State officials break ground on new law enforcement headquarters
Georgia’s top elected leaders used a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday to thank state troopers for their contributions during last summer’s civil unrest and during the more recent crime wave.
“I don’t believe it’s ever been harder to wear the badge than it is now,” Gov. Brian Kemp told an audience of troopers before turning a shovel on a new $55 million Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS) headquarters building in southeast Atlanta. “You continue to do the job with honor, integrity and respect.”
State troopers joined forces with the Capitol Police and Atlanta Police Department last summer to maintain order during protests in downtown Atlanta after a white police office in Minneapolis murdered George Floyd, a Black man, and again after the fatal shooting in Atlanta of another Black man, Rayshard Brooks, by a white officer.
Troopers also are participating in the DPS’ Crime Suppression Unit, which to date has resulted in 9,000 police stops, 6,500 citations, the serving of 140 outstanding arrest warrants and the impoundment of more than 500 vehicles.
The new DPS headquarters building will replace a building dedicated in 1957, just 20 years after the state agency was founded in 1937.
Kemp said a memorial will be installed at the new headquarters building honoring the 27 state troopers who have died in the line of duty.
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston reiterated a pledge he made recently to earmark $75 million next year to beef up the DPS as well as mental health services in Georgia. The money would be used to hire 20 additional troopers and bolster staff at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the attorney general’s office and the law enforcement wing of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources
– Capitol Beat News
PSC calls attention to false rooftop solar ads
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) is going after bad actors in the rooftop solar industry.
Commission Chairman Tricia Pridemore has sent a letter urging state Attorney General Chris Carr to protect Georgia homeowners from rooftop solar panel installers advertising free electricity and free solar.
“Some less-than-reputable companies are making promises they can’t deliver,” Pridemore said.
The PSC approved a pilot program two years ago allowing 5,000 homeowners to install solar panels on their rooftops and sell any excess energy produced back to Georgia Power. That 5,000 cap was reached this summer, and representatives of the solar industry have been urging the commission to raise the limit.
Georgia is ranked ninth in the nation for solar installation and is one of the fastest growing solar markets, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
But the PSC has been cautious about moving too quickly on rooftop solar because of complications including whether homeowners using solar energy, Georgia Power or the utility’s customers should be paying the cost of transferring power to and from the grid.
False ads being run by disreputable rooftop solar installers are misrepresenting the pilot program, regulators and utilities, Pridemore wrote to Carr.
“The solar developer industry is self-regulated, but there are clear and decisive laws against misleading advertisements,” Pridemore wrote. “I implore the attorney general’s office to protect hard-working Georgia homeowners from these scams and companies who seek to damage the exceptional reputation of Georgia’s utility system.”
– Capitol Beat News
Georgia prevails over Alabama in water wars lawsuit
Georgia has won another legal battle in the decades-long tri-state water wars.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash sided with Georgia this week in a lawsuit the state of Alabama filed challenging Georgia’s use of water from Lake Lanier. The suit accused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of mismanaging water allocations from Lake Lanier and other federal reservoirs in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin.
Thrash’s ruling was the second court victory this year in the three states’ tug of war over water allocations that dates back to the 1990s.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Georgia’s favor last spring, denying an effort by the state of Florida to cap Georgia’s water withdrawals from the ACF.
Florida’s lawyers had argued Georgia’s use of water from the basin was destroying the oyster industry in Apalachicola Bay. Georgia’s representatives countered that the state deserves credit for major advances in water-use efficiency during the last 20 years.
As in the Supreme Court case, Thrash found that Georgia’s use of water to supply customers in the rapidly growing Atlanta region was not harming either downstream users or the environment.
“We are pleased with Judge Thrash’s decision,” Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr wrote in a joint statement. “As his order made clear, the Corps of Engineers’ decision struck a reasonable balance that assures Georgians a dependable supply of water while protecting the environment and preserving other important uses of the ACF Basin.
“We will continue to be good stewards of our water resources, and we are proud to have obtained a positive resolution on behalf of all Georgians.”
“This ruling is exceptional news for Georgia and metro Atlanta, as it secures our region’s water supply needs from Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River,” Katherine Zitsch, managing director of natural resources for the Atlanta Regional Commission, said.
“Combined with the recent win in the Supreme Court, we have taken two big steps in litigation. We look forward to moving beyond the courtroom and instead collaborating on ways to improve management in the basin.”
Alabama has the right to appeal the ruling.
– Capitol Beat News
