one commissioner’s failure to recuse himself. This decision was made by the same people who opened a new library last year and closed it two weeks later due to budget problems.

A year’s worth of happiness

The Friday Photo
January 24, 2014

I don’t keep a diary or journal. As 2012 was winding down a friend suggested collecting the high points throughout the course of the year, writing them down, and keeping them in a container. At the end of the year it could serve as a reminder of happy moments that were worth writing down. This is what my 2013 container looked like.

On January 3rd I recorded my first contribution for 2014: New Year’s Day with Brenda, Diana, Maia, and Karrie (close in my heart).

Rep Sharon Cooper attempts a 180

I hope Rep Sharon Cooper didn’t hurt herself while attempting that 180 on her statement last week about rural hospitals when she said, “There are some of those rural hospitals that need to close.”

Yesterday Cooper attempted to dial back her comments by telling the Atlanta Journal Constitution that closing rural hospitals “would have serious consequences on the affected community, hurting it economically and limiting access to acute care for Georgians.”

Cooper went on to say, as reported by Jim Galloway today,“If we don’t act to make real, substantive changes, we very well could be faced with the hard reality of hospital closures in rural parts of this state, no matter how many short gap measures we take, leaving many communities without the economic engine and access to care people depend on.”

Nurse Cooper and many of the urban based legislators under the Gold Dome suffer from a chronic disease that rural residents can identify in just seconds. I don’t know what the Latin derivation is, but it translates to, “I’m from Atlanta and I know what is best for ‘you people’ who don’t use GA 400 every day.”

Cooper and others in her camp have refused Medicaid Expansion dollars, and in doing so have made it harder for rural hospitals to cover their costs, let alone recruit providers or make even modest capital improvements to aging facilities. No one is advocating for perpetual “short gap” measures as solutions for rural hospitals.

The problems of improving the health status of rural communities are complex. What won’t begin to solve them is a lot of pontificating by metro legislators who think their zip code makes them experts on all things rural.

Rural Georgia needs to suck it up

Health professionals know minutes, 60 to be exact, matter following a stroke. For someone struggling to breathe during an asthma attack, or stopping the bleeding after an accident, or consumed by a mental health crisis, seconds matter. Minutes are too long. State Representative Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, should know this. She’s a registered nurse.

She also has the luxury of living in a metro county with a wealth of hospitals, four to be exact, according to the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce.

Cooper opposes the Affordable Care Act and the expansion of Medicaid funding, a critical financial piece for rural hospitals. Walking lockstep with Gov Deal and fellow state legislator Rep Jason Spencer, Nurse Cooper told WABE in Atlanta, “There are some of those rural hospitals that need to close.”

I guess we’re just spoiled out here in rural Georgia, expecting to have access to an emergency room without driving 20+ miles to get care. All 1 Million of us rural Georgians who were cared for in small rural hospitals last year just need to suck it up, buckle up, and floor it.

Who cares how far away the hospital is? It’s only time and miles.

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share