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CAPITOL PUNISHMENT
A regular series covering the Georgia General Assembly
OPEN SEASON ON EARTH HUGGERS
To observe Arbor Day. a national celebration
of trees and nature, state lawmakers began an
assault on the environment last week. The
House sneaked in a measure to take money
from the Wildlife Conservation Fund. Granted,
slapping a license plate ’with a quail flying
through longleaf pines on the most environmen
tally pernicious invention ever is a naive way to
show environmental awareness. Yet proceeds
from the wildly popular program have raised
almost $9 million to protect ncn-game endan
gered critters in Georgia.
Georgia Wildlife Federal President Jerry
McCollum noted that powerful committee
chairmen signed off on the stealth HB 653 from
Jay Shaw (D-Lakeland), which would divert pro
ceeds from the special fund to the general trea
sury. That it was introduced without one word to
the public, “tells me they have wired the bill
with the momentum to go through the House
and Senate like crap through a goose,"
McCollum fretted.
Following the debacle of state wide natural
gas deregulation, the House Natural Resources
Committee proposed doing the same for vehicle
emissions testing in the metro region.
Presently 2.5 million drivers submit their cars
and pickups to inspections every other year for
$25 a pop. Some testing center owners have
complained that stricter federal regulations
could increase costs.
In response, arithmetically challenged com
mittee members passed a bill eliminating the
S25 cap, listening to the assertion from bill
sponsor Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Manetta) that
the free market will cause the price to go down.
Not so sure. Sierra Club lobbyist Mark Woodall
thinks it would lead to price gouging If the
state Environmental Protection Division wants to
clean the air, he says, why not go after power
plants, the largest fixed sources of pollutants?
Lawmakers should have learned their lesson.
When Atlanta Gas Light Co. was sprung loose,
its jacked-up pnces sparked a continuing revolt
that convinced the usually lethargic Public
Service Commission to call last week for legisla
tion to push AGL out of the natural gas
market earlier than planned.
The House Natural Resources Committee all
but sank Rep. Anne Mueller's (R-Savannah)
measure preventing TSC Water Technologies from
siphoning coastal river water and injecting it
in aquifers to sell later to thirsty cities. Last-
minute pressure from business groups convinced
Rep. Tom McCall (D Elberton) to pull it from the
agenda, but a host of counties and environmen
talists have endorsed a moratorium for years.
With all the talk of good science to make reg
ulations, here is a case for it. Clean water advo
cates say there isn t enough information about
what sediment and nutrient-loaded river water
would do to purer groundwater. Mueller's mea
sure would stop the water weasels until 2005
when the state completes a study on under
ground water patterns near the coast.
A comprehensive study of land development
patterns released last week shows that the
quickly balding metro region, losing up to 50
acres of treetops daily, seriously needs some
botanical Rogaine. Help has arrived. Rep. Mark
Burkhalter (R Alpharetta) introduced HB 557 to
slow down the wholesale clear cutting of
Atlanta. It would establish minimum tree pro
tection standards that developers must follow
before obtaining building permits. One or two
House Natural Resources panels could prune the
package this week.
Meanwhile. Senators and representatives
feuding over budget pork may have taken Gov.
Roy Barnes and House Speaker Tom Murphy (D-
Bremen) hostage. A Senate budget subcommittee
last week removed much of the $70 million
bestowed on House leaders in the supplemental
budget, even slicing out Murphy's personal
retirement gift to his district — $24 million to
remove Carroll Tech from Ca/roll County and
build a new and improved version in the county
of Haralson. They then inserted what they called
leaner senatorial cuts, for example, $23 million
for Clayton College and State University, in the
district of President Pro Tern Tenell Starr (D-
Forest Park).
"You made the speaker unhappy," warned
wizened Sen. Paul Broun (D-Athens). "They're
jerking the Speaker around," said one West
Georgia representative later. They shouldn't
have done that."
Murphy, perhaps to retaliate, abruptly can
celed a meeting of the House Transportation
Committee last Friday, slated to discuss the gov
ernor's proposed Georgia Regional
Transportation Authority The Senate has
shown much more support for GRTA than the
House, which incidentally last week removed
from their supplemental budget a $2 million
request horn the governor to study the idea of a
light rail line in north Atlanta. GRTA may be the
speaker's hostaqe to ensure he gets his technical
school millions back.
Richard Stenger (rsstenger ahotmail com)
NON-PARTISAN
continued jiom paqe 4
District 6 Commissioner Marilyn Farmer
supports non-partisan elections, but she
says. “I still think people should have to
declare what they are ”
Last week's vote could be seen as a
litmus test of party leanings, with tlu |x>s-
sible exception of Kilpatrick Voting for non
partisan elections were Commissioners
Hugh Logan. Marilyn Farmer. Carrie?
Kilpatrick. Linda Ford and Tom Chasteen
and Mayor Doc Kldridge. Against were
Commissioners Ken Jordan, Charles Carter,
Harry Sims. Alvin Sheats and John Barrow In
that constellation of commissioners. Farmer
and Ford are Republicans. Chasteen ami
Logan are Democrats who vote like
Republicans. Kilpatrick has grudges within
her own party going back to The Classic
Center fight, and the mayor is generally con
ceded to be a Rzpublkan in Democ rat’s
saddle oxfords Sims and Sheats have the
added Democrats incentive of being African-
Americans, Jordan has held his seat in spite
of determined Republican efforts to unseat
him. Barrow is an unyieldingly combative
Democrat and Carter is an independent dirt
farmer Democrat who votes his own mind.
As of this writing. Rep. Heard is. as the
mayor called him. “the gatekeeper “ Heard
prolxahly feels by now that the gate has lieen
slammed on him a few times, since he is
caught between his black constituency and
the Republican-leaning part of the white
community that wants to be able to vote in
the state and national Republican primaries
and still get in on the action at home, in spite
of the fact that the local Republicans have
usually failed to provide contested pri
maries
Linda Ford's race is the exception that
proves the rule The mayor's wife, for
instance, had to choose between voting for
her own husliand in his uncontesled
Democratic primary slot, or voting in the
Republican primary, where her neighbor was
in a tight race Since this newspajier. unlike
so many politicians end pundits these days,
believes in family values, her decision will
not be revealed here (Pete McCommons)
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FEBRUARY 24, 1999
GOOD DIRT.
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