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Georgia Youth for Energy Solutions (GA YES) has spent this summer working to fight the new proposed coal-fired power plants in Georgia, funded by a consortium called Power4Georgians. There are myriad reasons why these plants are a terrible idea, from the $2 billion price tag per plant to the increased air and water pollution to the 13 million gallons of water that one plant alone will use each day. Ratepayers will foot the bill for these plants in the short-term, and young people will foot the bill in the long-term.

GA YES, the student-led organization of students at campuses across the state, has taken an active role in pushing Central Georgia EMC to withdraw from Power4Georgians, and thus from funding the proposed coal plants.

In order to make this happen, student leaders within GA YES have put their shoes on the pavement – literally – going door to door to talk to EMC members about the proposal that will raise their rates. On July 10, a crew of GA YES leaders and a coalition partner from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy took a trip to Hampton, GA to talk to Central GA EMC members in the area.

GA YES Steering Committee Member Ian Karra prepares his clipboard for the canvass.

Over the course of a very hot and humid afternoon, we saw firsthand many families who can’t afford a sharp rise in their electric costs. We also talked to several CGEMC customers who didn’t understand why the EMC would invest their hard-earned dollars in billion-dollar coal plants, rather than energy efficiency programs, which could eliminate the need for the proposed plants.

Ian knocks on a door of a Central GA EMC member.

In addition to our door canvass, GA YES students have been hitting the phones, calling EMC members living around the service area, informing them of the costly proposal as well as asking them to take action. Our phone conversations were a lot like our conversations at the door. CG EMC members don’t want their rates to go up to pay for more coal!

Central Georgia EMC held its annual meeting Wednesday, August 4. We worked to turn out members to this meeting, and connect them with the Board of Directors who are supporting the proposed plants.

It’s more than likely that your electric provider, dear reader, isn’t Central GA EMC. The Georgians for Smart Energy Coalition, of which we are part, has information  on their website which will let you know if your electric provider is funding new coal plants.

Now, with the fall semester started at most college campuses in Georgia, GA YES is switching to a full court press of Georgia’s candidates for statewide election: Gubernatorial candidates and Senate candidates. The next Governor of Georgia will have the ability to appoint new members to the Environmental Protection Division, which permits water use and air use for new and existing coal plants. The water permits issued to the proposed Plant Washington coal plant in Sandersville, GA, were sent back to Georgia EPD after the judge found they were issued improperly.

Currently, Senator Johnny Isakson is up for re-election; though clean energy legislation has not yet made its way to the Senate floor for a vote during this session, it may in the next Congress. Young people across the state will be pressing Senator Isakson and his challengers, Democrat Mike Thurmond and Libertarian Chuck Donovan, on their positions on new coal plants and clean energy. We recently posted about our experience speaking to candidates at an Augusta forum on water issues. Keep checking back for more info on how our campaign is going! To get involved, visit our website at www.climateaction.net.

For many of us, the fall is filled with possibilities: the excitement of going back to school, beginning a new chapter, and in 2010, working to get young people out to the polls, many for the first time.

This Fall Southern Energy Network is launching the Power Vote campaign to flex young people’s political muscle. Power Vote is a national collaborative campaign we run with Energy Action Coalition partners to mobilize young voters and to demonstrate how important clean energy is to our generation!

Please join us for our first regional conference call of the semester, the Southern Power Vote Launch Call, tonight, Tuesday, August 24th at 9pm ET. On the call youth leaders from across the South will come together, and Southern Energy Network’s Executive Director Stephanie Powell will explain why this fall is so critical to the youth climate movement.

We need the Power Vote campaign on as many campuses in the South as possible. Why? Because it’s a critical time for young people to redefine politics in this country. Through Power Vote we will send a clear message to decision makers that it’s time to clean up politics and choose people over polluters!  You can help make this happen. Visit http://bit.ly/powervotecaptain to become a Power Vote campus captain.

If you weren’t already excited, you have one more thing to get pumped about this fall: the 6th Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference! The weekend of October 1-3, hundreds of students will come to Athens, GA, for three days of high-energy networking, skill building, and inspiration. Visit www.climateaction.net/ssrec for more!

We’ll keep you updated about all the additional awesome actions, events, and calls we’re hosting this fall.

For our future,

Dan, Jenna, and Stephanie

Right now, the Southern Energy Network is in the running to secure $5,000 for this year’s Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (SSREC).

The SSREC started in 2004, and over the past six years it has brought together hundreds of students across the South to learn organizing skills, network, and return to their campuses motivated and ready to fight dirty energy and promote a clean energy future.

Now, Southern Energy Network staff and student leaders are excited to bring you the 6th Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference. This year, we’ll have more than 700 students converge on the University of Georgia in Athens over the weekend of October 1-3.

With your help, this conference will be the most successful yet. The SSREC is in the running for a $5,000 grant from the Brighter Planet Fund. This money will help with critical conference operations, as well as bringing in the keynote speakers who will change hearts and minds.

Here’s the info: visit http://projectfund.brighterplanet.com/projects/SSREC to see our proposal. Register with your name and email, and then cast your votes!

You have 3 votes – please use all 3 to support the SSREC. We have until August 15th to secure the top spot. Please take a few minutes today to cast your votes.

You can help spread the word by tweeting the vote link, posting the link on your Facebook wall and your friend’s walls, and making the link your chat status.

Here’s a sample tweet: “Help @SouthernEnergy bring in $5k for the 6th SSREC! Vote 3X at bit.ly/voteSSREC Please RT”

Another great way to support the youth clean energy movement: PowerShift 2011 is up for a $250,000 grant from Pepsi Refresh. Visit http://bit.ly/PowerShift11 to register and vote each day!

As a part of our strategy to fight the three proposed coal-fired power plants in Georgia, the Southern Energy Network and Georgia Youth for Energy Solutions (GA YES!), are putting the pressure on 2010 political candidates.

Last Thursday, June 24, we showed up at the Georgia Water Coalition’s Gubernatorial Forum on Water and the Environment ready to ask candidates hard-hitting questions about the future of renewable energy and green jobs in Georgia. With 12 existing coal-fired power plants, one of which is the single largest point source of CO2 in the US, and 3 new plants proposed, these water-intensive power plants are of huge concern to our drought-ridden state.

Kelsea Norris asks Gen. David Poythress about Plant Washington

We told candidates Dubose Porter, Carl Camon, and General David Poythress that young voters will not stand for new coal in the state of Georgia and that we’re demanding clean, safe, renewable energy that will bring real green jobs to our state. And we got a pretty good response!

Candidates Poythress, Porter, and Camon at the Forum

To back up our statements, we spend this past Saturday at a booth talking to folks at AthFest – a 3-day music and arts festival that takes place every summer in downtown Athens, Georgia. We gathered almost 50 new petition signatures from Georgia voters, telling gubernatorial candidates that they’ll be voting for candidates who:

• Oppose the construction of Plant Washington and support clean energy solutions such as wind and solar, NOT coal and nuclear.
• Support statewide energy efficiency programs that will cut our carbon emissions and make Georgia a leader in global warming solutions
• Invest in education to create clean energy tech jobs

E-mail all the gubernatorial candidates and let them know that you’ll also be voting on the issues, and don’t forget to vote in the Georgia primaries on July 20! If you can, copy us on your emails – use jenna@climateaction.net. Jenna is our Georgia Organizer, working with GA YES to fight the proposed coal plants.

Democratic

General David Poythress (Info@poythressforgovernor.com)

Randal Mangham (repmangham@gmail.com)

Dubose Porter (info@porterforgeorgia.com)

Carl Camon (hopeforgeorgia@gmail.com)

Bill Bolton (governor@billbolton.com)

Roy Barnes (info@roy2010.com)

Thurbert Baker (contact@thurbertbaker.com)

Republican

Jeff Chapman (https://www.completecampaigns.com/public.asp?name=ChapmanJ&page=6)

Nathan Deal (info@nathandeal.org)

Karen Handel (info@KarenHandel.com)

Eric Johnson (eric@forgeorgians.com)

John Oxendine (team@johnoxendine.com)

Ray McBerry (McBerryCampaign@GeorgiaFirst.org)

Independent

Ray Boyd (ray@boydforgeorgia.com)

Al Bartell (http://www.albartell.com/contactme.htm)

Libertarian

John Monds (http://www.votemonds.com/contact.html)

Written by Kelsea Norris, student at the University of Georgia in Athens

Cross-posted from EnergyActionCoalition.org

To mark the one-month anniversary of the BP drilling disaster, 45+ vigils and rallies took place around the country to call for a Crude Awakening. Oil has been gushing into the Gulf now for one month. With each day that passes, the impacts of our nation’s dirty energy policy becomes more pronounced, but politicians in Washington, DC continue to promote the Big Oil agenda.

Our community is responding – Candlelight vigils and ralles happened across Florida and in Grande Isle, LA, public theatre took place in San Antonio at the site of a recent oil refinery explosion, and young people across the state of South Carolina showed up at the door of Senator Graham’s office to demand he renew his leadership on climate and energy. Fed up with business as usual, and wanting to do something to help the Gulf, we are making our voices heard loud and clear.

Last week the Senate blocked a bill to make BP pay for the cleanup, and this week the “Dirty Air Act” is re-surfacing for consideration. Our Senators need to hear from us, and your voice can help push us in the right direction.

Floridians and allies demonstrate their support for real solutions!

Show your support by calling your Senators today to demand they respond to the BP drilling disaster by standing up to Big Oil.

The choices are very clear. Do we continue to allow dirty industry-driven policy to wreak havoc on our country, or do we take action that puts us on the path to a clean and just energy future? Let’s help answer that question ourselves by starting serious conversation with our elected officials today.

Supporters in Asheville, NC

Call your Senators to demand a permanent ban on offshore drilling and oppose the Dirty Air Act.

Candlelight vigils and rallies called for this Crude Awakening, but this doesn’t end withthe 1 month anniversary, the oil is still spilling and we are still acting. In a few days we’ll send you updates on how the events went, and start to lay out some next steps moving forward. We are getting ready to launch a campaign for this fall to build power for clean energy solutions from the ground up – we know that we are in this for the long haul, and we hope you’ll join us.

Cinco de Mayo is all about commemorating the Mexican Army’s victory over French forces during the French intervention in Mexico. It’s a celebration of the underdog! It’s a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride! OR it’s all about going to overcrowded Mexican restaurants, dancing to Mariachi music, and if you’re of age, taking advantage of margarita specials! But instead of doing any of those things, Kathryn Hilton and I (both students at USC Aiken) started setting up our game plan for presenting our case against the South Carolina Electric and Gas Company (SCE&G) in front of the Public Service Commission (PSC).

The PSC is considering granting SCE&G’s request to raise their customers’ rates to pay for $700 million in government mandated “environmental” upgrades to its Wateree and Williams coal-fired power plants and a backup dam the utility owns near Columbia, as well as $300 million dollars to pay to cut down trees, pay shareholders, upgrade equipment, and for other expenses. Initially, the utility requested a rate increase of nearly 10%, but they’ve recently signed an agreement to reduce the rate increase request to about 7%.

The revised plan is under as much scrutiny as the initial one. This request is in addition to the rate increase that the PSC has already approved for the utility. Customers already have to pay a 2% increase in rates each year for the next decade to pay the $10 billion cost of building two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer plant north of Columbia. This means that ratepayers will pay for the nuclear reactor project in advance, even if the project is cancelled or never finished.

Illustration run by SC News (http://news.sc) to describe SCE&G's proposed rate incrase

The hearing was held at Aiken Technical College in Graniteville, SC, and I’m surprised the amphitheater wasn’t completely packed with angry ratepayers. There were dozens of people there, and several people signed up to speak before the PSC.

Kathryn and I were the only speakers who noted SCE&G’s dirty energy practices; however, all of the speakers noted SCE&G’s dirty business practices. Even though SCE&G said that they postponed the rate increase by a year due to the dire economy of 2009, we’re not even halfway through 2010, and the economy has not fully recovered. A representative from AARP spoke on behalf of all those people on social security and fixed incomes fearing that they have to choose between food, electricity, or medicine. A single mother on disability, a young woman with two sick parents, and a teacher who doesn’t have health insurance spoke about how they simply could not afford to pay the increase, and they’re barely able to pay for the current rates. The PSC has never turned down SCE&G’s rate increase requests. One man asked the PSC just for once to have a conscience, and he reminded them that they are the Public Service Commission and that they should serve the public, and the public does not want this increase. A round of cheers and applause followed his speech.

When Kathryn spoke, she said, “this increase is reinforcing the use of archaic fossil fuels and allows SCE&G to sidestep their responsibility to customers and residents alike. Ratepayers and residents cannot afford the monetary and environmental costs SCE&G demands. The PSC and SCE&G need to create a plan to for a sustainable infrastructure and conservation efforts on an industrial scale.”

We all should have the right to live in clean, healthy, sustainable communities powered by clean, safe, renewable energy that will also make our country more energy independent and secure. Instead, SCE&G is irresponsibly investing OUR money in dirty coal and expensive nuclear energy resources, and nothing positive can come from that. SCE&G is not only pillaging the environment with its coal-fired plants, but SCE&G has a coal ash pond on the Congaree River, which is just upstream from our beloved Congaree National Park. SCE&G is not taking care of its customers, and if we had any other choice, most people would take their business elsewhere. However, we’re stuck with SCE&G, and we need to make sure that the company is held accountable for its actions, and we must make our voices heard. We may be the underdog, but there is massive power in numbers!

This was the third of four public rate hearings, with the previous two in the Charleston area. The fourth and final hearing will be in Columbia, SC on May 24th.  The Public Service Commission will make their final decision concerning the rate increase by mid-July. As citizens, it is our job to make sure that decision makers like the Public Service Commission are scrutinized for supporting questionable practices. Our safety and our futures call for it!

V.C. Summer Nuclear Plant in Jenkensville, SC

As I was writing this blog, my electricity flickered for a moment, and I freaked out, afraid that my computer may not recover it. Now, I’m paranoid that SCE&G is watching me! Because Kathryn and I spoke at the hearing in Aiken, we are not permitted to speak at another hearing concerning this rate increase. South Carolina youth are coming together from across the state for a summit May 21-23rd in Columbia, SC to build leadership skills and learn about state, regional, and national environmental issues. During the summit, Kathryn and I will lead a workshop on how to speak at a public hearing, and we’ll use our experience in this case to help others put together statements if they are staying for the May 24th hearing. If you’d like more information on this summit or if you’d like to come support us or make a testimony at the May 24th hearing, please contact SEN’s South Carolina Organizer, Jenna, at jenna@climateaction.net. We’ll be sure to get you all the information you’ll need!

Field Hearing: May 24, 6 p.m. at the S.C. Public Service Commission, 101 Executive Center Drive, Columbia

Formal hearing: May 24-27,10:30 a.m., 101 Executive Center Drive, Columbia

Final decision: July 15

Written by Lam Le, a student at USC Aiken

Two days after the Louisiana oil rig disaster of April 20th, I was working the Southern Energy Network’s Earth Day table on the University of Georgia campus, spreading the word about our organization and asking students to sign a petition against the building of a new coal plant in Sandersville, Georgia. Support for our cause was overwhelming as almost every student, member of faculty and staff happily signed our petition and voiced their interest in cleaner energy solutions. Despite the positive energy radiating from the university, there was one sobering voice that continues to play through my head, especially in light of President Obama’s decision to push on with offshore drilling after the April 20th oilrig explosion disaster. One student was less than enthused about our initiative to combat the new coal plant, not because she disagreed with our cause, but because she didn’t believe that the federal or local government would ever change its policies to favor cleaner energy solutions. She refused to sign our petitions, and after seeing Obama’s response to the Louisiana oil spill, I sympathize with her frustration.

As if one student’s falling out with our political system wasn’t sobering enough, I recently picked up A New Green History of the World by Clive Ponting, which chronicles the fall of civilizations throughout history due to environmental destruction. In the first chapter of his book, Ponting discusses the history of Easter Island and the fall of the highly advanced pre-Colombian society due to deforestation. In order to transport the large, head-shaped stone statues characteristic of their culture, the Easter Islanders chopped down such a large percentage of trees that they were forced to take steps backwards technologically in order to survive: they could no longer construct canoes or houses, losing their main source of transportation and forcing them to dwell in caves. More importantly, they could no longer grow sufficient crops due to the lack of nutrients in the soil caused by the massive deforestation. Because of their lack of foresight, the Easter Islanders lost an entire civilization and culture, leaving future generations confused as to the origins of the massive stone sculptures dotting the island as well as unable to pick up the pieces due to over-exhausted and mineral-deficient lands. As I read about the grim fate of later generations of Easter Islanders, I couldn’t help but think about the disrespectful way the environment is being treated on a more global scale today. Mountains are leveled for coal excavation, deforestation in places like Latin America is causing irreversible damage to ecosystems and causing climate change due to the release of immense amount of carbon dioxide, and oilrigs like the one that recently exploded off our shores threaten wildlife and coastal communities.

A few weeks ago, there was an explosion on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana—an explosion that caused eleven crew members to go missing and is currently spilling 42,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day. Despite the disaster’s threat to the ecosystems of both the Gulf of Mexico and the costal regions of Florida and Louisiana, President Obama has not been deterred from using offshore drilling as a means of curbing our dependence on foreign oil. He has, however, imposed a moratorium on oil leases until the cause of the spill has been identified and safety measures can be implemented on other oilrigs to prevent more spills.

If you ask me, a moratorium on oilrig leases simply isn’t enough.

We cannot blame this on a lack of technology or scientific understanding, nor can we blame it on the apathy of citizens or their refusal to participate in government processes. I see a clear disconnect between an understanding of the problems associated with dirty energy and the inability to leave the comfort of status quo living powered by dirty energies. Our government understands the impact of climate change so well that it has been one of the more important issues in the Senate this year, and yet little progress seems to be made. Instead of offering sizable incentives to corporations who start to wean themselves off dirty energy or putting money into making wind, solar and geothermal power available on the large scale, Obama chooses to put a Band-aid on the issue by trumpeting nuclear power and offshore drilling.  We cannot think about curbing our dependency on foreign oil alone—we need to think about curbing our dependency on oil, period. The growing danger that this oil spill is causing to the wildlife and fishing industry off the coast of Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida should be evidence enough that pushing forward with more offshore drilling is not the answer. The Gulf Coast needs our support as we transition away from domestic oil drilling and toward a future powered by clean energy.

Photo: NASA. Oil spill seen from space. Reposted from Treehugger.com. Public Domain.

The history of Easter Island is a foreboding story for me, and I can’t help but see connections between the lack of foresight of their pre-Colombian civilization and the blind eye turned by our legislators and leaders everyday toward environmental issues. How long will we have to wait before the situation is dire enough to entice our leaders into implementing the action and change desired by so many citizens? How many more oil spills have to endanger our coasts before we decide that the money used to clean our oceans would be better served in implementing sustainable and clean energy? This is no longer a matter of can and cannot, but a matter of will and will not. The technologies are there to implement change tomorrow, but without the support of our leaders we may end up feeling just as silenced and helpless as the student on the University of Georgia campus. We cannot let ourselves be bullied into silence by the inaction and convoluted messages of our legislators. Our voices should not fall on deaf ears or be discounted after the election season, only to be heard once again when politicians feel it is convenient. If you ask me, there is no greater convenience than being able to maintain our lives in a sustainable way without the fear of skyrocketing oil prices, climate change and environmental peril clouding our minds. Let’s speak up now and send a clear message that the oil disaster plaguing the Louisiana coast is serious enough and important enough to start a clear and permanent change.

Submitted by Laura Chance, a student at the University of Georgia