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ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
GEORGIA POWER'S GREAT SUMMER
Crossing Lines: The process of redrawing
Athens-Clarke County Commission district
lines is getting pretty sketchy. It has become
apparent that Republicans intend to use the
decennial census-mandated local legislative
reapportionment process to "de-gerrymander"
the districts—by moving the lines so that
it's easier for them to get elected (as
"non-partisan" candidates, natch). Aside
from the obvious f act that that's the defini
tion of gerrymandering—the current lines
are intended to balance most district popula
tions between intown and outlying residents,
not to ensure Democratic control—the most
disturbing aspect of the Republican plan is
that they seem prepared and willing to carry
it out without the approval of local elected
officials.
The work of a local reapportionment com
mittee, appointed by Mayor Nancy Denson, is
being facilitated by a professional redistrict
ing consultant, Linda
Meggers, who last
week proposed a mini
mally altered map that
would even out district
populations while leav
ing most boundaries
untouched. But local
attorney Regina Quick,
who represents the
Republican Party on
the committee, submit
ted a map of her own
that would radically
redraw the districts,
including removing one
incumbent commis
sioner, Alice Kinman,
from her district—an
outcome Meggers said
at the committee's first
meeting is studiously
avoided in typical redistricting processes.
But this process looks like it will be any
thing but typical. Quick—a bit cynically,
perhaps, considering the explicitness of her
politically partisan role on the committee—
characterized her map as being intended to
increase minority representation, without
mentioning its likely benefits to candidates
from her party. But Republican state Rep.
Doug McKillip is making no such bones about
the map he says he's working on. The former
Democrat says he's going to "make sure the
40 percent of Republicans and whatever per
cent of independents and moderates in Clarke
County have their voices heard."
While such a goal might sound defensible,
the means necessary to achieve it may not
be—particularly by standards usually applied
by Republicans themselves. The normal
procedure for local reapportionment is for the
committee to agree on a map that would then
have to be approved by the commission (as
well as the U.S. Department of Justice) and,
finally, by the Georgia General Assembly, for
state legislators to bypass the input of local
elected officials would strike most—especially,
one would think, Republicans, with their sanc
tification of "local control"—as an onerous
intrusion into matters clearly outside their
jurisdiction. But that's exactly what McKillip
is contemplating, and it's very possible he can
pull it off if he chooses to.
There's some question as to the legal issues
involved, but it appears the Legislature is
empowered go over the heads of local govern
ments in these matters. That power would
also extend to altering local charters—in
order, for instance, to eliminate ACC's two
superdistricts. Asked whether eliminating
superdistricts in ACC without the mayor
and commission's approval would be "off
limits," McKillip replied, "I'm certainly looking
forward to [the mayor and commission's] input
and suggestions, but at this point I'm more
concerned with what the majority of the local
[state legislative] delegation believes is fair,
sensible, constitutional and complies with the
Voting Rights Act." That goes "for all of local
(Athens-Clarke County) redistricting," not just
superdistricts, he added.
So, there you have it. One of our state
representatives considers it the purview of
our majority-Repjblican legislative delega
tion to redesign the electoral structure of
our majority-Democratic municipality, and is
now poised to act in that regard. The kicker
is, such an action wouldn't even be considered
"local" legislation, which must be approved
unanimously by the delegation—which incon
veniently still includes one Democrat.
Don't mistake this for what it appears to
be: an attempted hostile takeover of our
local government by an invading political
force. In the contorted argot of Republicans
circa 2011, this is what's known as "fairness."
Blue Waters: Several of Athens' finest public
houses will be doing their part to commemo
rate the one-year anniversary of the Trail Creek
chemical spill (see Ben Emanuel's Comment,
p.8) by serving bright blue cocktails this
Friday, July 29 to benefit the Altamaha
Riverkeeperis Oconee River Project. That non
profit initiative, headed up by Emanuel, was
largely responsible for coordinating the public
awareness campaign (and much else) in the
wake of the disaster last year, and continues
to serve as an important watchdog and advo
cacy unit for regional water issues. There's
more info? and a list of participating bars,
at www.altamahariverkeeper.org, and at the
Oconee River Project's facebook page.
Standing Up for Rutherford: Concerned stu
dents, alumni and faculty have posted an
online petition to save Rutherford Hall
from demolition, which UGA President Michael
Adams has indicated is pretty close to a done
deal. If you would like to register your opposi
tion to such a deal, go to www.thepetitionsite.
com/2/Help-Save-Rutherford/.
Dave Marr news@flagpole com
This has been a good summer for Georgia
Power, the company that provides electricity
to millions of customers around the state.
Thanks to the high temperatures caused by
the heat dome overlying Georgia and much
of the country, homeowners and businesses
are running their air conditioners constantly,
which enables Georgia Power to generate elec
tricity at peak summer rates.
Life got better for the utility giant last
week as the staff of the Public Service
Commission, which regulates the company,
surrendered in its efforts to control the costs
of two nuclear reactors. Georgia Power is
building these reactors at Plant Vogtle
near Waynesboro. The current cost
of the nuclear plants is estimated
at more than $14 billion, with
Georgia Power owning 45 percent
of the project and significant
chunks held by the state's
EMCs and the Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia (MEAG).
In a project that expensive,
cost overruns become a crucial
issue. When Georgia Power built the
first two nuclear units at Vogtle, the
initial estimated cost was $660 million, but
the total ballooned to nearly $9 billion by the
time the reactors were completed.
To prevent a repeat of that episode, the
PSC staff devised a plan that would have
divided the ^nancial risks between the utili
ty's shareholders and its customers. The staff's
risk-sharing plan would have slightly reduced
profits if Georgia Power went more than $300
million over the approved budget. That would
provide some motivation for Georgia Power to
manage the project prudently and try to hold
down cost overruns.
This is how the free market works, at least
in theory. When you invest in something, you
run the risk that you may not earn back your
investment if the business is poorly managed.
Georgia Power has basically eliminated the
risks of the free market. Without a risk-sharing
mechanism, the company could benefit
financially by running up the price of the
Vogtle project and charging it off to customers
in the form of higher rates.
"Georgia Power has little or no incentive to
minimize the cost of the Vogtle plants without
a risk-sharing plan in effect," said Richard
D'Arizzo, an attorney for AARP who urged the
PSC to adopt the plan. "The company would
earn money from cost overruns."
Georgia Power's response to the risk-shar
ing proposal has been simple. The company
said "no" to the original plan and kept saying
"no" at every opportunity. Company executives
knew that no matter how tough a risk-sharing
plan the PSC staff proposed, all they had
to do was refuse to go along with it.
The elected members of the PSC
would eventually side with Georgia
Power, as they typically vote
to give the utility whatever it
requests.
Last week, the PSC staff
finally gave up on attempts to
finalize a risk-sharing plan. The
PSC announced that it had reached
a "settlement" with Georgia Power
where it would continue to monitor the
Vogtle project, but without any danger that
the utility's investors will see profits reduced
if there are cost overruns.
"This proposed settlement protects Georgia
Power shareholders, but it does not offer
any protection whatsoever for Georgia Power
customers who are already-getting socked
with back-to-back increases, including the
construction financing cost for Vogtle," said
Angela Speir Phelps, a former PSC member.
My latest bill from Georgia Power was $66
higher than it was for the same month last
year. When I get the bill for the same period
next year, it won't surprise me if it's gone up
by another $66—or by $666, for that matter.
It's bad news for customers—which
means great news for Georgia Power and its
investors.
Tom Crawford tcrawford@gareport com
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MR. MURDOCH KNEW NOTHING ABOUT
ANT Of THIS.' OBVIOUSLY HE CAN'T
BE EXPECTED TO KEEP TRACK Of
£V£«Y TIMY DETAIL of HIS
ENORMOUS MEDIA EMPIRE.'
HE PROBABLY DOESN'T KNOW
WHEN THE EMPLOYEE BREAK
ROOM NEEDS COFFEE FIL
by TOM TOMORROW
AND IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING
THAT FOX MEWS IS IN NO WAY
IMPLICATED IN THE ALLEGED
SCANDAL.
--BECAUSE WERE MOT A MEWS
OR6AMIZATIOM! I MEAN, SER-
IOUSLY—HAVE You EVER WATCHED
THIS CHANNEL?
COMING UP MEXT: BRUTAL HEAT
WAVE PROVES GLOBAL WARMING IS
A HOAX, According to statistics
X JUST PULLED OUT Of MY BUTT*
AND—DOES VOTING FOR
DEMOCRATS CAUSE CAMCER?
WHO KMOWS! IT MIGHT!
IT'S CERTAINLY
FOOD FOR
THOUGHT!
FIRST THESE
MESSAGES..
v/ -
Despite its heavily under-construction appearance, the ACC Library is still open;
you just have to enter on the right-hand side of the building.
4 FLAGPOLE.COM-JULY 27, 2011
"foM 1»M*RK*W©20II ...www.thlsmoOemwor1d.com...twittor.com/tomtomorrow
