The longest active fight to stop a proposed coal plant came to a close today with a huge victory for the health of Georgia's citizens and our fragile natural resources. As soon as I realized what the call was about (we had no idea why we were asked to participate) my eyes welled with tears. Stopping this 1200MW proposed coal plant is a HUGE VICTORY for grassroots organizers across the country.
Bobby and Jane McClendon have taken lots of grief from their neighbors in Early County while opposing Longleaf, but they remained steadfast in their determination to stop a coal plant that would ruin the air they breathe, the water they drink, the fish swimming nearby, and the health of their friends and family (now and future generations). With the help of Colleen Kiernan at the Sierra Club, Erin Glynn with the Beyond Coal Campaign, Justine Thompson at GreenLaw, and a very long list of other organizations, individual citizens, attorneys, experts, and funders (remember, no one on the coal plant opposition side of the equation is billing $750+ per hour for legal work to stop these nightmare plants, philanthropic groups play a vital role in this work).
What does this mean for Plant Washington? It should serve as notice to the leaders of P4G, my local EMC Board, co-op members, AND the citizens who are fighting Plant Washington that in fact coal can be stopped in Georgia, despite the high priced lawyers and experts, and millions of shareholder dollars that are sunk into a project like this.
In one day's work this summer individuals shut down the phone system at LS Energy, the developer of Longleaf, with calls opposing the plant. That day was one of many spent during the past 11 years developing opposition to this pollution spewing plant. The grit and determination, skilled work and strategy, and long hours (and funding) have resulted in a victory that serves as a model for work against Plant Washington. I hope it is the last proposed coal plant that must be defeated in our country.
That sounds ambitious, but with Georgia being one of the few states still issuing new coal plant permits (never mind that our rivers are already full of mercury, we don't have enough water to power new plants, our air quality is declining, and the health of our state's citizens is impacted negatively in both the long term and short term pictures), we still have work to do.
With the news today about Longleaf, I've rolled my sleeves up a little more. If you want to make a difference right now in the work that I am doing via FACE, please consider joining or making a contribution here. I love a good fight, and I am in this one to win.
Showing posts with label P4G. Show all posts
Showing posts with label P4G. Show all posts
Monday, December 12, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Simple Math
Some people where I live wonder why the "doings" at Cobb EMC are so important to my fellow Washington EMC co-op members and Washington County tax payers. Cobb EMC is the lead partner in a group of EMCs who want to build a coal fired power plant about 8 miles from my house and 8 miles west of my family's timber farm.
Some of the Cobb co-op members have reviewed a just released audit which reveals stunning losses to the co-op. The Cobb EMC Owner's Association (CEOA) site includes the following on the costs of delays in liquidating Allied Utility Network and Allied Energy Services, the company which received a no-bid contract to build Plant Washington in my front yard. The CEO site includes this:
UPDATE: According to the 2011 Audit Report, Allied Utility Network ceased operations in October of last year and was dissolved – apparently with no disposition of assets. The company had never been profitable. Its only earnings had come from services provided within Cobb Energy or its affiliates. From 2002 to 2008, it had earned $20.8 million with operating expenses of $26.5 million. Cobb EMC, of course, subsidized the loss through service fees and other charges billed by Cobb Energy.The report also states that Alford’s Allied Energy Services was sold just one month ago on August 9th, for the whopping sum of $128,256. Quite a bargain for the company selected by Power4Georgians to develop two multi-billion-dollar coal plants. Perhaps that’s because it, like Allied Utility Network, had never been profitable — at least not for Cobb Energy. From its creation in 2004 through the end of 2007, it had spent $5 million to bring in revenues totaling only $704,000 — a loss of $4.3 million.Finally, we are able to see from the report that Rayder’s and the Board’s foot-dragging was costly, because subsidiaries held in the liquidating trust appear to have continued to operate at a loss, cancelling out all the gains from disposition of their assets and costing the co-op an additional three quarters of a million dollars:
When Dwight Brown announced the creation of Cobb Energy in 1997, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Brown promised members, “We will not allow Cobb EMC to subsidize this new company,” he said. "We make this pledge that Cobb Electric Membership Corporation will not subsidize this other company, and this other company is created to work for you and to work for Cobb Electric Membership Corporation.”
That promise never held water. The AJC reported that the Cobb EMC Board also loaned Brown $3M, and then forgave the loan. Brown used that money to purchase shares of Cobb Energy (Brown and his wife received close to $2M in six years time until the agreement was legally shut down). Since Cobb Energy was announced, the non-profit co-op's expenses have soared and member dollars have been funneled into subsidiaries which have lost millions. The co-op has also spent an estimated $10M+ in legal costs since Cobb Energy was created. And much of that involves legal fights against the very members they are supposed to serve.
Over 3.5 years ago my EMC got in bed with Cobb EMC (and seven other co-ops, four of whom got out of the bed over 2 years). But now we are beginning to know just how deep the problems at Cobb run. All this dirty laundry should raise some serious questions for me and my fellow co-op members about our business partners.
We may be a little rural community and we really do know where folks are going without using their blinker. But that doesn't make us stupid. Understanding the management and financial problems surrounding Cobb EMC, their indicted former CEO, and their Board, doesn't require higher math skills, a degree in accounting, or an MBA. A little old fashioned country figurin' makes it pretty clear: we don't do business like Cobb EMC, and we would be better off to get out of that bed now.
Some of the Cobb co-op members have reviewed a just released audit which reveals stunning losses to the co-op. The Cobb EMC Owner's Association (CEOA) site includes the following on the costs of delays in liquidating Allied Utility Network and Allied Energy Services, the company which received a no-bid contract to build Plant Washington in my front yard. The CEO site includes this:
UPDATE: According to the 2011 Audit Report, Allied Utility Network ceased operations in October of last year and was dissolved – apparently with no disposition of assets. The company had never been profitable. Its only earnings had come from services provided within Cobb Energy or its affiliates. From 2002 to 2008, it had earned $20.8 million with operating expenses of $26.5 million. Cobb EMC, of course, subsidized the loss through service fees and other charges billed by Cobb Energy.The report also states that Alford’s Allied Energy Services was sold just one month ago on August 9th, for the whopping sum of $128,256. Quite a bargain for the company selected by Power4Georgians to develop two multi-billion-dollar coal plants. Perhaps that’s because it, like Allied Utility Network, had never been profitable — at least not for Cobb Energy. From its creation in 2004 through the end of 2007, it had spent $5 million to bring in revenues totaling only $704,000 — a loss of $4.3 million.Finally, we are able to see from the report that Rayder’s and the Board’s foot-dragging was costly, because subsidiaries held in the liquidating trust appear to have continued to operate at a loss, cancelling out all the gains from disposition of their assets and costing the co-op an additional three quarters of a million dollars:
2008-09 Report: Net loss of $662,367
2009-10 Report: Net gain of $1,964,044
2010-11 Report: Net loss of $2,061,824
Total: Net loss of $760,147
That's a lot of member dollars for the Board to lose while receiving thousands each year in compensation.2009-10 Report: Net gain of $1,964,044
2010-11 Report: Net loss of $2,061,824
Total: Net loss of $760,147
When Dwight Brown announced the creation of Cobb Energy in 1997, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Brown promised members, “We will not allow Cobb EMC to subsidize this new company,” he said. "We make this pledge that Cobb Electric Membership Corporation will not subsidize this other company, and this other company is created to work for you and to work for Cobb Electric Membership Corporation.”
That promise never held water. The AJC reported that the Cobb EMC Board also loaned Brown $3M, and then forgave the loan. Brown used that money to purchase shares of Cobb Energy (Brown and his wife received close to $2M in six years time until the agreement was legally shut down). Since Cobb Energy was announced, the non-profit co-op's expenses have soared and member dollars have been funneled into subsidiaries which have lost millions. The co-op has also spent an estimated $10M+ in legal costs since Cobb Energy was created. And much of that involves legal fights against the very members they are supposed to serve.
Over 3.5 years ago my EMC got in bed with Cobb EMC (and seven other co-ops, four of whom got out of the bed over 2 years). But now we are beginning to know just how deep the problems at Cobb run. All this dirty laundry should raise some serious questions for me and my fellow co-op members about our business partners.
We may be a little rural community and we really do know where folks are going without using their blinker. But that doesn't make us stupid. Understanding the management and financial problems surrounding Cobb EMC, their indicted former CEO, and their Board, doesn't require higher math skills, a degree in accounting, or an MBA. A little old fashioned country figurin' makes it pretty clear: we don't do business like Cobb EMC, and we would be better off to get out of that bed now.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Cobb EMC Director's Retirement Benefits Can Total $211,200. Not Bad for a Volunteer Position.
For some unknown reason, after years of asking, the Cobb EMC has posted some of the financial information about Board of Director benefits. They receive:
$600 per board meeting
$500 for a committee meeting or a conference
$50.00 for a conference call
$211,200 in retirement benefits ($1,100 per month for a "volunteer" position)
health benefits
life insurance
If the full Board meets once a month, it costs the co-op $6,000. At one meeting a month that is $72,000 just in costs to pay the Directors to "manage" the co-op. If 10 Directors receive the full amount of retirement benefits they cost the co-op, which is supposed to operate as a non-profit as a service to the members, $2,112,000. Yes, over $2M!
I am willing to go out on a limb and guess that because they were supposed to hire a new CEO to begin working on March 1, 2011 (they didn't), and the CEO was re-indicted with four additional charges of witness intimidation for a grand total of 35 counts, that board met more than once in person each month.
Maybe they meet when they prepare to appear in court as required by a judge (the newspapers said where they sat when they entered the courtroom last month looked planned). It adds up to a lot of money out of co-op members' pockets (and that doesn't even include the estimated $10M+ in legal fees that the co-op has spent in a protracted court battle with the members they are supposed to be serving).
Cobb EMC members stepped up to the plate years ago to re-gain control of their co-op. They have done it at considerable personal expense (good lawyers are important when you are fighting some of the most expensive lawyers in Georgia, like former Gov Roy Barnes and King and Spalding). They have also spent days, weeks, months researching to understand just how serious the problems plaguing their co-op are.
With today's revelations on how much is now known about benefits for the Board of Directors, it looks like more fuel has been added to the fire. Members are determined to wrestle the co-op back from the people who have gotten it mired in money losing projects for over 14 years. You can find out what they are doing by visiting Take Back Cobb and Cobb EMC Owner's Association. I wish them the very best of luck in continuing the work that is necessary to do this.
$600 per board meeting
$500 for a committee meeting or a conference
$50.00 for a conference call
$211,200 in retirement benefits ($1,100 per month for a "volunteer" position)
health benefits
life insurance
If the full Board meets once a month, it costs the co-op $6,000. At one meeting a month that is $72,000 just in costs to pay the Directors to "manage" the co-op. If 10 Directors receive the full amount of retirement benefits they cost the co-op, which is supposed to operate as a non-profit as a service to the members, $2,112,000. Yes, over $2M!
I am willing to go out on a limb and guess that because they were supposed to hire a new CEO to begin working on March 1, 2011 (they didn't), and the CEO was re-indicted with four additional charges of witness intimidation for a grand total of 35 counts, that board met more than once in person each month.
Maybe they meet when they prepare to appear in court as required by a judge (the newspapers said where they sat when they entered the courtroom last month looked planned). It adds up to a lot of money out of co-op members' pockets (and that doesn't even include the estimated $10M+ in legal fees that the co-op has spent in a protracted court battle with the members they are supposed to be serving).
Cobb EMC members stepped up to the plate years ago to re-gain control of their co-op. They have done it at considerable personal expense (good lawyers are important when you are fighting some of the most expensive lawyers in Georgia, like former Gov Roy Barnes and King and Spalding). They have also spent days, weeks, months researching to understand just how serious the problems plaguing their co-op are.
With today's revelations on how much is now known about benefits for the Board of Directors, it looks like more fuel has been added to the fire. Members are determined to wrestle the co-op back from the people who have gotten it mired in money losing projects for over 14 years. You can find out what they are doing by visiting Take Back Cobb and Cobb EMC Owner's Association. I wish them the very best of luck in continuing the work that is necessary to do this.
Friday, August 19, 2011
A Civics Lesson
Last night people from across Georgia came together to comment on an air permit for Plant Washington, a proposed coal fired power plant which would be built near Sandersville, my rural home. The opponents of the plant outnumbered the pro-plant speakers, with only 2 of the 24 supporting the plant.
Two doctors ran through a long and scary list of illnesses and diseases resulting from exposure to a coal plant. Many of these include the horribly damaging impact of coal on pregnant women and their developing babies, as well as young children. Dr. Yolanda White said that because the plant toxins settle in the lower layer of the air, children are exposed to more toxins because of their height and because they breathe faster and more often (which makes sense but I had never thought about it).
At the close of what had been a vey polite two hours, someone from Milledgeville spoke. He began by praising everyone for doing their homework and about a project that will have permanent effects on our community's health and natural resources. He thought the community had set a real example of civic engagement.
Then he cautioned us that we are bargaining badly if local leaders continue to support the
plant. Because he lives near Plant Branch he spoke from experience as an educator and
concerned citizen.
I am proud of the way students, friends and neighbors, strangers, and national leaders in protecting rural communities and their natural resources from environmental injustices worked together to make case after case on the reasons the state should not issue the permit. I hope the elected officials, business leaders, and EMC board members took our comments to heart.
It takes courage to stand up and be among the few who are willing to put their community's health and safety above profits and power (literally and figuratively). I am stand with them.
Two doctors ran through a long and scary list of illnesses and diseases resulting from exposure to a coal plant. Many of these include the horribly damaging impact of coal on pregnant women and their developing babies, as well as young children. Dr. Yolanda White said that because the plant toxins settle in the lower layer of the air, children are exposed to more toxins because of their height and because they breathe faster and more often (which makes sense but I had never thought about it).
At the close of what had been a vey polite two hours, someone from Milledgeville spoke. He began by praising everyone for doing their homework and about a project that will have permanent effects on our community's health and natural resources. He thought the community had set a real example of civic engagement.
Then he cautioned us that we are bargaining badly if local leaders continue to support the
plant. Because he lives near Plant Branch he spoke from experience as an educator and
concerned citizen.
I am proud of the way students, friends and neighbors, strangers, and national leaders in protecting rural communities and their natural resources from environmental injustices worked together to make case after case on the reasons the state should not issue the permit. I hope the elected officials, business leaders, and EMC board members took our comments to heart.
It takes courage to stand up and be among the few who are willing to put their community's health and safety above profits and power (literally and figuratively). I am stand with them.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Ira Gershwin said it best
In this week's Sandersville Progress as a letter to the editor
Three years ago Washington County leaders got “engaged” to Cobb EMC, a non-profit co-op entangled in a web of court cases costing co-op members. The shadow of those questionable deals and bad decisions now stretches all the way to Washington County.
Perhaps our local leaders didn’t know the true extent of Cobb EMC’s problems when they signed on for Plant Washington. But now, after repeated court battles which have cost the co-op millions of dollars and forced the members to take THEIR co-op to court at their own personal expense, the writing is on the wall in big bold letters.
Dwight Brown’s legal woes are not over. On July 7, Brown was re-indicted, and charged with additional crimes. In addition to the 31 original counts of racketeering, theft, and making false statements, Brown is now charged with four counts of intimidating witnesses. The District Attorney has not ruled out the possibility of more indictments against other people.
The legal problems aren’t over for the Cobb EMC Board of Directors either. Judge Schuster has ordered the Board of Directors to appear in his courtroom on August 12. The ‘Marietta Daily Journal,” a respected newspaper in Cobb County owned by Ben Tarbutton III’s father-in-law, recently described the Cobb EMC Board of Directors as “unindicted co-conspirators.”
Did our local leaders know about the dirty dealings at Cobb EMC? We hope not.
We may have fallen in love with Cobb EMC and all the pretty promises it made to us together with Power4Georgians. Four other EMCs called off the engagement two years ago.
It’s not too late to call off this wedding. Some people will be disappointed. Feelings might be hurt. If we stop now, no one has to buy a bride’s maid dress they don’t like and will never wear again. There won’t be a mess to clean up after the raucous reception. A lot of money can be saved.
This engagement has run its course. Ira Gershwin said it best, “Let’s call the whole thing off.”
Katherine Helms Cummings
FACE Executive Director
Washington EMC member
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)