Jackson Jambalaya

Maybe, finally, the madness will come to an end.

Congrats to: PSC, Mr. Blanton, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Emmerich

Southern Company trots out Boss Hogg in 3 ... 2 ... 1.

Southern Company Says Kemper Not Viable as Coal Plant, Blames the PSC

Barbour was both a governor of Mississippi and still actively lobbying for the company in early 2008 when he and Southern officials launched an all-out campaign to convince the Department of Energy to transfer an existing grant to build a 285-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Orlando, Florida to a new site in Kemper County, near the Alabama border.
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... documents obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request from the Department of Energy, which has provided a total of $407 million in grants for Kemper, demonstrate that the impetus for the facility came from senior management at Southern, including then-chief operating officer Fanning, and from Mississippi Governor and longtime Southern Company lobbyist Haley Barbour, who pressured first the Department of Energy, and then enlisted the secretary of energy himself, to pressure Mississippi’s three PSC commissioners into approving plans for the construction of Kemper.
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Barbour had personally lobbied for Southern Company for more than a decade before he became governor and began representing it again upon leaving office in 2012. Despite the questionable ethics of a sitting governor working hand-in-glove with his own lobbying firm to reel in more than a quarter of a billion dollars in DOE money for Southern Company (Barbour defends himself by noting he put his 50,000 shares of BGR in a “blind trust” when he became governor), the meeting with DOE Secretary Bodman took place on February 26th.
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While neither of the new commissioners – Sam Britton and Cecil Brown – has made a public statement on the project lately, Britton’s campaign manager during his PSC run was Austin Barbour, Haley’s nephew, and a principal in the GOP-focused Clearwater Group, whose other partner is Arnie Hederman, former chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party.

Though his gubernatorial term ended in 2012, Barbour himself was deeply involved in the PSC races, and is believed to have hand-picked Britton to run in the Southern District against Democrat Tom Blanton, who financed a series of legal actions that overturned an 18 percent rate hike by Mississippi Power to help pay for Kemper.

Britton is also connected to Barbour through his wife, Robin Robinson, director of organization, development and corporate communication at Sanderson Farms, the third-largest poultry producer in the country and a major Barbour financial and political backer. While governor, Barbour appointed Robinson to the board of trustees of the state’s Institutions of Higher Learning, which oversees public higher education. Britton spent more than $300,000 on the campaign, an enormous sum for a PSC race, most of which came from his own pocket. Barbour is thought to have agreed to back Robinson for lieutenant governor in the next election in return for Britton spending so lavishly on his PSC campaign.

READ IT ALL: Southern Company Says Kemper Not Viable as Coal Plant, Blames the PSC

If indeed hospice has been called in, we know who will take credit. A certain democrat who served in the house (rather unremarkably) for 16 years. His greatest accomplishment to date has been appearing on Gallo nine times.

If I had more $ at stake here, I'd be more fired up about the story. Otherwise, who cares!?!?

I was thinking the same thing 8:16, it took a democrat to clean up a mess created by republicans. (See Boss Hogg).

Survey shows: 93% of those who give a rat's ass are part of the 'lynch Barbour' crowd.

Thousands of plant families in East Mississippi will really hurt if Kemper goes down. Not much regard here for them, but it's true. On the other hand, the rich guys in north Jackson and Madison whose portfolios are heavily invested in natural gas fields will have their interests and income protected. Some things never change.

@2:40 now whose fault is that? Are you really trying to blame anyone besides Southern Co.?
I'd advise you in a metaphorical sense to drink some charcoal in order puke up that highly toxic kemper project kool aid you're drinking.

Kemper is the least of Southern Co.'s problems - PSC needs to stand its ground.

Group says Georgia nuclear plant costs rise to $29 bln

2:40...'Plant families'?

You sound like county supervisor Paul Griffin in Madison County who always moans when progress and sensible cost cutting just happens to displace workers. As if you think this farkin' boondoggle ought to remain smoke-stackin' because we have employees and their families involved. A grand example of democrat think.

Throw a few of these executives in prison for a few years for fraud and they may get the hint it's wrong to lie

Where are the "thousands of plant families"?

Tommy Blanton is a real hero.

6:04 - What he meant to say was thousands of marijuana plants. Forgive him just this wunst.

@ 1:20 - Survey shows 100% of the MS Power rate payers think MS Power and The Southern Co. should pay for their own mess. Who gives a ---- about Barbour. He has earned his money off of Kemper already.

"To investors, Southern often touts its friendly relationships with state regulators in the four states in which its regulated utilities operate, but the fall 2015 Mississippi PSC election quickly became a referendum on Kemper, replacing two commissioners who reliably rubber-stamped MPC’s agenda with two new faces, Sam Britton and Cecil Brown, both of whom have pledged not to leave ratepayers holding the bag."

"An important prong of Southern’s PR strategy seems to be to shift the blame for Kemper onto the PSC itself."

So if you believe Southern Company they decided to build a 7 billion dollar plant because Bentz, et al. thought it was a good idea? These guys are much dumber than I though. The PSC was only doing what the Gov. and MS Power were telling them to do.

When the 186,000 MS Power Co. customers see their rates go up by 40% I hope they won't forget the members of the PSC who pushed this plant through.