Sunday Reads – June 27, 2021
The week that was – safety inspection delays at a nuclear plant, federal lawsuits against Georgia and, closer to the coast, college students, professors and staffers are trying to understand their worlds at this stage in the pandemic. All of these topics are linked by faith in our systems and accountability for those we elect, the changes we see in our culture and the assumptions we make about our fellow citizens.
First off, Georgia’s Public Service Commission heard this week about more delays for the nuclear Plant Vogtle, being built up the coast to address our future energy needs. Not only did our elected representatives get briefed on an investigation of electrical cable systems that are part of the safety network, they also got a request for consideration for another $670 million. The PSC didn’t take either bit of news well, and there are more hearings to come. They key to this for anyone who pays Georgia Power monthly for electricity is that costs for the delays could raise the final price tag to $28 billion — double the price for the plant that was scheduled to deliver power in 2017. If you are Georgia Power customer, you’ve been paying ahead for this plant for years and the latest projection is that the average residential customer will pay about $854 toward the financing costs along with the cost of power you’ve actually used.
The eighth lawsuit to address the Georgia Legislature’s new voting law came this week from the U.S. Justice Department raising the stakes on this question: What protections should we expect from our elected officials when it comes to fairness in selecting our representatives? The much debated state voting law is already being challenged by state lawsuits galore. The federal case focuses on access to the ballot and doesn’t mince words, saying “the Georgia General Assembly intended to deny or abridge the right of Black Georgians to vote on account of race or color.”
On Twitter, Gov. Brian Kemp responded with “Now, they are weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out their far-left agenda that undermines election integrity and empowers federal government overreach in our democracy.” He doubled down later saying the lawsuit was born out of lies and misinformation from the Biden administration.
Most people agree that they hire their elected officials and others to protect them as voters and as citizens. That’s why we have public health departments to guide us to healthy decisions and monitor systems that are designed to keep us safe. This week we learned that area coast watchers received a grant to sustain the testing for Georgia’s beaches. As more people go to the beach and the residential density rises daily, this water testing is crucial to keeping beachgoers — locals and tourists — healthy.
Even with all the information any of us can imagine, though, people still don’t always put it to use. We also learned that the fall semester is bringing confusion and fear to many students, staff and faculty members at Georgia’s state colleges and universities. There will be no COVID-19 vaccination mandate for attendance even though the state’s vaccination rate still lags far behind most other states; more than half of Georgians are not vaccinated. Those returning to campuses must decide whether to trust others around them — is the person in the next seat vaccinated, immune or gambling with a deadly virus? As the new Delta variant of the coronavirus makes rounds in Georgia, the pandemic isn’t over and a less-than-thoughtful decision about your daily health could still kill someone.
And if that isn’t enough to think about, here’s the topic for your second cup: How do we connect scientific data with policies and decision-making? As it turns out, there are experts and organizations who generally do that, but only now is the role of an unbiased intermediary gaining respect as a true profession. The varied reactions to the coronavirus and how it was handled by officials and individual citizens spotlight the gap between science and decision-making. This point came to a glow in recent days as Coastal Georgia’s U.S. House Rep. Buddy Carter joined on as a co-sponsor for the Fire Fauci Act, which sought to take away Dr. Anthony Fauci’s position at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci is a leading figure in the government’s public response to the COVID-19. Carter and others accuse him of misleading the public by evolving statements during the pandemic year Fauci says were honestly based on the continuously emerging science behind the virus itself.
Policymakers and government officials are often presented with varying value systems and motives that clash with the basic academic data and and analysis. Recent research finds the key to all of this comes back to one thing: Trust. Read about how trained science intermediaries may be able to help decision makers build a relationships with knowledge and think more critically about their work.
Enjoy.
PSC, federal inspectors grill Georgia Power, Southern Company over Vogtle delays
The setback could inflate the costs by another $2 billion, raising the latest final price tag to $28 billion for a nuclear expansion initially projected to start delivering electricity in 2017 at a cost of $14 billion. So far, utility customers have been paying Vogtle’s financing costs, leaving state regulators to determine how much of the construction costs to add to ratepayers’ utility bills and how much shareholders should absorb.
U.S. Justice Dept. suit says new Georgia voting law rules violate rights
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that the Department of Justice is suing the state of Georgia to overturn a sweeping elections law passed in March, with a legal challenge that alleges the new statute violates the federal Voting Rights Act.
New grant funds tests to keep Georgia beaches safe
So far this year, 19 water quality advisories have been issued: five on Tybee Island, eight on St. Simon’s Island and six on Jekyll Island. The most recent advisory was issued on June 15 at South Beach near the lighthouse on St. Simons Island, which has had four total advisories, the most of any beach this year. The advisory was lifted on June 16.
Debate rages on Georgia campuses over vaccine mandates
The fall return confronts students and staff with questions over how to approach the year: Do I wear a mask? Why should I? And what are my university’s rules about vaccinations?
Buddy Carter joins Marjorie Taylor Greene in attack on Fauci
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome on Tuesday led a group of House Republicans calling for the firing of Dr. Anthony Fauci, formalizing their intense criticism of his public statements and actions throughout the coronavirus pandemic into legislation. Those GOP lawmakers can’t actually oust Fauci from his post as director of the […]
Lost in translation: Behind-the-scenes people, organizations connecting science and decision-making
Intermediaries can be based at universities, nonprofit organizations or in government. Scientists, policymakers and funders are increasingly recognizing their value – and the need to professionalize their role.
Give us your opinion and 90 seconds
Please take our 90-second survey to help us learn more about what you expect from The Current.
Support non-partisan, solutions-based investigative journalism without bias, fear or favor on issues affecting Savannah and Coastal Georgia.
You must be logged in to post a comment.