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The True Citizen, Wednesday, October 5, 2022 — Page 11
Georgia Power, MEAG settle
Plant Vogtle-related lawsuit
New members welcomed
The Waynesboro Exchange Club president Valerie Kirkland
and VP Rex Myers recently presented membership certificates
to Paul Thompson, Burke Health Director of ER & Cardiology,
Jonathan Lupo, Economic Development Director and Matthew
Reid, Used Car Manager at Waynesboro Motor Centre.
DAVE WILLIAMS
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia Power has settled
a lawsuit filed by one of its
utility partners in the nuclear
expansion at Plant Vogtle over
allocating the costs of finishing
the long-delayed, over-budget
project.
The Atlanta-based utility has
agreed to pay the Municipal
Electric Authority of Georgia
(MEAG) at least $76 million
based on the current capital
cost forecast for completing the
construction of two additional
nuclear reactors at the plant
south of Augusta.
The two units originally
were expected to go into ser
vice in 2016 and 2017. But the
work was delayed by a variety
of factors, including the bank
ruptcy of the original prime
contractor and disruption to the
construction workforce during
the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest forecast calls for
the first of the new reactors to
begin operating during the first
quarter of next year, followed
by the second reactor in the
fourth quarter of 2023.
MEAG sued Georgia Power
last June asserting its right
to trigger a 2018 agreement
freezing its capital costs for the
project. Originally expected to
cost $14 billion when the state
Public Service Commission
approved the expansion in
2009, the price tag has more
than doubled.
The MEAG action followed
a suit hied by Oglethorpe Pow
er, another minority partner in
the project.
Oglethorpe owns 30% of
the Vogtle expansion project,
while MEAG’s share is 22.7%.
Georgia Power, the largest of
four utility partners, holds a
45.7% ownership share. Dalton
Utilities has a tiny 1.6% stake.
Under the 2018 agreement,
when the project costs reach a
certain point, the minority part
ners are allowed to reduce their
ownership share in exchange
for Georgia Power picking up
100% of the remaining costs to
complete the project.
Under the settlement, hied
with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC)
late last week, MEAG will
retain full ownership of its
project share. Georgia Power
will pay 20% of any additional
costs MEAG incurs beyond
the current project capital cost
forecast.
The agreement between
Georgia Power and MEAG
does not resolve Georgia Pow
er’s ongoing legal disputes
with Oglethorpe and Dalton
Utilities. Georgia Power’s po
tential exposure in those cases
is up to $165 million, accord
ing to the company’s hling with
the SEC.
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News Ser
vice, a project of the Georgia
Press Educational Foundation
Archives asks for Boggs Academy yearbooks
Boggs Academy is host
ing a school reunion October
7 - 9, 2022, in Waynesboro.
The Burke County Archives
volunteers have been invited
to attend the General Member
ship meeting in order to scan
any yearbooks that are brought
to the reunion. These will be
the first Boggs Academy year
books that the Archives has
obtained to add to their collec
tion of high school yearbooks
of schools within the county.
If any local citizens have
a Boggs Academy yearbook
of their own or handed down
from a family member, they
are invited to bring them by the
Archives building at 403 Old
Herndon Road in Waynesboro
on Friday afternoons when
volunteers are available to scan
them. The scanned yearbooks
will provide a database that
folks can use to find ances
tors or family members. The
Archives is housed in the old
jail building.
Boggs Academy, a Presby
terian school, was founded by
the Reverend John Lawrence
Phelps in 1906 near Keysville
with the support of the Board
of Missions for Freedmen,
Presbyterian Church in the
U.S .A. Reverend Phelps had
come to the area for the ex
press purpose of establishing
a school built on Christian
principles to educate African
American youth.
Over the years the academy
grew to be an outstanding
college preparatory academy
for African Americans, being
accredited by the Southern
Association of Colleges and
Secondary Schools in 1943.
Students from all across the
United States and the world
attended Boggs. Students from
Bermuda, Kenya, Ethiopia
and Gambia were enrolled at
the academy at one time or
another. Notable attendees
include a niece of Dr. Martin
Luther King and two grandsons
of Senator Strom Thurmond.
F. J. Walker and Moses
Walker were brothers, land-
owners and slave owners in
the northern Burke County/
Keysville area. F. J. Walker
died and his brother Moses was
left as trustee of F. J.’s slaves.
Nineteen of these slaves were
emigrated to Liberia in 1859
as instructed by F. J. Walker’s
will. Moses had 13 children by
two different slave women, one
of whom was Morgan Walker.
When slavery was abolished
in 1865 Moses Walker gave
adjoining land to each of his
13 children, and that area be
came known as the Walker
Settlement.
Boggs academy began with
the donation of two acres of
land from the Walker family,
namely Morgan Walker and
Rodney Walker, a nephew of
Morgan’s, and has now grown
to over 1000 acres in northern
Burke County. The first two
buildings constructed on the
campus were the school and a
chapel. Boggs was named in
honor of Mrs. Virginia Boggs
who was the corresponding
secretary of the Board of Mis
sions for Freedmen at the time,
and the chapel was named
Morgan Grove Presbyterian
Church in honor of Morgan
Walker who donated the land.
Boggs Academy’s last grad
uating class was in 1984 and it
closed its doors as a school in
1986. In 1991 the school was
resurrected as the Boggs Rural
Life Center, a non-profit orga
nization that is charged with
helping other organizations
address issues in Burke and
surrounding counties. Events
hosted here include Juneteenth
celebrations, and the facili
ties can be used for retreats,
reunions, weddings or other
special events.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
A petition for zoning amendment has been filed with the Burke Coun
ty Board of Zoning Appeals, requesting the zoning of this property:
4949 HIGHWAY 25 N. WAYNESBORO GA. Map/Parcel: 062-006
be changed from zone A-l to zone R-l. A public hearing will be held
at The Burke County Court House, located at 602 North Liberty
St., Waynesboro GA. 30830 on 10/25/2022 at 7:00 p.m. All those in
favor of or objecting to this petition should be present to voice their
support or objection. For more information call
(706) 554-8758
Burke County Planning Commission
DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW
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