EPD to hold Friday night hearing on Plant McIntosh air pollution permits

---

Browse Data Centers & Coastal Georgia
Stories on projects, policy, legislation

See more

---

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division will hold a virtual public hearing Friday evening on a draft air pollution permit for two new gas and oil-fired units at Georgia Power’s Plant McIntosh.

The new units are needed to help Georgia Power expand its energy generation to meet the needs of a surge of data centers statewide, including the $20 billion OpenAI data center in Effingham County announced last month. OpenAI’s Project Camellia will require 3.2 gigawatts of electricity, about a third of the nearly 10 gigawatts regulators at the Georgia Public Service Commission approved in December for the monopoly utility’s expansion.

Georgia Power is relying heavily on climate-warming fossil fuels, including natural gas and keeping coal-fired units online, to produce the huge uptick in generating capacity.

A short presentation on the draft permit will precede Friday’s public hearing, which will be conducted virtually using Zoom. (See info box below for instructions on how to attend.)

If finalized, the permit will allow the construction and operation of up to two new combined-cycle units. The draft permit contains all required limits, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting associated with the operation of the facility. 

Read the draft air permit here.

If finalized, the permit would authorize hundreds of additional tons of air pollution each year, attorneys at the Southern Environmental Law Center note. That air pollution includes:

• Toxic pollutants including arsenic, hexavalent chromium, and formaldehyde, which would increase cumulative health risks for nearby communities.
• Fine particulate matter (soot), which is linked to cardiovascular and respiratory disease.
• Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, which contribute to smog and can worsen asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
• Sulfuric acid mist, which can irritate the eyes and respiratory system.

“The proposed expansion at Plant McIntosh is one piece of Georgia Power’s broader data center-driven buildout of new methane gas,” said William Snow, associate attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, in an email response to a request for comment.  “This dirty, exorbitantly expensive project would come at high costs to Georgians’ wallets and public health. At a time when Georgia Power is seeking to drastically expand our grid with historic amounts of new fossil fuels, it’s critical that communities have the opportunity to make their voices heard and that state regulators seriously consider those comments, concerns, and recommendations.”

The Tide brings regular notes and observations on news and events by The Current staff.