A coal power plant in Early County gets the go ahead from the Environmental Protection Division.

JOSHUA BROWN

ALBANY — The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division announced Tuesday that it had approved the construction of a coal power plant in Early County.

While many Early County residents are excited about the plant’s construction, a few environmental groups are contemplating taking legal action to delay or stop the construction of the plant.

“It’s highly likely that there will be an appeal,” said Justine Thompson, executive director of the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest [now GreenLaw]. “We’re still evaluating. We haven’t made a final decision, but an initial review (of the permit) indicates that we’ll appeal.”

After the EPD permits the plant’s construction, state law allows about a month for anyone who is affected by the permitting to challenge the decision in court, Thompson said.

The plant, which was proposed to Early County authorities by LS Power, would be the first coal power plant to be constructed in Georgia since the 1980s, LS Power Director of Project Development Mike Vogt said.

The plant will be one of the larger ones in the state, producing 1,200 megawatts per hour, although the biggest is Plant Sherer, near Macon, he said.

“Our facility would generate enough electricity to power about oh, a million homes a day,” he said.

The power company initially propositioned land owners in the county to see about purchasing their property for the plant, but later turned to the Early County Development Authority, Vogt said.

County Commission Chairman Richard Ward said he — along with most of the county’s residents — were happy about the plant’s construction.

“I’ve got a shovel in the back of my truck waiting for this groundbreaking,” he said Tuesday. “We’ve been working on this groundbreaking for six years.

“We don’t get a lot of opportunities We’re not a real rich county and this is a real great opportunity. I would say this, the great majority of people in Early County are in favor of LS power.”

Vogt said the plant’s life would probably be between 30 and 50 years, but that could change.

“It does depend, but as far as the equipment itself, it would last at least 50 years,” Vogt said.

Environmental groups from across the state have campaigned against the plant’s construction for the last six years.

“It’s a little punch in the stomach,” Jennette Gayer, with Environment Georgia, said. “We think the right direction to move for our economy and the environment is towards more energy efficiency and more renewable energy.

“But this coal plant is really the opposite of those to things.”