SIERRA CLUB REACTS: Energy Department Loans Money For Georgia Power’s Gas Fleet

ATLANTA - The Department of Energy announced it will give a $26.5 billion loanto Southern Company to build the largest, most expensive gas fleet in the nation.

The loan will pay for Southern Company's subsidiary, Georgia Power, plans to build a massive amount of new gas-burning infrastructure, including new combined cycle turbines at Plant Bowen near Cartersville; Plant Wansley near Carrollton; and Plant McIntosh near Rincon. Georgia Power ratepayers are projected to pay for these new turbines for the next 45 years.

In response, Sierra Club's Campaign Organizing Strategist Michael Hawthorne released the following statement:

"Georgia Power is building the most expensive gas fleet in the nation in order to serve data centers, not for everyday Georgians. Spending our tax dollars to prop up a fading industry is a terrible investment. In the short term, Georgians will get expensive electricity and more air pollution, and long-term, these projects will damage our communities and our health. Instead of this corporate welfare handout to Big Tech companies, the Trump Administration should invest in lower cost, lower risk clean energy projects that serve the entire state."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.