There’s a lot of ground to cover between now and 2017 when power is finally projected to be generated from Votgle 3 & 4. And, apparently, still a lot of costs to be worked out. Rob Pavey of the Augusta Chronicle brings word that there’s a small disagreement between Southern Company and those building the plant of a not inconsequential $900 Million.
In a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Southern Company — whose subsidiary Georgia Power owns 45.7 percent of the Vogtle nuclear project — said it “has not agreed” to adjustments proposed by the the contractor consortium that includes Westinghouse and Stone & Webster, Inc.
The company and Vogtle co-owners Oglethorpe Power (30 percent), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (22.7 percent) and Dalton Utilities (1 percent) also dispute whether the owners are even responsible for those added costs, which would amount to $400 million.
“The Consortium’s estimated adjustment attributable to Georgia Power (based on Georgia Power’s ownership interest) is approximately $400 million (in 2008 dollars) with respect to these issues, which include an initial estimate of costs for efforts to maintain the projected in-service dates of 2016 and 2017 for Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4,” the company wrote.
Ah, the magic of change orders. And to think, there’s only 4 years or so left for these to pop up.
Today’s Courier Herald Column:
At the root of politics is family. After all, any dubious bill proposed to the legislature can gain instant credibility by the claim “it’s for the children.” And without children, there is no family. That’s why as a childless man I still sit at the kid’s table at Thanksgiving. It’s a subtle reminder.
This week is all about family in my world. Last Sunday was the 65th installment of the Benjamin Franklin Harper Reunion. This Sunday will be mother’s day. Most quotas for family visiting time for the month will be met by Sunday evening. Mom will probably still let me know I don’t call enough. She will still be right, as she always is.
Big Ben was my grandfather’s grandfather. He had 11 children, including my great grandfather Robert Frank Harper. Robert’s home was adjacent to the rail line just outside of Fairburn Georgia. He gave credit for his 21 children to the 5:15am train. Said it was too early to get up, and too late to go back to sleep.
My grandfather was the last of those 21. Had he decided that 20 was a quite reasonable number of children to have, you would be reading something else right now. [click to continue…]
Russell Edwards announced his resignation as DPG Treasurer effective as soon as a replacement is named. He said he will focus on his nascent law practice and the Obama campaign.
The key quote from his email:
As the Treasurer, I tried to the best of my ability to ensure a more transparent financial environment. Despite many difficulties that I encountered, I gathered and reported the information that was supplied to me or that I otherwise found. I responded candidly to every inquiry by Committee members. As a matter of fundamental fairness and good policy, I used my position on the Committee to strenuously advocate for immigrant rights and built bridges to the Latino and Asian communities*.
While I plan to maintain my position until my replacement is named to ensure as smooth a transition as possible, I would deeply appreciate an expedited selection process.
*lolwat
The following is a guest post from Patrick Mayer:
This weekend roughly 150,000 people from all over this nation will be drawn to Road Atlanta for Formula D. There drivers will compete against each other in a high horsepower, high adrenaline sport know as drifting. Paired off they will race each other not just on the speed in which they can finish the course, but with the highest level of accuracy and style that each driver can lay down on the track. These 150,000 fans will spend big money on hotels, restaurants, and entertainment here. While this will be held on a racetrack with professional, six weekends a year the amateurs get together, rent the Turner Field Blue Lot, and try to see what it feels like to harness the power and skills like the pros.
But, it looks as though the Atlanta City Council does not want this to happen anymore. They are content with telling the 500 to 2000 people that regularly attend each of these six events that their are no longer welcome to buy permits, pay EMS and Police, and spend their money at the local hotels and restaurants because of “excessive noise”.
This “excessive noise” has been documented in a residential driveway bordering the Blue Lot at 73db during a very loud tandem run.
Fun facts 1: The loudest cat in the world purrs at this level, standard city traffic is usually measured around 80db, and fireworks displays (much like the ones held on Friday’s at the Ted) run around 120db.
Fun Facts 2: Even with drifting being banned by a city ordinance, there are going to be 9 SCCA events in the same lot up until November.
Not only do these events bring the 18-35 year old crowd that the local restaurants crave, but it also allows these drivers a controlled environment to practice and compete. The Turner Blue Lot is a certified and insured racetrack. This inexpensive and local venue is just what Atlanta needs when it is not being used for Braves parking. [click to continue…]
The T-SPLOST text poll sponsored by the Atlanta TEA Party and Peach Pundit has been running a poll this week regarding your opinions on the T-SPLOST. Voting ends at 3:00pm today.
Preliminary results are as follows:
No – 53.8%
Yes – 43.2%
Und – 2.8%
The poll registeres one vote per phone number. One phone; One Vote.
To register your opinion (once) on the upcoming T-SPLOST initiative, just text TPPP to 28748.
You will then be asked to indicate if you support the T-SPLOST with a 1) No 2) Yes or 3) Undecided response.
Standard text messaging rates apply.
We’ll post final results either late today or..later depending on how soon it becomes 5:00. After all, it’s Friday, and I’m not hanging around to get caught in afternoon traffic.
Martha Zoller will be wrapping up her radio show today in order to become a full time candidate for Congress. She will be facing Representative Doug Collins and Jackson Commission Chairman Hunter Bicknell – and perhaps others – in a primary for the open 9th Congressional district.
This race, along with the primary in the 12th, promise to be among the most interesting for the inside baseball crowd for Congressional primaries. We’ll be stepping up our coverage of these races as well as the others that materialize in the coming weeks.
In the mean time, if you need one more fix of Zoller as a radio host, you have between 9am and Noon today at Bulldog 103.7.
Final guests scheduled to appear include Casey Cagle (9:07), Chip Rogers (9:30), David Ralston (10:15), Tom Coburn (10:30), Newt Gingrich (10:45), and Lynn Westmoreland (11:15).
And then the campaign begins at noon.
Brandon Beach, President of the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce who came up just short in his bid against John Albers last cycle, has formally declared his candidacy for a re-drawn senate district now held by Majority Leader Chip Rogers, as was previewed here a few days ago.
Rogers, meanwhile, countered the announcement with one of his own. Former State Senator and GOP Chairman Rusty Paul, who served as Beach’s campaign manager for his 2010 run.
We’ll have dueling press releases in full below the fold. As you can tell by the early sparring, this one is likely to get interesting.
[click to continue…]
Via Press Release:
STEVE VOSHALL ANNOUNCES RUN FOR STATE SENATE
Said He Is Tired Of Politics As Usual
Cumming- Running for a public office is not something he wanted to do all his life, but with the economy caught in a perpetual stalemate and politicians doing nothing but kicking the can down the road, Steve Voshall decided that he had no choice but to run for the State Senate.
“I was raised here in Georgia, I went to public schools here, got married here and I am raising a family here, said Voshall. I am not a politician, I am a concerned citizen and businessman, who cares deeply about his children’s future and that of this great state.”
Voshall said he is running to focus on Forsyth County and the State of Georgia, not as someone trying to pad or protect his own pockets.
“Forsyth County needs someone that will focus on removing obstacles to growing industry and small business, said Voshall, and right now we don’t have that kind of representation from our State Senator Jack Murphy.”
Voshall said that as Chairman of the Banking and Finance Committee, Senator Murphy has been sued by the FDIC for violations committed while Murphy served on the board of a bank. [click to continue…]
Jason told us about the woes of Atlanta’s food truck park yesterday. Alas, it appears the random permit issues over trucks and their allowed multiple locations have been resolved. The park has re-opened for business.
“Thanks to the help of our friends, [City] Council member Kwanza Hall, the Atlanta Police Dept., City Hall and the Atlanta Street Food Coalition, your favorite food trucks are now acquiring the proper vending permits for Atlanta Food Truck Park,” said a message posted on the park’s website.
“Over the next couple of days, more and more food trucks will make appearances,” the statement said, adding that plans are being made for a “Take Two—Grand Opening” party.
I still don’t get the concept beyond the general novelty of it all, but so be it. So long as they follow the same business license and health inspection rules that competing other businesses must face, then if you want to eat food out of a truck, there’s a place on Howell Mill Road for you.
Today’s Courier Herald Column:
Georgia has more counties than any state east of the Mississippi River. There are 159 County Governments, which then spawn many more municipal governments. While the number is limited to this by the Georgia constitution, there continues a movement to grow this number by one more, possibly two. Residents of North Fulton continue to march toward re-constituting Milton County, a breakaway from Fulton generally north of the Chattahoochee River.
The plan is hardly a secret. North Fulton residents have strongly backed the measure for years. With Republican majorities in the legislature, many believe that the time has come for asserting their independence from a county government who owes its base of influence to the City of Atlanta.
Because creating a new county requires amending Georgia’s constitution, however, a Republican majority is not sufficient to put the measure before Georgia’s voters. Amendments require two thirds of each body of the legislature to pass.
An effort to put the measure before voters this year came up significantly short of the votes needed. Democrats are solidly against the idea, but many rural Republicans were also skeptical. Many thought creating more government wasn’t justified, while others, quite frankly, didn’t care to see another political power center created from thin air.
Rural legislators who feel forgotten during many debates appreciate the fact that the aspirations of the North Fulton mega-suburb are tethered by their urban counterparts to the south.
Next year, however, the legislature will be different. Redistricting has moved additional districts away from rural Georgia and into Atlanta’s northern suburbs. Expect an early temperature check to see how close the legislature is to the two thirds needed to create Milton County from much of North Fulton. [click to continue…]
In crunching today’s numbers it appears we have a limited few who have a lot of time on their hands and are attempting to skew the numbers.
Please be advised that the final results will strip multiple votes received from the same number.
1 phone, 1 vote.
To register your opinion (once) on the upcoming T-SPLOST initiative, just text TPPP to 28748.
You will then be asked to indicate if you support the T-SPLOST with a 1) No 2) Yes or 3) Undecided response.
Standard text messaging rates apply.
Via press release:
“I am proud to announce a talented and dedicated Regional Political team for the 2012 cycle,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “There will be seven directors who will be responsible for coordinating the ground operation and voter contacts across the country to ensure Republican victories in the House, Senate and White House this fall. They will work side by side Mitt Romney’s team and the campaigns for our Republican candidates up and down the ticket. After three and a half years of broken promises and failed economic policies, President Obama is vulnerable across the country and we intend to elect Mitt Romney as the next President of the United States.”
**snip**
David Raad
Arkansas/Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia/South Carolina/Florida
Since 1996 David Raad has been active in campaign and election operations throughout southeast United States in both field and leadership roles. In 2011-2012, David led Governor Mitt Romney’s South Carolina campaign as state director. In 2010 David was a part of the historic GOP landslide victory effort as the RNC’s National Field Director. He has served as Executive Director of President Bush’s reelection effort in Missouri in 2004, and has served in a number of campaign and political operations including the 2000 RNC Convention.
Well, there’s this:
On a mild Tuesday evening near the end of happy hour, people enjoying margaritas at Tortilla Coast and others milling around the area were treated to quite a performance by freshman Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and his wife, Vivien.
A sobbing Vivien Scott was spotted with a name tag stuck to her bare arm, trying to hail a cab and arguing with her husband, the Congressman.
He “was furious with her,” an HOH tipster tells us. “He kept walking away, then she’d chase him.”
This might be appropriate given that in a 2011 Politico profile, Vivien Scott said of their courtship: “It’s kind of an ongoing joke. I apparently chased him down.”
The Scotts are something of a power couple in Washington, D.C.
He was voted president of the House freshman class after taking office last year. She was voted president of the Congressional freshman class spouses. She’s been involved enough to even get her own House email address.
I guess if you want to put a positive spin on it, not every freshman member and spouse are considered a power couple in Washington. So there’s that.
The Atlanta TEA Party and Peach Pundit have teamed up to offer a text poll regarding your feelings on the upcoming Atlanta Regional T-SPLOST set for the July 31st Primary.
The poll will run today through Friday. We’re setting the cut off time at 3:oo PM tomorrow in the hopes that results can be posted before it’s 5:00 somewhere.
The results as of this morning (with rougly 4 times the number of votes we had yesterday at this time):
No – 49.77%
Yes – 47.71%
Undecided – 2.52%
To participate, just text TPPP to 28748.
You will then be asked to indicate if you support the T-SPLOST with a 1) No 2) Yes or 3) Undecided response.
Standard text messaging rates apply.
NOTE: Only one vote per phone number will be counted in the final results.
