Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025
Good morning! After a cold week in Coastal Georgia we have a thaw here but a freeze of a different sort coming out of Washington. We have both covered today, as well as an update on Georgia regulators taking a closer look at data centers.
Questions, tips or concerns? Send me a note at mary.landers@thecurrentga.org
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Hot year, cold snap both related to warming
Last year was the second warmest in Georgia since 1895, the state climatology office reported earlier this month. Chatham and Camden bookended the coast with the highest temperatures, averaging up to 2 degrees F hotter than normal.
But if you’re thinking last week’s snow and cold weather are a hopeful sign for a reversal of global warming, think again, says Marc Frischer of the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. The Current’s Mary Landers reports.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Federal grants in limbo
Environmental grant recipients in Coastal Georgia are among the millions nationwide scrambling to understand how they’ll be affected by a White House memo ordering a freeze on federal grant and loan disbursements.
The freeze could extend to EPA’s Solar for All program, which was poised to bring solar panels to an estimated 5,000 rooftops in Georgia through Georgia BRIGHT, as The Current’s Mary Landers reports.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Data center scrutiny
Data centers, essentially warehouses packed with computers, require enormous amounts of energy. Regulators in Georgia voted last week to allow Georgia Power to charge them more, both for the electricity they use and for the generating plants and transmission lines built to service them. Commissioners characterized their action as a way to protect residential customers, as Capitol Beat’s Dave Williams reports.
The PSC decision comes as elections for the five-member board resume after a three-year hiatus precipitated by a civil rights law suit. Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson are the first commissioners to face voters following six recent Georgia Power rate hikes that have spiked costs for residential customers.
Just one thing
This week’s tip for personal environmental action comes from reader Becky Cheatham, who was way ahead of the curve on this one: “For at least 40 years, I have kept canvas bags in my car for shopping and to avoid, as much as possible, taking plastic bags for purchases. If I don’t have a bag available, I request paper bags, as for groceries. If I must take a plastic bag, I reuse it for trash.”
Send “just one thing” you do as part of your personal environmental action plan to mary.landers@thecurrentga.org. We’ll publish our favorites and credit the contributors.
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Coastal Georgia snow likely a result, not a refutation of climate change
Climate change continues to send average temperatures in Georgia upward, and a rare cold spell is linked to climate change, too.
Pause in federal grants puts some environmental programs in limbo
The White House has ordered a freeze on grant and loan disbursements, affecting environmental grant recipients in Coastal Georgia, including the St. Marys Riverkeeper program and the Georgia BRIGHT program, potentially causing harm to communities and businesses.
Georgia PSC passes rule for data centers’ power usage
Data centers would pay the transmission and distribution costs incurred as construction of data centers progresses.
Exec orders: What to watch in Coastal Georgia
Donald Trump’s first week as president marked a significant shift in federal policies, including a freeze on FEMA’s disaster aid, a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and a crackdown on immigration, which could have a broad impact in Georgia.
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