Lawmakers take steps to slow Georgia’s coal ash imports to landfills

Georgia state senators Monday overwhelmingly backed a fee hike to curb financial incentives for waste companies to dump toxic coal ash in landfills across the state.

Senate Bill 123 now heads over to the House of Representatives after the 52-2 Senate vote to align the cost to dump coal ash with what it costs to take household garbage to a landfill. If the bill passes, counties can collect $2.50 per ton, up from $1. Lawmakers raised the fee for garbage to $2.50 per ton in 2018, but left the price for coal ash at $1.

Coal ash disposal took on a high profile at the Capitol Monday, with a few dozen residents from Juliette pressing lawmakers to force Georgia Power to dispose of toxic coal ash in lined storage. Instead, they headed back to their community near Plant Scherer with little more than the assurance Georgia lawmakers might make the state a less attractive place to ship coal ash.

The landfill bill’s sponsor said the higher fee will help local governments avoid subsidizing millions of tons of the waste from other states’ coal-fired power plants. Atlanta-based Georgia Power has also objected to paying the higher tab if Ligon’s bill passes.

“The hope is this will help Georgia stop from being a repository for coal ash that’s generated here as well as other places,” Sen. William Ligon, a Brunswick Republican, told lawmakers on Monday. “It also removes a prohibition that prevents those fees generated from being used to assist those counties and all of their operations.”

Coal ash storage polices are a simmering controversy across Georgia, with environmentalists asking for stricter coal ash regulations, such as requiring it to be stored in lined landfills.

Georgia Power continues to resist the call to use lined storage at all coal ash sites because it costs more. The state Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power’s request to charge ratepayers $525 million to clean up coal ash waste in December as part of a $1.8 billion rate hike.