What Is Goin’ On?

Jeff Lewis is Chairmen of the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee. While the committee has a broad range of jurisdiction, this interview focused on energy. You may have heard of the ethanol plants being built in Georgia. The one in Camilla uses corn and the one in Treutlen County uses wood chips (pine trees). According to Lewis, it takes about 1 to 1.5 gallons of energy to produce one gallon of ethanol using corn. Wood chips take less energy to produce the same gallon of ethanol.

Georgia has more pine trees than any other state in the Union. If wood chips can be utiltized to produce ethanol efficiently, such plants could represent an economic boost to the state in the future.

When it comes to generating electricity, it is anticipated that in the next 10 to 15 years Georgia will need another 22 to 25 thousand additional megawatts of electricty per day. That could mean as many as twenty new power plants. That’s a lot of power plants! You may not realize it, but new power plants are being built all the time. While the Public Service Commission has responsibility to approve the construction of a new plant, the Energy Committee has the responsibility to set the guidelines by which new plants are considered and authorized.

You will not believe the number of power plants in Georgia, and most of them are not owned by Georgia Power. Many companies and cities apparently generate some amount of electricity.

The decision that is on the horizen is whether or not to change that focus from coal or natural gas plants to nuclear plants. A nuclear plant generates 1000 to 1500 megawatts of electricity. It can take 12 to 15 years to plan, permit and build a nuclear plant. The Energy Committee could increase electricity production in Georgia by shortening the time required to permit a new plant.

I get the impression from Jeff that nuclear power is coming, it is just a matter of when. The “Three Mile Island” incident in 1979 resulted in a virtual moratorium in the construction of nuclear generating plants. According to Jeff, nuclear power is the most efficient and cost effective energy source. He believes the issue of disposing of nuclear waste is being dealt with.

While the US obtains almost 20% of its electricity from nuclear power, Europe relies heavily on nuclear energy: France 80%, Italy and Spain 60%, and England 50%. Here’s a list of European countries with nuclear power plants.

Jeff also mentioned a new generating plant to be located in Clay County, which will generate 250 megawatts by burning “biomass,” such as peanut shells and pecan hulls. The Committee approved a sales tax exemption for the plant so that it did not have to pay sales tax on the raw products it buys to generate electricity. This incentive was necessary to convince the plant to locate in Georgia, rather than Florida or Alabama who were also competing to get it.

I also asked Jeff about comments attributed to him when the Committee met in August in which he expressed doubts as to whether or not global warming is real, and if real, to what extent do humans contribute to or cause it. Jeff took a lot of heat for those comments.

Like a lot of people, I believe global warming is real and that human generated greenhouse gases contribute to it, but the truth is, my opinion means absolutely nothing.

The concern is that while other states have passed laws setting goals for energy efficiency and emission standards, Jeff and other Georgia legislators apparently don’t believe that such measures are necessary. Jeff doesn’t want to do anything to handicap the state’s economy, when its competitors around the globe may not be doing likewise. He says that he and other legislators are educating themselves so that if and when they have to make substantive decisions for or against global warming, they can make the best decision for Georgia.

I think that global warming is an issue that is too big for individual states to resolve. This issue requires and demands leadership on a national scale. Without that kind of leadership, there will only be a continued unresolved controversy. It is just like the water problem we are now dealing with in Georgia. State leaders have known this problem was approaching for years and did nothing, primarily because to do something is to limit growth or spend a lot of money. Just like water, states will never effectively deal with the economic aspects of global warming until some crisis in the air or water quality exists. Just like water, that could be too late.

Jeff indicated that the Committee is not presently expected to consider any specific legislation during the ‘08 session.