Students from colleges across the state gathered alongside Sandersville residents last week for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s final public hearing discussing the city’s proposed coal-fired power plant, Plant Washington.

About 30 students from several campuses throughout the state attended the Oct. 20 hearing, said Ian Karra, a freshman from Roswell.

“It was especially moving to hear from community members who will be directly affected – each shared their history in Sandersville, their emotional ties to the community, and how the plant will seriously damage their way of life,” Karra said.

Jac Capp, chief air branch officer for the EPD, said there were “a lot of good comments” during the three-hour hearing.

“I said that it’s time for the EPD to be proactive and not reactive to environmental situations,” said Shanell Davis, an international affairs major from Columbus who spoke during the hearing. “It is the Environmental Protection Division – not the environmental permitting division.”

Davis said there were locals who spoke in favor of the plant, noting one man’s expression of trust in the EPD’s ability to regulate the air pollution.

The man “spoke about his childhood in Sandersville, when the city was covered in white dust which came from [Thiele Kaolin Company],” Davis said.

The EPD and other groups have since forced the company to clean up the dust, Davis said.

Davis is among environmental activists who are concerned with the air pollution that could be potentially caused by the plant.

Today is the last day the EPD will be accepting written comments concerning the plant.

After today, the EPD will review all public comments and address each one in writing, a process that could take a few months, Capp said.

Once the EPD responds to all comments, the division then must decide if final permits for Plant Washington will be issued.

“Some people presume that it is a done deal,” Capp said.

But he explained this is not the case.

Capp said the draft permits do not ensure final permits will be issued or that the project is definite.

“Legally, we must make a final decision,” he said.

If the EPD decides final permits will be issued, then it will consider what changes, if any, should be made to the original permits.

“We have not reviewed the comments yet, so we cannot anticipate what changes will be made,” Capp said.

Capp referred to the Sierra Club Web site, which tracks all new and proposed coal plants in the U.S.

According to the Sierra Club’s data, there are 57 active plants and 23 progressing plants.

An “active” plant indicates the permit application for the proposed plant is under review, whereas a “progressing” plant is under construction.

Plant Washington is listed as an “active” plant on the site.

Capp said this information is used by the EPD to ensure the plant is using the best available control technologies – which is required by law for any new coal plant.

“We do look at other projects from a technology standpoint and a legal standpoint,” Capp said. “If a permit was issued for a plant, and then that permit was challenged in court, how that case goes is important to our decision making.”

In the coming months, the state will make a decision, placing it on either side of a nationwide environmental and economic issue.

“It will take as long as it takes for us to do a good job,” Capp said.