2020 In Review: Monday December 28, 2020

As we count down the days until 2021, WLHR News as it does at this time every year is taking a look back at the top stories of 2020. 

 

COVID-19 and its affect on our lives was no doubt the biggest story of the year, and behind that the 2020 elections.

 

However, there were other stories that stood out.

 

In the early part of the year, after months of testimonies and complaints from citizens living around the new Georgia Renewable Power plant, State Representative Alan Powell wrote a bill banning the burning of creosote-coated railroad ties. 

 

Powell told WLHR News  the decision to file the Bill on Friday came after attending a meeting last Sunday by a coalition of citizens from Franklin and Madison counties who live near the Georgia Renewable Power plants. 

 

Alan Powell1 trt: 28 oc: power plants

 

Powell said he and other local state lawmakers are concerned about the GRP plants and the creosote-coated railroad ties being burned to generate power.

 

At a January Franklin County Commission work session, Commission Chair Thomas Bridges called on GRP to keep its promise from 2015 to only burn clean wood chips. 

 

The bill however was stalled on Crossover Day in March when Governor Brian Kemp ordered a statewide shutdown at the onset of the pandemic. 

 

In June, when the General Assembly re-convened, House Bill 857 passed unanimously in the State Senate and was signed into law in August. 

 

But the issues of noise, ash, and water pollution still remain constant problems for people living around both the Franklin County and Madison County GRP plants and they continue to fight to get both plants shut down.