MISSISSIPPI CHAPTER

California utilities are leading the pack in actually cutting people off from the grid if they install solar + batteries. This short article documents the "revolution" and includes two short videos, one with Michael Brune of the Sierra Club and one from PBS.

This scientific paper was produced for the Natural Resource Damage Assessment, and at least partially funded by BP. It is important for determining restoration needs. If you only read the abstract, you've got the picture.

Steve Shepard, President of the Coast Group, shares his impressions of the new PSC Commissioner for the Southern District. Renfroe was chosen to "hold down" the spot for the next Republican who chooses to run in 2015, but he will have the crucial deciding vote in issues concerning Mississippi Power's Kemper Coal Plant, especially ratepayer responsibility for funding the plant.

SIGN THE PETITION!
Tell Governor Bryant that we don't want to be the nation's septic tank for nuclear waste. Join Congressman Steve Palazzo and Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley in saying "No Nuclear Waste in Mississippi. Not Now, Not Ever!" As the Clarion Ledger columnist Geoff Pender recently wrote (August 31, 2013):

The public meeting in Picayune was held on October 29. After a short slide presentation, developers stood at tables with posters explaining the NEPA process and the effects on the lower Pearl River (water quantity, water quality, endangered species and salinity, among others). The crowd of about 60 was mostly negative; many had come from St. Tamany Parish, across the river.
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Our friends at the Gulf Restoration Network have sent out an Action Alert regarding the proposed One Lake Development project in the Jackson metro area. Send a letter to the Pearl River Drainage & Control District, and tell them no new lake on the Pearl River. This lake is for developers only, not for the endangered sturgeon or the saw-backed turtle, and it will also cut off a source of fresh water for oyster beds on the Coast. Take a look.

"Energy Institute to pitch storing nuclear waste in Mississippi.
While proponents tout job creation, opponents say it could create image problem" (Clarion Ledger, August 23)

State Sierra Club spokesman Louie Miller said: “You’ve got to be kidding me. We went through this fight 30 years ago. Does Mississippi not have a bad enough image problem nationally without becoming a radioactive dump for the U.S. and probably the rest of the world? … I don’t care how many jobs it creates, if any. Think of how many it would destroy. This is a bad idea. This is something you don’t want in your backyard.”

JACKSON, MS AUGUST 9TH
Mississippi Sierra Club Director Louie Miller has issued the following statement:
“Given the massive cost overruns, hidden information, and looming rate increases from the Kemper plant, it’s no surprise that Commissioner Bentz would want to get off this sinking ship. While he leaves the Public Service Commission and more than doubles his salary, he's leaving MS ratepayers with a boondoggle of an over budget project whose price tag is nearly $5 billion and growing.

JACKSON, MS BY LOUIE MILLER
The Kemper County area where the electricity is generated is not in Miss. Power's service area, so the electricity will be supplied to that county and surrounding areas while the citizens in the 26 counties served by Miss. Power will actually have their rates increased in order to pay for the construction of the plant-- even if the plant does not generate a single kilowatt of electricity!

JACKSON, MS BY TIM HARLAN-MARKS, SSC Director of Leadership Training
Every year over 200 youth commit one week of their summer to attend the SSC’s nationally recognized Summer Grassroots Leadership Training Program, Sprog! Whether you’re a seasoned veteran of organizing looking to take your leadership to the next level or a brand new activist looking to start building a toolkit for making real change, Sprog’s complete overview of time-tested skills and knowledge has something for you.

JACKSON, MS BY LOUIE MILLER, Executive Director
A public utility is supposed to serve the interest of the public, but recently it seems Mississippi Power is doing anything but. Their financial boondoggle at the $4.2B Kemper coal-fired power plant resulted in an initial 13% increase in electricity rates, with increases predicted to reach as high as 61%. That's money out of your pocket to prop up. . .a Fortune 500 company?