Business Briefs: Labor unions oppose privatizing TVA

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Labor unions oppose privatizing TVA

Labor unions representing more than 13 million American workers voted Monay to approve a resolution in opposition to President Obama's budget proposal calling for the potential transfer of TVA to private interests.

"Privatization of TVA is a very bad idea," said Gay Henson, president of Engineering Association/ IFTPE Local 1937 in Chattanooga. Henson said selling TVA "would diminish the critical role that TVA has played in the region, negatively impact the economy of many states, and bring a catastrophic blow to the more than 13,000 jobs - many union jobs - at TVA."

Lawmakers want nuclear cost limit

Southern Co. would face limits on the profits it would make from building two nuclear reactors in Georgia under a plan from a Republican state lawmaker.

Rep. Jeff Chapman, R-Brunswick, said Monday that he wants to write legislation loosely inspired by an agreement that Southern Co. subsidiary Mississippi Power made as it builds a first-of-its-kind coal gasification plant in Mississippi's Kemper County.

Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power is trending about $737 million above its $6.1 billion budget to build two more nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, and those costs may still rise.

Utility customers are legally required to pay for the power company's costs unless Georgia utility regulators decide the spending was imprudent.

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