North Georgia Water Restrictions Get Slight Alteration

Partial relief has arrived for north Georgia residents under tough outdoor watering restrictions. Drip irrigation and soaker hoses are now OK to use for up to one hour--three days a week before 10am. However, the state’s top environmental official says nothing else has changed. State Enviromental Protection Division head Carol Couch says the 55-county north Georgia region remains in a record-setting drought, now moving into a fourth year.

Couch says the increase in north Georgia water use would be in a range she sees as acceptable. However, with an unreasonable rise in water use or worsening drought, the loosened restrictions could again be tightened in the future.

Colonial Delays Pipeline Construction

Construction on a planned third petroleum pipeline connecting Gulf Coast refineries and Georgia has been pushed-back.

Sam Whitehead of Alpharetta-based Colonial Pipeline says the $3 billion project is only being delayed indefinitely from its start-date of 2011, and not off-the-books:

"It’s very difficult with the current economic conditions to be able to predict what the future demand for petroleum products is going to be in the long run, and we’re not in quite as big a rush because of that as we were earlier when it looked like there was a real urgent need for our expansion."

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Last summer’s gasoline shortage in parts of Georgia put the need for another pipeline in the spotlight.

Whitehead says the company is continuing the process of securing necessary permits from the Georgia Enviromental Protection Division.

The proposed pipeline would run through the counties of Haralson, Carroll, Paulding and Cobb. Colonial’s lines transport about 70-percent of all petroleum used in the state.

Ga. Power applying for biomass plant permits

Plant Mitchell. (Dave Bender)

Georgia Power Company wants to trade in coal for woodchips to fuel a power plant near Albany. The company is investing in bio mass technology with the hope of saving money.

While bio mass is considered a cleaner fuel source compared to coal, Georgia Power believes it could also be a cheaper solution for producing electricity.

Plant Mitchell turbine area: only one of the facilities three yellow turbines is operational. (Dave Bender)

On a tour of Plant Mitchell in nearby Albany, manager Ronnie Walston explains that Georgia’s millions of acres of forests could be used to power energy producing turbines.

Plant Mitchell water boilers. Coal or wood biomass is heated at the bottom. (Dave Bender)

Currently, the company is experimenting by burning wood chips and similar waste products instead of coal to heat water in the plant's three–story-high boilers. Walston, shouting over the roar of steam turbines in the background:

“The generator takes high-pressure steam from the boiler, turns the generator which delivers 155 megawatts of electrical energy to the grid in Georgia.”

The generator consumes a whopping 62-tons of coal an hour.

Plant Mitchell: Rail cars delivering coal at a siding. (Dave Bender)

After the conversion, the plant would require 160-trucks a day to haul in a million tons of wood chips. While using wood cuts the electrical output by a third, it’s enough to power an estimated 90,000 homes.

Walston says the conversion would keep the plant - which now buys its coal from Appalachia - running for years to come and help the local economy:

“…those dollars now flow out of state. Now, with the biomass – that’s currently not being utilized – will be purchased and consumed here within a 100-mile radius of Plant Mitchell, and so those dollars that previously went out of state will be staying in-state and will create some 50-to-75 jobs in the fuel-harvesting area.”

If successful, the bio mass conversion could happen in 2012.

Control panel at Plant Mitchell. (Dave Bender)

The plan still needs approval from the Environmental Protection Division and the Public Service Commission. A recent study by Oregon state officials show bio mass can cost up to 6.7 per kilowatt hour to produce.

Forbes Magazine ranks Georgia as the third best state in the nation for alternative energy from biomass. The article referenced the amount of privately owned forest in Georgia, more than any other state in the country, as a reason for the state’s ranking. The ranking comes on the heels of CNBC’s including Georgia in the top ten and second in the Southeast in its annual rankings of “America’s Top States for Business.”

EPA estimates show Georgian's pay 6.5 cents for coal produced electricity. The cost of biomass is expected to drop as technologies improve and more plants come online.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about biomass and related alternative energy solutions.

State appeals court to consider SW Ga power plant issue

The state’s court of appeals will review a lower-court ruling that stopped plans for Georgia’s first coal-fired power plant in more than 20 years. The court will look at whether the state’s Enviromental Protection Division should have legal limits on carbon dioxide emissions by the plant. In June, a ruling by a Fulton County Superior Court judge sided with environmental groups opposing the project—she stated permits are invalid because they do not regulate CO2.
The planned 2-billion dollar facility in southwest Georgia is a project of Houston, Texas-based Dynegy Inc. Both Dynegy and the EPD moved to appeal the decision.

Water use down in north Georgia

There is praise for residents of north Georgia. The state’s top environmental official says the region used 20-percent rectorcless water in June, compared to June of last year. State Enviromental Protection Division director Carol Couch says good conservation choices and outdoor watering restrictions have had the positive effect on saving water. Officials estimate conservation measures has resulted in a savings of 180-million gallons of water a day.

Six Flags water rides may go dry

Officials with Six Flags over Georgia are considering the closure of three of its water rides because of the drought.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports officials with the amusement park called a meeting with Cobb County to go over water restrictions. The rides under consideration for closure are Skull Island, Splashwater Falls, and Thunder River.

Cobb County is reportedly looking to the state's Enviromental Protection Division for guidance on restrictions. There is no timetable for a decision to be made.

Six Flags is scheduled to open March 1st for weekends, and May 23rd for daily operation.

Georgia drought "historic and unprecedented"

Georgia's top water official called the state's drought "historic and unprecedented". Enviromental Protection Division director Carol Couch made those comments during Thursday's meeting of the Georgia Water Council.

The EPD says 55 areas of the state are in danger of water shortages. These areas draw water from small creeks or small reservoirs. Heard County officials said this week that their two main sources of water from small creeks have nearly dried up.