A member of the Georgia Public Service Commission – the elected body that regulates utilities in the state – has said that he is in favor of forcing Georgia Power customers to foot the bill.  Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols told a reporter that the public service commission has the discretion of forcing Georgia Power to pay for the disposal under federal regulations, if it comes to that, or passing the bill along to its customers.

Echols said that there was no way Georgia Power would have known about the rule changes and the expensive disposal.  He stated, “I know I would not feel comfortable telling our power company, ‘You should have known that eventually this would have been changed, therefore, shame on you, and you’re going to have to pay for this and eat all of this [cost] because you couldn’t read the mind of the president and the EPA.'”  Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division, or EPD, gets to make the determination because Georgia is one of a handful of states that sought and received permission from the federal government to run its own coal ash program.

Word from the Georgia EPD about the federal guidelines is still forthcoming.

Compiled Sources