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Mississippi’s new PSC energized by nuclear power, tepid over renewables

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mississippitoday.org – Alex Rozier – 2024-10-24 15:57:00

“We’re open for business,” Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown said, a sentiment he repeated throughout the PSC’s “Nuclear Summit” on Tuesday.

Brown and his colleagues – Central District Public Service Commissioner De’Keither Stamps and Southern District Public Service Commissioner Wayne Carr – are in their first term after last year’s statewide elections saw a complete turnover in the PSC. The PSC oversees a broad range of public utility issues, such as electric generation, power bills, water infrastructure, among many others. 

As the world looks towards alternative energy forms to balance an increased demand with the need to limit carbon emissions, the PSC is hoping to move Mississippi ahead of the curve. 

The Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant is pictured with the flooding Mississippi river in the background in Grand Gulf, Miss. on May 17, 2011. Credit: Dave Martin, AP

“We think nuclear’s our future,” Brown said during a Wednesday Senate hearing. 

The PSC’s “Nuclear Summit” hosted several speakers from the industry as well as representatives from utilities serving the state that are looking to expand nuclear generation. 

“Economic development in the future is going to go to places where you have affordable and reliable power,” Stamps said during the summit. “And one of the most affordable and reliable power sources is nuclear.” 

One speaker, Kirk Sorenson of Flibe Energy, talked about the prospects of opening a new nuclear plant in Tishomingo County at the Yellow Creek site. The Tennessee Valley Authority started, and later abandoned, work on a nuclear plant there in the 1970s. Sorenson said Flibe has been leasing the site for the last five years and has spent a quarter of a billion dollars on improvements, although it’s unclear what the timeline for a Yellow Creek nuclear plant would be (getting approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission can take up to five years, although Congress recently passed a bill to speed up the review process). 

Mississippi Public Service Commission Northern District Commissioner Chris Brown, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

In 2023, 76% of Mississippi’s generated energy came from natural gas, much higher than the 43% for the country as a whole. The state’s two largest power producers are the Grand Gulf nuclear plant in Port Gibson, owned by Entergy, and the Victor J. Daniel plant in Moss Point, owned by Mississippi Power, which uses both coal and gas. 

Mississippi Power initially planned to close Plant Daniel’s coal units in 2027, a move clean-energy advocates celebrated, because the plant was producing excess power. However, the company is now delaying the closure to sell energy to Georgia. At Grand Gulf, Entergy upgraded the plant’s power in 2012 to make it the country’s largest single-unit nuclear power plant in the country. The plant is licensed to run until 2044. 

Earlier this month, state lawmakers advocated for bringing more nuclear power to the state during a Senate committee hearing, the Clarion Ledger reported. Industry representatives advised lawmakers tax incentives were one of the ways to attract more nuclear development in the state.

Nuclear power isn’t considered renewable because its required fuel, such as uranium, is a finite resource, but its generation doesn’t yield any carbon emissions. Compared to renewable energy like wind and solar, nuclear plants can run more consistently and use up less space. However, nuclear power comes with much higher upfront costs and more government restrictions because of safety concerns. On top of that, the United States doesn’t have any permanent storage facilities for nuclear waste.

‘We’re not anti-solar’

During interviews with Mississippi Today, all three commissioners maintained that they weren’t against solar power, saying they believe in an “all of the above” approach to sourcing energy.

Mississippi Public Service Central District Commissioner De’Keither Stamps, discusses current agency operations across the state during an interview at district headquarters, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Brown, a former state lawmaker and the current PSC chairman, took exception to media and advocacy groups painting the commission as “anti-solar.” 

“We’ve approved every solar generation plant (that’s come before the PSC),” he said. Electric generating facilities in the state have to get approval from the PSC. “Just because you ask questions doesn’t make you anti-anything. Our goal is just to ask questions our constituents are asking.”

Brown referenced a “Solar Summit” the PSC held in August, similar to other fact-finding sessions the agency has held around certain topics. The “Solar Summit,” though, didn’t include any speakers from the solar industry, as the outlet Floodlight reported. And unlike the “Nuclear Summit,” much of the session’s airtime was instead filled with skepticism around what the industry might mean for Mississippi.

One of the speakers, for instance, was state Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson, who has no background in the energy field. Gipson spoke for about an hour and theorized over the threat that new solar facilities could pose to farmland.

“How much solar do we need as a state?” Gipson asked. 

As of 2023, solar power made up less than a percent of the state’s electric generation, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, compared to 4% nationally. Overall, when including sources like wind and hydropower, renewables made up 21% of the country’s energy mix, compared to under 3% for Mississippi. 

Solar panels on the central office building of the Ocean Springs School District. Credit: Ocean Springs School District

A major point of disagreement between the PSC and solar advocates is that of incentives. The last PSC, led by former commissioners Brandon Presley and Brent Bailey, added incentives under the state’s net metering rule, which requires the two state-regulated energy companies – Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power – to reimburse customers for self-generated renewable energy. Gov. Tate Reeves criticized the move, calling on state lawmakers to reverse the rule. 

This spring, just over a year after the new rule went into effect, commissioners Brown and Carr voted to suspend incentives for low-income customers as well as for schools looking to put in solar panels.

The two commissioners argued that such incentives create a cost shift against people without solar panels, although it’s unclear whether that’s come close to happening in Mississippi, a state with relatively few net metering customers.

“No one has ever given me anything my entire adult life,” Carr told Mississippi Today, also panning recent federal programs pushing for more solar generation. “I don’t feel like that because ‘Big Brother,’ so to speak, says that we should be helping out an industry, I don’t agree with that… We’re not against solar. If you want to do it, pay for it.” 

Mississippi Public Service Commission Southern District Commissioner Wayne Carr, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024 in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Renewable advocates like Monika Gerhart pushed back on that point. Gerhart, executive director of the Gulf States Renewable Energy Industries Association, argued that the state government gives out economic incentives to different industries all the time, including recently for Amazon as well as an electric car battery plant

“Mississippi has historically provided a pretty good economic incentive for industries that it was interested in,” she said. “I don’t see this as being that different, that you attract a developing industry because you know there will be dividends.” 

The PSC is also looking to create an “overarching state law” around approving solar facilities, Stamps said during the summit, to create a consistent process for every county to follow. During Wednesday’s Senate hearing, Brown said that the agency will be asking for new regulations dealing with solar plants, including around decommissioning facilities. 

“I think that solar is a useful tool, but it does need some guardrails,” he told the lawmakers. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1870

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-11 07:00:00

Jan. 11, 1870 

The Black lawmakers from Reconstruction days are featured in an online exhibit by Mississippi State University titled, “Against All Odds: The First Black Legislators in Mississippi.” Credit: Courtesy of Mississippi State University Libraries

The first legislature in Radical Reconstruction met in Mississippi. During this time, at least 226 Black Mississippians held public office. Lawmakers adopted a new state constitution that ushered in free public schools and had no property requirements to vote. 

These acts infuriated the Southerners who embraced white supremacy, and they responded violently. They assassinated many of those who worked on the constitution. 

In Monroe County, Klansmen killed Jack Dupree, a Black Mississippian who led a Republican Party group. In Vicksburg, white supremacists formed the White Man’s party, patrolled the streets with guns, and told Black voters to stay home on election day. 

White supremacists continued to use violence and voter fraud to win. When the federal government refused to step in, 

Congressman John R. Lynch warned, “The war was fought in vain.” 

It would take almost a century for Black Mississippians to begin to regain the rights they had lost. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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How good is No. 14 State? We will find out really, really soon

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mississippitoday.org – Rick Cleveland – 2025-01-10 16:15:00

Chris Jans has his third Mississippi State team ranked No. 14 in the nation, but facing a brutal schedule coming up. (AP file photo)

How good is this Mississippi State men’s basketball team?

The Bulldogs, 14-1, are ranked No. 14 in the country and, in my opinion, are under-rated at that. They are balanced. They are deep. Defensively, they are special.

Rick Cleveland

But don’t take it from me. Let’s listen to Richard Williams, the coach who guided the 1996 Bulldogs to an SEC Tournament Championship and the Final Four, and who is the radio commentator who watches and analyzes these Bulldogs every night out. So, Richard, how good is this State team?

“This team is really, really good, especially on defense,” Williams said. “They are really deep. And they are so well-coached, always thoroughly prepared. Chris Jans demands perfection He coaches them hard. He’s old school.”

Yes, State is really good, really deep. Are they elite? We are about to find out, beginning Saturday night. For the Bulldogs, the next 11 days and four games are going to be basketball’s equivalent to dribbling through land mines.

First up: Sixth-ranked Kentucky comes to The Hump Saturday night. Three nights later, State visits No. 2 Auburn, a team many experts believe be the nation’s best. Next Saturday, arch-rival and No 23 ranked Ole Miss goes to Starkville. Then, on Jan. 21, State visits No. 1 Tennessee for another Tuesday night game.

So, yes, 11 days from now we will have an idea of whether State is simply really good – or possibly elite. State’s next four opponents have a combined record of 53-7. Put it this way: Even a really good team, could go 0-4 against that stretch if it does not play well.

This will be a very different Kentucky team that comes to The Hump. Not a single player on scholarship returned from the 2023-24 team that won 23 games and defeated Mississippi State twice. Not a single coach returns either. John Calipari has moved to Kentucky. Mark Pope, a mainstay of the Kentucky team that State defeated for the SEC Championship in 1996, now coaches the Wildcats.

Kentucky still plays fast. The Wildcats still wear blue and white, but the similarities pretty much end there. Under Calipari, Kentucky was often a young team made up of McDonald’s All Americans and five-star recruits, rich in future NBA talent but often adjusting to the college game and leaving for the NBA after one or two years. Pope’s Wildcats are mostly seasoned veterans, seniors and grad students – many of them transfers from mid-majors.

Richard Williams

Point guard Lamont Butler, a 22-year-old grad student came to Kentucky from San Diego State. Shooting guard Ortega Owen, a 21-year-old junior, transferred in from Oklahoma. Small forward Jaxson Robinson, a 22-year-old grad student, played at Texas A & M, Arkansas and BYU before following Pope to Kentucky. Power Andrew Carr, who will turn 23 next month, is still another grad student who played at Delaware and Wake Forest before joining Kentucky. Sixth man Koby Brea, a 50 percent shooter from 3-point range, is another 22-year-old grad student, played four years at Dayton.

Kentucky, like State, is deep. The Wildcats have 10 players who average 4.4 points or more. They love to shoot the three-ball, averaging a whopping 27.4 treys a game and making nearly 36 percent of those. Guarding the perimeter will be crucial to success for State. State generally does that well. 

In fact, as the record will attest, State has played well in almost every facet of the sport.

A weakness?

“Well, like a lot of teams, this team seems to play to the level of the competition,” Williams said.

For the next 11 days, that should not be a problem.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Sex discrimination lawsuit over Jackson State presidential search to proceed, court rules

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mississippitoday.org – Molly Minta – 2025-01-10 09:37:00

A former Jackson State University administrator’s sex discrimination lawsuit against Mississippi’s public university governing board will proceed, a federal judge ruled in a lengthy order this week. 

Though a majority of Debra Mays-Jackson’s claims against the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees were dismissed, the Southern District of Mississippi allowed two to survive — one against the IHL and the other against the individual trustees. 

For now, the lawsuit’s playing field is winnowed to the claim that IHL discriminated against Mays-Jackson, a former vice president at Jackson State, when trustees did not interview her after she applied to the university’s top post in 2023. 

The recent order puts Mays-Jackson and her attorney, Lisa Ross, a JSU alumnus, one step closer to taking depositions and conducting discovery about the IHL’s presidential search process and decisionmaking. 

Ross filed the lawsuit in November 2023, the same day the board hired from within, elevating Marcus Thompson from IHL deputy commissioner to the president of Mississippi’s largest historically Black university, even though Thompson was not one of the 79 applicants to the position. 

“Without this sex discrimination lawsuit, the defendants would continue to falsely claim the males they have selected as President of JSU were clearly better qualified than the females who were rejected on account of their sex,” Ross said in a statement. 

An IHL spokesperson said the board’s policy is not to comment on pending litigation. 

The court dismissed one of Mays-Jackson’s claims over the board’s 2020 hiring of Thomas Hudson, largely because Mays-Jackson never applied for the job. 

But Mays-Jackson argued she was not afforded the opportunity to apply because the board activated a policy that permitted trustees to suspend a presidential search and hire anyone known to the board, regardless of whether that person applied for the role. 

Recently, the board had used that policy to hire President Tracy Cook at Alcorn State University, President Joe Paul at the University of Southern Mississippi and Chancellor Glenn Boyce at the University of Mississippi. 

In her suit, Mays-Jackson alleged the IHL has never used this policy to elevate a woman to lead one of Mississippi’s eight public universities. IHL did not confirm or deny that allegation in response to a question from Mississippi Today. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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