In an editorial published by The Augusta Chronicle on Aug. 3 ("Power failure"), this paper expressed dissatisfaction with a decision made by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, calling her an "activist judge" who makes up the law herself, and whose decision to deny Dynegy's Longleaf coal plant would drive up energy costs, lower reliability and cause an economic slowdown. These statements could not be further from the truth.

THIS PLANT WOULD have produced 9 million tons of global warming carbon dioxide pollution each year, equal to the pollution of adding 1.3 million new cars on the road. The Clean Air Act requires that the Environmental Protection Division permits for massive new sources of pollution, such as the proposed power plant, limit the amount of all pollutants that are subject to regulation under the act. In her decision, Judge Moore simply applied this straightforward rule to CO2 emissions, recognizing that CO2 fits squarely in the middle of the statutory requirement. All Judge Moore did was enforce a law written by our elected officials -- the opposite action of an activist judge.

Yes, Georgia is growing and will eventually need more power. Georgia can generate more power more quickly by investing the $2 billion cost of the Longleaf coal plant in efficiency, solar and wind power, and save money without any of the negative drawbacks of continued dependence on coal. Georgia ranks 38th in the nation on state spending for energy-efficiency programs. Estimates suggest that we could reduce our energy consumption by 30 percent simply by using existing conservation technology and thereby remove the need for this plant.

WHERE EFFICIENCY ends, wind and solar can take over. A wind energy study completed in 2007 by Georgia Tech's Strategic Energy Institute indicates that offshore wind could produce 10,000 megawatts of energy, and another potential for 4,000 megawatts in north Georgia. Also, Georgia has so much solar power potential that startup Suniva in Norcross, Ga., was able to easily raise $50 million in venture capital earlier this year to build photovoltaic panels.

Where does all this potential get us? Jobs! According to a report from the Blue-Green Alliance, a partnership of the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, investing in renewable energy today could create more than 16,000 clean, good-paying jobs in Georgia. That job potential is way higher than the 100 jobs promised by Dynegy Corp. to Early County officials to run the Longleaf coal plant. However, a green-energy economy cannot flourish if Georgia is flooded with electricity generated by dirty coal.

In this same editorial, the paper commented that there is "no requirement under any law to reduce CO2 emissions." But in March 2007, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts vs. EPA that the Environmental Protection Agency not only had the authority to regulate greenhouse gases, it furthermore ruled that the agency could not sidestep its authority to regulate greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change unless it could provide a scientific basis for its refusal. Judge Moore did what she had to do: issue her ruling according to the law of the land, which is the opposite of an activist judge.

WHEN IT COMES down to it, this Dynegy plant is not about what is best for Georgia. The $2 billion investment in the coal plant is recovered through the rate-payer process of people paying electric bills, which will continue to rise as transportation costs bringing coal into Georgia and mining coal rise. Separately, there are huge rising costs of stringing power lines across the state to distribute the power -- and there will be costs to come as a result of global warming impacts if we continue to ignore that reality.

Dynegy is trying to sell us yesterday's technology at tomorrow's price. Georgians deserve better.

(The writer is state director for the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club.)