www.thecentersquare.com – By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-27 11:36:00
At a hearing on Georgia Power’s Integrated Resource Plan, the Public Service Commission challenged the utility’s optimistic forecasts for electricity demand driven by new data centers and cryptocurrency operations. Georgia Power predicts a load increase of 8,200 megawatts by 2030, 2,200 more than previous estimates, citing potential new data centers in Georgia. However, Commission staff expressed skepticism, suggesting the forecast may be overly aggressive. Georgia Power defended its projections, citing trade secrets and industry interest. Commissioner Pridemore argued other states accept such growth as realistic. Some local counties have placed moratoriums on data center projects, adding uncertainty. The Commission’s vote is scheduled for July 15.
(The Center Square) – Georgia Power and the Public Service Commission sparred over the utility’s assumptions about future materialization rates for data centers and cryptocurrency operations at a hearing Tuesday.
The Public Service Commission is holding hearings on Georgia Power’s Integrated Resource Plan. The company is predicting a risk-adjusted load forecast of 8,200 megawatts from the winter of 2024-25 to the winter of 2030-31, which is 2,200 more than the 2023 projections, according to its plan released in January.
The load could grow by as much as 6,000 megawatts as early as 2028-29, the company said. Part of the reason is new data centers that are eyeing the Peach State.
The Public Service Commission staff questioned the projections.
“We conclude that the forecast provided by Georgia Power is very likely skewed to show load realization sooner, and in greater quantities than is likely to materialize,” said Robert Trokey, director of the electric unit for the Georgia Public Service Commission.
Georgia Power claims the reasons behind their predictions are “trade secrets” because the potential new customers are still considering Georgia.
Commissioner Tricia Pridemore asked why the staff believes the projects are not going to materialize.
“I hear this sort of like clamor, clatter, I’ve heard it a lot, more than I have since January, but that this isn’t real, this isn’t going to materialize…when the reality is absolutely not,” Pridemore said. “In the states that have decided, and the state’s commissions and the commission’s staff that have decided to live in this realistically, Texas, Virginia, they’re not sending out the market signals that they don’t believe it’s real.”
“To be clear, we are not suggesting that there shouldn’t be growth or that Georgia Power won’t experience growth from data centers,” Trokey said. “Certainly, there is a phenomenon that is occurring. I don’t have the number in front of me, but there’s more than a handful of projects; there are dozens and dozens of projects, probably in the hundreds, throughout the country. In that process, we do know that they are looking at multiple locations in Georgia and outside of Georgia and that’s part of the analysis they have performed. We’ve seen some, even local counties that have decided to put a pause on for a certain point in time…
“Ninety days to get contractual work,” Pridemore said, interrupting Trokey. Some counties have issued moratoriums on data center projects. Coweta County commissioners agreed to a 180-day moratorium in May, and Douglas County agreed to a 90-day one in March, according to Government Technology.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a straightforward report on the Public Service Commission hearing regarding Georgia Power’s load forecast related to data centers and cryptocurrency operations. It provides perspectives from both the utility company and the commission staff without adopting a partisan or ideological stance. The language is neutral and factual, focusing on the facts and statements made by officials on both sides. The article refrains from endorsing or criticizing either viewpoint, instead reporting the disagreement and procedural context clearly. Thus, it maintains an objective tone centered on the issue rather than political ideology.
www.youtube.com – FOX 5 Atlanta – 2025-05-29 04:07:40
SUMMARY: Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, and Georgia offers great outdoor activities, including hikes to stunning waterfalls. FOX 5’s Lauren Robinson explores Amicalola Falls State Park in Dawson County, home to the 729-foot cascading Amicalola Falls, taller than Niagara Falls. The waterfall’s name means “tumbling waters” in Cherokee. Visitors can hike up a paved path with 604 stairs or take an ADA-accessible trail. The mountain water stays cold year-round, popular for summer polar plunges. Besides hiking, the park offers fishing, archery, and hatchet throwing. On clear days, panoramic views include the Atlanta skyline.
Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer and you may be looking for fun activities for the family. This summer, we’re taking you all across Georgia and showing you some great hikes along with way. FOX 5 Storm Team meteorologist Laurann Robinson takes us on a trail along one of the most popular waterfalls in the state.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-29 14:41:00
Georgia Public Service Commission candidate Daniel Blackman is appealing a decision by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that removed him from the June primary ballot. Blackman, seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Fritz Johnson for District 3, was disqualified over residency challenges, shortly after early voting began. Blackman stated he disagrees with the ruling and remains committed to the race, highlighting the timing during early voting. Democrats Peter Hubbard, Robert Jones, and Keisha Sean Waites are also on the District 3 ballot. Early voting runs through June 13. The Secretary of State’s office did not comment before publication.
(The Center Square) – Georgia Public Service Commission candidate Daniel Blackman said Thursday he is appealing a decision to remove him from the June primary ballot.
Blackman was vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Fritz Johnson for the District 3 seat in November.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger disqualified Blackman on Wednesday, the day after early voting began, after a challenge to Blackman’s residency in District 3.
“While I respectfully disagree with the ruling, I want to be clear: I am not stepping away,” Blackman said in a statement posted on his campaign page. “My team is appealing the decision, and I will remain fully committed to the fight for energy justice and public accountability in Georgia. The fact that a decision to remove me was made during early voting only underscores what many of us already know: this race matters.”
Democrats Peter Hubbard, Robert Jones and Keisha Sean Waites are on the District 3 ballot for the June 17 primary.
Republican Tim Echols, representing District 2, has a primary challenger in Lee Muns. Alicia Johnson is the lone Democrat in the primary.
The commissioners must live in their district, but all Georgia eligible voters participate in the election.
Early voting began Tuesday and ends on June 13.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting comment from the secretary of state’s office.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a straightforward, factual report on the disqualification of Daniel Blackman from the Georgia Public Service Commission primary ballot. It covers the key facts, including Blackman’s appeal, his statement emphasizing energy justice and public accountability, and the status of other candidates in the race. The language is neutral and avoids editorializing or expressing support or criticism of any party or individual. The piece reports on the positions and actions of those involved without promoting a particular ideological stance, maintaining balanced coverage of both Democratic and Republican candidates.
A 2023 report from the Center for Migration Studies found the U.S. population without permanent legal status grew to 12.2 million, up 2 million since 2020. States with largest increases include Florida, New York, and New Jersey. The figure encompasses unauthorized immigrants and those with temporary legal status like DACA and TPS recipients. Venezuelan immigrants doubled from 220,000 in 2020 to 445,000 in 2023, aided by TPS protections, which the Trump administration is seeking to end. Central American migration also rose, prompting a Biden-era program offering work visas and deportation protections, now challenged in court by the Trump administration.
WASHINGTON — The Center for Migration Studies Thursday released a report finding the population of people in the United States without permanent legal status increased to 12.2 million in 2023, using the most recent Census Bureau American Community Survey data.
It’s a number that grew by 2 million from 2020 to 2023, according to the study by the nonpartisan New York think tank that studies domestic and international migration.
Six states that have the largest population of people without permanent legal status also saw some of the biggest increases. They are California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Of those states, the fastest-growing were Florida, New York and New Jersey.
That population estimate includes not only people in the U.S. without legal authorization, but immigrants in programs that provide temporary legal status. That would include programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and Temporary Protected Status, as well as people with pending asylum cases or who received humanitarian parole status since 2021.
The study noted that estimating the size of the population without permanent legal status could “become even more challenging in the next few years” because the census data collection could be affected by mass firings of federal workers as the Trump administration aims to cull the federal workforce.
Authors of the study also took into consideration the Trump administration’s efforts to enact mass deportations and how the population could decline, not due to removals but rather a decrease in the number of immigrants responding to survey data.
“The salient questions would be: Did the decline occur because deportations increased, including of populations stripped of temporary legal status, because fear led to an increase in emigration, because fear reduced the response rates in the surveys, or because of a combination of these or other factors?,” according to the study.
The annual report from the think tank runs counter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s congressional testimony in May to Senate appropriators that there are more than 20 million people in the country without legal authorization.
Other think tanks that study migration, such as the Migration Policy Institute, have estimated as of 2021, there were 11.2 million immigrants in the U.S. without legal authorization.
Venezuelan migrants
One major finding in the study by the Center for Migration Studies was that the population of Venezuelan immigrants increased from 55,000 in 2013 to 220,000 in 2020.
According to the study, that population then doubled in 2023 to 445,000, which is around the time the Biden administration granted TPS protections for a second group of Venezuelans after granting TPS for a first group of Venezuelans in 2021. Roughly half a million Venezuelans are under the TPS program and are at risk of losing protections from deportation.
That program allows nationals from countries deemed too dangerous to return to due to violence, political instability or other unstable conditions to remain in the U.S. for up to 18 months unless their protections are renewed by the Department of Homeland Security Secretary.
The Trump administration is moving to end TPS for Venezuelans and invoked an 18th-century wartime law to rapidly deport any Venezuelan national 14 and older who is suspected of gang ties.
The Supreme Court has blocked the use of the wartime law over concerns of due process, and has not ruled on the constitutionality of using the law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. But the high court is allowing the Trump administration to continue its efforts to end TPS for Venezuelans who were granted protections in 2023.
Central American migrants
The study also found the population of Central American immigrants grew by 1.2 million from 2013 to 2023. With the highest levels of migration at the southern border in 20 years, the Biden administration in January 2023 created a program to allow nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela – nearly all from Central America – to be sponsored with work visas and have deportation protections.
Roughly 532,000 people are in that program. The Trump administration has made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to end it, potentially opening those immigrants up to rapid deportation.
Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This article predominantly presents factual data and research findings from nonpartisan and respected migration think tanks while contextualizing the political and administrative actions taken by both the Biden and Trump administrations. The language is largely neutral but includes subtle framing that highlights humanitarian concerns—such as the protections granted under TPS and the challenges migrants face—while noting the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies in a critical light. This balanced yet slightly sympathetic framing toward immigrant populations and protections aligns most closely with a center-left perspective that values data-driven reporting with an emphasis on immigrant rights and policy impacts.
