The Sierra Club Georgia Chapter is gearing up for 2020 and launching three campaigns to mobilize around our priorities in the Georgia Legislature. The goal of these campaigns is to help our activists, supporters, and volunteers lobby their lawmakers around key issues important to the Sierra Club: clean energy, transportation, and good government.
Here's how it works: Folks join a campaign they are interested in by signing a petition, and when key bills are coming up for a vote, we'll contact you and help you reach out to your lawmaker to tell them how you'd like them to vote. We'll also let you know about events, like rallies or lobbying nights.
Check out each of our campaigns below, and let's make our representatives at the Capitol hear what we have to say in 2020!
Two key bills in the clean energy arena we’ll be tracking deal with the millions of tons of coal ash stored around Georgia. Coal ash contains heavy metals like arsenic and mercury, and federal agencies say prolonged exposure to these substances can increase the risk of various forms of cancer or cause other health issues like kidney damage and ulcers. According to a 2018 report from EarthJustice, 11 of the 12 coal-fired power plants in the state have contaminated groundwater with one or more toxic pollutants.
Georgia charges companies and utilities a fee to store this coal ash waste in the state, but in 2018, the Legislature carved out an exemption to fee increases that were scheduled to start this year. The result? Millions of tons of coal ash are pouring into Georgia from our neighboring states and even as far away as Puerto Rico. The Sierra Club is backing SB 123, which repeals this loophole and forces companies to pay the full fee for storing toxic coal ash in Georgia.
Another coal ash bill we’re watching is HR 257, a resolution urging Georgia Power to fully excavate the coal ash at Plant McDonough in Smyrna and store it in lined landfills.
Click here to join our Clean Energy Legislative Campaign.
The transportation sector is one of the top sources of the emission of greenhouse gases, and in addition to contributing to climate change, these harmful emissions cause public health issues in communities across the state. Two bills the Sierra Club will be watching in 2020 deal with issue by promoting electric vehicles (EVs) and public transit.
Georgia once had one of the best electric vehicle tax credits in the country, which led to a boom in electric vehicle sales in the state. Lawmakers repealed that tax credit and imposed an annual fee for owning an EV, and sales plummeted. The Sierra Club Georgia Chapter supports HB 732, which creates a $2,500 EV tax credit.
The Chapter also supports HB 511, which seeks to improve rural transit systems across Georgia. It does this in part by imposing a 50-cent-per-ride fee on ride-sharing trips, such as through Uber or Lyft.
Click here to join our Transportation Legislative Campaign.
While improving state government may not seem like a Sierra Club priority at first, a key bill the Legislature may consider in 2020 would lead to improved funding for environmental initiatives in Georgia. The original version of HR 164 proposes an amendment to the Georgia Constitution that would require the Legislature to use money collected from various fees in the way they were originally intended, as opposed to going into the state’s general fund to be used for other purposes in the state budget.
For example, the state charges fees for dumping at landfills and whenever you buy a new tire. These fees are meant to be used to clean up landfills, hazardous waste sites, and illegal tire dumps. Instead, lawmakers have used millions of dollars collected through these programs to balance the state budget, resulting in a backlog of sites that need to be cleaned up. If the constitutional amendment proposed by HR 164 passes, the Legislature would have to use the money in these trust funds as originally intended.
The Chapter is also closely watching HB 545, which would repeal protections offered to property owners when a nuisance, like a massive hog farm, moves in next door. The Sierra Club is opposed to this bill.
Click here to join our Good Government Legislative Campagin.