FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Midday Mobile - Cade Kistler with Mobile Baykeeper on the EPA settlement with Alabama Power - October 4, 2024
"There will be no personal nor direct attacks on anyone, and I would ask that you please try to, um, keep down the loud cheering and the clapping. There will be no booing and no unruly behavior." "This is painful, and it will be for a long time." "Yeah, what's wrong with the deal we got?" "I mean the deal we got drank pretty good, don't it?" "Did you hear what I said?" "So this is a bade council. I had no dollar bonds in. That doesn't suck." "If you don't like it, you're bad." "Last question, were you high on drugs?" "Last question, kiss my ****." Right, here we go, FM Talk 165 at Midday Mobile, and now we're at number two on this Friday. Glad to have you here. Congratulations to Chad, one last hour at the end of the hour, that $100 gift certificate from Mason Hills Farm. We'll do it again this time next week. So another chance the whole way through college football season, big thank you, to Joey Mason. Also, as you look, I talk about this on Fridays a lot, because maybe it's just me, I think it's not just me though, that makes plans like Friday, you're looking forward to what's happening next week, right? Making plans for next week. And if some of those plans need to be getting some of the junk out of your way, I got my friend Trey, who can help you, 1-800-GOD junk. He could probably even come see you today. But if you're thinking, "Okay, we'll get this next week." It could be junk at your house, it could be a storage unit, you pay on every month, you don't even need anything in there, you just don't want to get around to cleaning it up, to big stuff. So the number of above-ground pools and storage buildings or storage sheds and swing sets and all that kind of stuff that they pick up weekly with 1-800-GOD junk, it's a lot. So yes, can they tackle boxes in a garage, an attic, absolutely furniture out of the house? Sure. But big projects like that are well within what they do every week. So make that appointment, get the junk gone from your life, go online to 1-800-GOD junk.com or pick up the phone, the name is the number, and make that date with 1-800-GOD junk. And it's really, it's cool because they don't have this window of time, they make actual appointments because they know you've got work and kids and family and life. So when you call, they're going to find the date that works for you, the time that works for you and they set the good old-fashioned appointment, you show up there, they show up and you can get the work done then. Online, 1-800-GOD junk.com or just pick up the phone and call them 1-800-GOD junk. All right, mentioned as we went into the news, talking about this story that was important this week, but I think with the strike at the ILA strike and all that kind of got lost a little bit in the news cycle, and that's EPA reaching a settlement with Alabama Power on a couple issues at Berry Steam Plant. Joining us to talk more about this from Mobile Baykeeper, Kate Giffler joins us now. Thanks for your time. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me, Sean. Hey, Kate. Again, a question here too. Just wondered about the kind of big story going on. Of course, we're watching the tragedy that has taken place in the Appalachians and Smokies there with the flooding from Helene. I remember the past us talking about other places that had coal ash where they had had breaches and the damage has done there. Were any of those places, are they affected up there? Do they still have coal ash next to waterways up there? What are you all hearing? Yeah, I mean, we've been talking about it for a while. Hey, look what's going on in the southeast. They're moving this coal ash. They're recycling it. Why aren't we doing that in Alabama? I saw some discussion over the day where they were worried about what's going on in Asheville and some folks that worked up there said, "Hey, we're lucky. We've got those lagoons. We've got those coal ash ponds removed some years ago." And so you can go see what we avoided, but that site's cleaned out. And the same for a number of other sites in South Carolina and North Carolina, where they've dug them up, recycled it, and put it in a line of landfill. And those folks deal with so much right now. My prayers go out to them. I'm glad and I'm sure they're glad they're not dealing with one more thing with pollutions and coal ash in those flood waters. Because I mean, that is something to think about, that there were places up there that had coal ash stored in these ponds and they were near waterways. And gosh, even small waterways, we saw in this rose very quickly and washed it. Washaway people's lives, let alone could have washed out a levee or topped a pond. Yeah, I mean, the list is pretty big of the ash ponds that were up there on the Fritz Rod River, which is an ash one of the places that seemed so much devastation on rivers in South Carolina and North Carolina. And it's a big list of places where excavation has been completed. Millions of tons of ash either recycled in the concrete or put in a live landfill where again, it's not one more thing that you're worried about today with loved ones missing and homes gone. And nobody wants to be dealing with toxic pollution in those flood waters to go along with all those other challenges. Well said, help us this week so the news comes out. I know it's a big piece of news. I do think it was somewhat, you know, moved down the stack because of the strike going on here. But the EPA, so federal EPA reaches settlement with Alabama Power. What was this? The two issues related to potential violations at Berry Steam. But what is this? What do they make the settlement on? Yes. If you remember, it's probably been about a year now. The EPA came out with these violations that they felt like were present at Plant Berry. Alabama Power's closest facility here in Mobile. And they said there were some issues with the groundwater monitoring. They said there were some issues with their emergency action plan not being prepared. I mean, you know, relevant here, not being prepared for major storms and flooding. And then also that the closure plan was going to leave, you know, almost five million tons of coal ash sitting in the groundwater. So they've kind of dealt with the lower hanging fruit here. This recent agreement, they dealt with the groundwater monitoring. So they have them installing some more wells and producing another report to really show how that pollution is leaving the site more accurately to improve their emergency action plan. So they're prepared for the potential major weather events. We could talk some more about what they had to do there. They paid a fine. I think it was about $270,000. But the biggest piece of this, the most important piece has not been addressed yet. And that's the millions of tons of ash that are sitting in groundwater and that will be left there if they close it in place in this online pit on the Mobile River. Okay. And I'm going to come back to it. I've just forever called it like the the chronic and the acute issue here. You'll probably have different names for it. But I want to go back because you're talking about the groundwater monitoring. And so I'll talk about the chronic. What kind of leaching is going on? Do we have any numbers? Do we have a baseline? And then is it getting better, getting worse? And what is the monitor? If we've got additional monitoring, is that going to give us a better picture on it? Is it to go in more areas of it? Right? Like, what does that do? The additional monitoring? Yeah. So just to the first step, I mean, this pollution has been continued. We documented early on the federal rule required out of power to start monitoring. And of course, all their monitoring so far has shown and I think some land yap just recently covered. I think it may have been Scott Johnson for land yap that, hey, we got another groundwater monitoring report coming out now. You know, they do these bi-annual or twice a year and guess what? They're still heavy metals leaking out into the groundwater. So the additional monitoring, well, I'm still reading through the full order. It's pretty, you know, 30 pages of pretty technical stuff. It will require them to have better background wells so they're not showing, you know, if there's impacts in the background, they're not trying to show, hey, everything's okay. Background looks the same as what's downstream. And then, you know, some more wells really characterize how deep that groundwater is, how much of it's in the ash, all those kind of things. So that's, that's kind of a surface. What's going on there? Okay. So yeah, because I'm just trying to, you know, is it we're doing a better job of monitoring where we're already monitoring or we're going to increase the footprint of monitoring? Because if my worry is okay, you could assume that the area right under the the unlined pond, you got the leaching going on there. What I'm also concerned as a citizen and imagine folks around there are, where does it show back up? Like, okay, it's leaching here. Does it hit an aquifer and it goes 100 yards or does it go a mile? You know, where else if you out by 43 underneath on the other side, those kind of questions. Yeah. I mean, I think that's part of what they're going to have to do. They say what they call is this groundwater investigation work plan. It's provide better characterization of what's going on, up gradient and down gradient, which is to say, you know, where the water is coming from and where it's headed. You know, the good news is that most of the mapping shows that groundwater is going away from, you know, where groundwater wells and those kinds of things are headed toward the delta primarily, but you know, this will help delineate that better. So we'll have a clear picture, you know, saying here that that Alvin Power failed to install a groundwater monitoring system that would ensure detection of the pollution and monitor all potential pathways. So that's that's what's going on with the monitoring. All this response plan, right? So for an emergency response plan, what our action plan, what is this, what I guess what was Alabama Power on record with? What does EPA say they have to do? Can you, what's the delta between the two? Yeah. I mean, EPA said basically they didn't identify major storm events. They didn't model well enough. What would happen during those big storm events? They, you know, Alvin Power has this inundation app. And if you haven't seen this thing, it's something to see. It takes a little doing because it's like an engineering sheet. But it shows the area of the delta that, you know, if you were out there, when it's still happening, you get out of dodge that it would flood with coal ash. And so they said, Hey, during that, that mapping of where that coal ash would spill in the first hour or two after a breach, you know, you didn't, you didn't deal with what would happen when it happens during a hurricane with the river levels up, you know, it would go further, may it flood other places, you know, have the delta is when the rivers are up and it becomes, you know, more or less one big river. So they wanted them to do a better job of that. And then, you know, we talked beforehand just for a second and talked about modeling. And that's another thing they say, you know, you need to be prepared for what happens, you know, during certain floods and what's the impact on the ash pond. So, you know, that that's another piece of this that they're going to have them do. And, you know, I talked to Lania about this other day, they called one that wanted them more about, you know, what's going on. And they were, you know, it was, it was interesting because at first, I think people read this as, oh, well, EPA is settling and now they're not concerned about, you know, potential for hurricanes and emergency units. Like, no, they want them to have a better plan to deal with it. As long as this ash is left on the side of the river, that threat really is, you know, exists. And it's a matter of what happens if you have a spill, which is, of course, not what we want to be dealing with. When again, when you have a hurricane, so many other things on your mind that you got to deal with. Yeah, this is also what you get into with me, maybe a little intricate or nerd-like question, but as God, he grew up on that delta is the, is the worry, if you had to rank them, I'm sure they're both worries, but is the worry a hurricane bringing rain in and maybe, you know, that storm surge coming up at some level of the Mobile River? So a, you know, hurricane season event, is that rank higher than a crazy high river in the spring? You know, getting up, I think it was what? Four or five years ago, the reading in the Mobile River of Barry got to like 16 or over 16. You all talk about that? Like, what's the, what's the one you think would be the bigger danger? Yeah, I mean, I could see it either way. I think, you know, what we just saw in North Carolina and of course, they're very different than we are. They have those steeper, you know, slopes and all that. But what we saw was that it rained for a handful of days or weeks. They had, they had a lot of water come down before. And so their soils were already saturated. So I, you know, I imagine you could have a wetter summer than normal, especially late summer, maybe a couple of tropical storms that are, you know, not the end of the world, but they fill up the basin. And then if you have one of these, you know, like Sally, like Harvey, slow moving rain events, it doesn't even have to be that strong, right? In terms of wind speed, if it stays in our watershed, kind of moves north through the you know, maybe a couple of days later and the winds quit blowing, but the river just keeps rising and you're, you know, trying to get it to go down, but there's nothing you can do at that point. That, that basin so big, you keep straining. So that's, that's my, you know, kind of nightmare scenario. But I think, you know, with a basin like this, with the mobile river as powerful as it is, there's, there's a couple worrisome scenarios that could occur. I'm glad y'all looking at like at that, because I think some people who does spend the time in the drainage, just see it, it's all just one kind of, there's just different kinds of flooding. There's, you know, storm surge, there's rain, there's long-term rain and there's all come together. Now with that emergency plan out that, so those are two things. But what I didn't hear you say is there's any change to keeping that, like you said, it's still there on the edge of the river. Is there any other discussion about moving it to a lawn facility, an upland facility? Is there, is the ZPA come back for round two? Yeah, that's, that's a great question. And I mean, I think there's a couple of good things going on here that, that provides some reason for optimism, but you know, not, not for complacency. And that's that, you know, we know Alabama in power has now said they want to do this collash recycling. And, you know, thank goodness they're falling in the steps. There's, there's a southern company, sister company ever in Georgia, where they're recycling, I think 65 million tons of memory serves. And so that's good. But none of that's binding at any point. The market changes, whatever they can walk away from that. So we're concerned about that. But the other piece is that, you know, to me, and I'm just reading a TV here, I don't have inside info, but to me, I'm looking at what's going on here. We see this violation come out of your go. It shows these three major problems. EPA kind of seems like worked with Alabama in power to the two. They could agree on more, got those out of the way. And my expectation is that, you know, they're not going to walk away from the most serious one. And there's nothing in this settlement agreement that stops them. This is not, this is not, hey, we're all done here. This is, we've dealt with these two issues. So, you know, looking at what they've done, looking at the fact that they said themselves in that, um, violation agreement, it's going to be five nearly five million tons of coal ash saturating groundwater. You know, I feel pretty confident and hopeful that they're going to take action on the most serious part of this and that they're going to make all the power clean up in a way that protects Albanians and our waterways and it makes them follow the law, of course, the recent, come back to it, but the recycling thing in this is years ago, when this is discussed, I mean, it was body and like within minutes for like, well, wow, they just use it to make concrete, you know, in this, what are they doing with it? What is the recycling plan? Yeah, it's, it's very similar to what's happening. A lot of these other southern states where they are basically using it to make concrete. I'm not a technical expert on any of that, but they, you know, comes out in their press release. They put out about it with this group. I think, um, oh, I'm going to forget the name of it. Eco something and eco materials, I believe. And so that's, that's what it looks like. And they're going to do, I think they said 700,000 times per year at the time and a press release. I think that came down a little bit. Um, yeah, I saw air permit where it was 600,000 something per year that they were looking at doing. So, you know, that's, that's the way that would go. They're going to go to on site, the little rail to get it there. It makes a lot of sense. It kind of, you know, sounds a little bit like something we've been saying for a while. And I'm glad, I'm glad they're, you know, taking that action. You know, I'll, I'll plot them for that and hope to see them do it in a binding way so that we know that it's going to, it's going to happen. Yeah. I mean, to me, it seems like it would help everybody. Right. I mean, if you could take this collage away from the edge of the Mobile River, at the same time, you're solving that problem. You're supplying material for concrete, maybe at a better price. I don't know why this is just not everybody says, yes, let's do this. Yeah, 100% agree. I mean, it defrays the cost of closure. So it makes business sense, which, you know, I'm not in the, not in the business to tell people to do things that don't make any sense. So that's great. You know, we, I have even seen where the reports that we were importing Chinese coal ash as a feedstock in concrete and, you know, some legislators said, why would we be important from China and India when we've got it right here? You know, and so, I mean, it makes a lot of sense. And then plus, you know, this is an onsite action. So it's not going to be, you know, there's all this worry or fear mongering about the trucks, the trucks. How many trucks? Well, you can do this onsite. You can put it on rail. I mean, it just makes a lot of sense. So, you know, I'm glad to see that step going forward. Yeah, I remember that. Gosh, that's been, this is so many years ago, but the discussion of X number of trucks and they could have an accident and, you know, let me use a technical term, they could tump the truck over and it would spill out or I would come out of the top. So yeah, so that whole, that whole issue is gone then. I mean, there was still be, it's got to be moved somehow and I'm sure trucks come in and out, but it's a power generating facility on highway 43. I mean, there's activity for all the things that it takes to do the process that happen at those industrial facilities up there. So it's not, yeah, it's not nothing. And then I remember a board member of ours when approached about, well, what if a truck still said, hey, look, better one, one truck on the side of the highway than a whole coal ash pond in the Delta, you know, so I mean, I think that's already kind of making up a pulse. What about this rainy day scenario? But nonetheless, you know, the risk of that versus the risk of ash pond sitting next to the river. Next thing on y'all's calendar, then you talked about this is not over. So what are y'all watching? You got a big whiteboard calendar there, Baykeeper, what's next? Yeah, well, I think it's a question of what's going on with the EPA on that enforcement action. And, you know, I mean, the head of the EPA said back, forget now, when, you know, during the permitting process when interviewed about plant berries said, hey, you know, when coal ash is in contact with groundwater, that's a violation of federal standards and it's a threat to communities and said, you know, we're going to act and we're going to take care of those issues. So I don't expect to see them walk away. I expect them to take some action in the meantime. We're not just waiting on the EPA. I mean, that can be dangerous for a lot of reasons. We've got this litigation going forward, but you know, I don't want to get a lot into that on going litigation all that, but we've gotten appeal to the 11th circuit and that will be, you know, starting up pretty soon, basically. All right, people want to get more information, keep up with what y'all, you know, day to day on this and check y'all out, even the swim report, which I love, how do they do that? How they find you online? Yeah, maybe we'll bakekeeper.org is where to find us online. We got a lot going on between the mud dumping that I know you William have talked about in the bay. I was out in the oyster garden. It's more got 100,000 oysters out there, you know, playing with those. So we got got a lot going on. I love for folks to check us out. All right, yes. And we will, we will talk about dredging. Hey, all the next time y'all get on. Okay, thanks for your, thanks for your time. Yes, sir. Thank you. Have a good one. All right, there goes Kate Kinsler. We're coming right back. More mid day mobile. This is mid day mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 1065. Right 128 FM Talk 10065 mid day mobile. I'm glad to have you here on this Friday. Chris, you're too nice. Chris says you've been one of the leading bangers of the drum on the coal ash problem. This is great news. You're sharing. Please give yourself a pat on the back. Take a victory lap. Yeah, we didn't finish yet. And what I have done, I think Chris has tried to balance. Like there were things that put me at odds with all groups. Like for a while, their Alabama power was working off the recommendations they were given by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, ADEM, right? So they were in compliance with what the state agency was telling them, but not the federal agency. So I just want to make sure that that was out there. They did have something that said they were within the window. A lot of money to do this project? Absolutely. Have we already had raises and rates from Alabama power to deal with some of these things? Yes, we have. I get it. Like I'm not anti Alabama power producing electricity. I'm not for making. I mean, it's not like I'm sitting in some ivory tower. I pay well, in my power bill, you should see the power bill for this radio station. So I get it at the same time. We can say, oh, it's going to be a 500 year flood or something that would breach the levee in one way or another. They're the coal ash ponds, okay? Maybe. But what we do know is that there's this leaching into the aquifer. Most of that going in the Delta, you heard Kate say, I think that's good, was what's the thing we all learned? The dilution is the solution to pollution, but how much? I think we need to address it. I think if we can make some concrete while we're doing it as well, come on. Let's do it. All right, be right back. This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FMTalk 1065. Right at 135 FMTalk 1065 at Midday Mobile this Friday. Let's check in with my man Ron at Mobile Bay Coins and find jewelry. Sean, this is those people are like, man, I can't get by the shop on the weekdays. This is their weekend. This is their Saturday, right? Yes, the first Saturday of October, we are open tomorrow from 92. Anybody's wearing a make it to call and we can hang out, but otherwise it'll be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. And we have lots of the brand new Christmas engramables. They're all out on display. We have a sale on one ounce, American silk needles and still have a deal going on 100 ounce silver bars. See, and I told you all, I mean, because they're always ahead of the game, they have your Christmas stuff now. Most of us won't think post Thanksgiving, but those of you that are responsible, so is Mobile Bay Coins. So you all got them now. Yeah, and a lot of the designs are momentous. They don't make a lot of them because I guess previous years, they weren't very popular, but they like first babies first Christmas has been very popular and they're doing a limited run this year. So we'll get them, get them while you can still get this. I mean, it's amazing how many of those are sold the last couple days with stuff that's been short the last few years. So we unpacked them all two days ago and we're already sold about 20% of them, plenty of all the designs left and Anna's gonna stay on top of it, make sure she'll be ours though, so we don't let out until they stop making them. All right, so you all can get by there this afternoon or tomorrow until two. Ron, tell them how to find you if they've never been before. We're located at 2204 Government Street in Midtown Mobile. They call us for directions at 251-725-1590 or check us out on the web at mobilebaycoins.com. Thanks, Ron. You're welcome, Sean. All right, there goes Ron at Mobile Bay Coins and find jewelry. Yeah, if you can't get by during the week, tomorrow is your Saturday. They do it first Saturday of the month. There she can get by. Unnamed texture said, "Hey, Sean, the next time John Kerry goes to Paris, is he going to be back in that position? I hope not." The next time he goes to Paris, he could ask India for some cash to help Alabama power. We paid to clean up the Ganges. This goes back to this. There's a certain amount and I get painted as an isolationist. I do and usually it's about military stuff, right? The neocons look at somebody like me and they're like, you just don't understand realpolitik and what's going on. Actually, I do. I'm not ignorant. I just disagree. I do see. There is some pragmatism there. I do see spending money in the foreign aid department at some level when you can show me that this saves us money having to deal with something in the future, the old ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure. But that's limited. When it comes to projects like cleaning up the Ganges, I would like a clean Ganges there in India. Hopefully one day I get to go to India. I'd love to see it. I think it's good. I'm against a clean Ganges. It's just not my job. If you have noticed, India, they're doing pretty good. You'll be able to clean up their own Ganges. I agree with you, Texture. We could get that money back to deal with things here at home. If everything was square at home, if we had everything fixed, and we're like, "Hey, man, we get all this extra money because we just keep taxing the people." The Texture goes on to say, "Build a world class retaining pond five miles away." They looked at some different sites. This is like the bridge story. Some of these stories I've done over time. I have all this stuff in my head. Now, don't I know that we talked about specific locations for an upland site? I think they did. Washington County, I think, which obviously you're right there at the line of Mobile in Washington County. Some upland lined sites. You could do that. You could also, this idea, like you all came up with way back when, if you could recycle some of this into concrete and defray the cost, I'm for that. Let's figure out how to get this done. Because you've got the one skin. Do I know that there's going to be some 500-year situation, a breach? I don't know. Odds would say it's not. But then again, you look around and go, "Well, things happen. They're supposed to be once every 200 years, and they've happened twice in 30 years," or something like that. But the one that day in and day out worries me is, "How much of this is making its way into the delta there?" And then over how much time does this, does it bioaccumulate? Does it cause issues like that? I mean, the fact that you can't go up at Olin, and you can't keep them, but you're not supposed to be eating the bass because the mercury level still, after decades, is so high in them, I think that's a bad thing. I don't like just cordoning off areas of our outdoors and saying, "Wow, that area. You can't eat the fish from there." If we can stop it beforehand and mitigate it, let's try. All right, Aidan and Cetronel, it's disappointing that southern companies can fix the coal ash problem in other states, but not here. Politics maybe? Yes, maybe. Yes, Aidan. They absolutely have fixed it in other places, and they also haven't gotten into this in a while, but if you look at the power rates here versus other southern company states, we're paying more. We're paying more. This has been going on. I think Ben Reigns, back when he was with the paper, first pointed this out. Also speaking of Alabama power thing, I think Dan and Dalton talked about this morning that the lawsuit, it's a lawsuit that was discussed a couple years ago. If you've heard it, listen to the show over time on a rant because, well, it seems like for conservatives, they can't ever say they like solar. I like solar. I don't believe you should have government incentive over another thing, and I think we're going to be on fossil fuels for a while, but I think solar power is cool and battery technology getting better to hold that energy. I like all that stuff. I mess with it personally. I think it's cool. If I can get some system that eventually could pay itself off and I could get free electricity, to me, that's the most conservative thing ever, fiscally conservative. I'm down with that, but Alabama power, we talked about somebody who was actually going to run for Senate as well, who was running for Senate about this, having this fee, if you have solar on your home and you're attached to the grid. Now, off-grid, this is not the same, but if you're attached to the grid, so you want solar, you're trying to build solar to defray cost, Alabama power charges you to hold back a certain amount of electricity should you need it, even though if you don't use it. It's just a flat fee, and that lawsuit looks like it's moving forward. I'm going to dig into that. We'll try to get some people on next week to talk about that versus other states where they're letting people sell, if they produce an overage of solar, they sell it back to the power company, back through the grid. To me, that just makes too much sense, right? When a lot of this boils down, is to what happens with the Public Service Commission in Alabama. I talk about it when it's election time, and people will run for PSC, and they talk about national politics all the time, not that they're not important, but they kind of dance around what they should be doing here in Alabama. Remember, we have a Public Service Commission because we have utilities. This has been back to my rant about utilities putting out, and they're bound to do some of these things by the dictate for the utilities, but why do I need a magazine about who I get power and water from? I don't have a choice, right? You're not in the marketplace. You advertise when you're in the marketplace. You're trying to get more people to buy your widget than somebody else's, or no, that's my life. But on the utility side, they don't have that competition. Therefore, they don't have the refining of the pressure of the market on a utility. So, what do you do? You have utilities. You have a Public Service Commission that represents the people, the customers, of those utilities. Do I want them to be rudely adversarial? No. Do they need to come in with a watchdog mentality? Yes, they do, and I don't think we have that. I know we don't have that in Alabama, like they do in other states. That's something you talk about at election time. Let's see here. Don't they need concrete for the new bridge? That was a discussion so many times. I don't know if those two texture, you would think you could just link those things together. I don't know that that's been done yet. It's been discussed. Wouldn't it be-- Oh, this is from Billy. Okay, thanks, Billy. Billy, wouldn't it be a great thing from a PR aspect if I'm at Alabama Power? If I can do something to get rid of this collash issue along the Mobile River at the same time, be this benefactor at great rates for concrete to build the new I-10 Mobile River Bridge, wouldn't that be a win-win? I have not heard that. I mean, they're talking about this possibility of selling off the collage to build the concrete, but I would steer it towards the bridge before anything. Even maybe, because we're talking about a utility here, y'all, not a private enterprise, I might even take a lower rate for concrete that was going to be going to the bridge. For the PR aspect of saying here, we're taking something that was a lemon and we've made lemonade. I mean, wouldn't that be a great thing? So I have not heard that that's happening. Supermom said, "Safe to say Hurricane-- Hurricane named Helene will be retired from use again, politely challenging all the FM Talk 105 listeners to donate $10 to Samaritan's Purse." I'll take that challenge. That's a good charity, Supermom. More if you can, they're using donated money wisely and efficiently as far as I can tell. That is where the people on the ground in North Carolina and Tennessee are asking people to donate too. It's easy-peasy to donate online. Operation Airdrop is a good place to donate for the helicopter rescues and supply drops. These are pilots donating their helicopters. We're just helping with the gas. Excellent. So the two names here. So Samaritan's Purse. I know I've heard those, read those stories as well, Supermom, about the good they're doing. Samaritan's Purse. And then this other one I was unfamiliar with, Operation Airdrop. So we'll Google those up and get the links for those. So if y'all want to donate donations there. Because I'm there at 215, I think is the last status all for deaths up there. I think that goes higher. But the bigger story too, those left alive. Those left alive and how they're going to recover. I don't know. Let's go to the phones here. Norm, you're up. Hey, what's going on today, buddy? Man, it's a Friday here. You want to talk some utilities with me? Yes, I do. You're talking about the PSC and rate hikes. The question I have is, does Mars as a utility have to have any clearance from the PSC about their rate hikes? Does the PSC, okay, let me go back. So does Mars have to? Yeah, all the utilities have to clear through the PSC. Okay, I didn't know that. I mean, and that's their job, right? Because I mean, that's the thing. I mean, we're talking utilities, y'all. If it's a private company, and it's Norm's water company is charging X, and then I'm charging more, then everybody goes with Norm's company, not mine. I mean, it's a normal thing. But in the utility, that PSC is supposed to be that pressure you're talking about to say yes, no, or maybe to those. And it seems like I'm not in every meeting or any other meetings, but I don't think we say no a whole bunch. Well, but you know, you're forced, you know, if you're in the Mars service area, you have no choice but to utilize their utility. You have absolutely no choice. You can't go to South Alabama utilities or Theodore or whatever. If you have their utility, you've got to use it. Yeah, and that's something we want to use bottled water, right? And that's something we ended up agreeing on as a society, right? That we needed utilities. Like, so I'm not. We needed these things. These projects were so big, caused so much money to get the infrastructure done. We said, okay, we're going to have utilities. And because they're spending this much money in infrastructure, we're going to protect their ability to make X number of dollars back, right, to be able to service the needs of the company. Those things are fine, but it should be a sharp eyed PSC that keeps an idea or keeps keeps an eye on what those rates are. So, okay, buddy. Well, that's all I wanted to know. Well, thank you, Norm. No time roll. Appreciate the call, Norm. Oh, sorry. So, Norm, I've been corrected here by somebody to know that their rate hikes go through the board. From laws, we are a nonprofit. Well, all utilities, they can make a profit, but it's fixed. But so, malls go through their board on the rate hikes. There we go. This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 1065. I did 153 FM Talk 10065 at Midday Mobile. And super bomb your challenges up on Facebook as well. Leanna hooked it up. So, if you'll go to Facebook dot com slash FM Talk 10065. She's done this challenge here for us to help out with folks in in the greater North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia area by helping Samaritans purse and operation airdrop. Those links are up on our Facebook page. Just check it out over there. All right. To the phones here, time to check in with my man, David McCrary at LCM MotorCars, where the rains fall in, but y'all are still dry. How do you do it? How do you stay dry? It's magic. We got a carport out here. Anybody is interested in looking at a car a rain rain or shine, actually. I mean, it gets so hot out there in the sun, even when it's not raining, you know, during the summertime, we've got we've got a place to pull two vehicles in, and we've actually got more space than that, but we've got two out front where we can look at the cars out of the feed or out of the rain or whatever and get protected somewhat. So, if you're looking for a vehicle, don't let the rain enter. You can buy and see us. Another thing we're fixing to do showing is we're going to start putting a QR code on every vehicle on a lot. It's not just going to take you to our website. It's going to take you to the actual car page. So, you'll go straight to that course page. You'll be able to see the car facts, all that good stuff. Feel like a credit app from there. If you're interested or text us from there. If you're interested, even if it's Saturday night, Sunday, we're not here, you can get with us and we can help you figure out what we can do to help you. Well, good thinking. I like that because I mean, a lot of times we come, yeah, people looking at vehicles or passing you or whatever, and it is a Saturday evening or a Sunday, and now they can, man, good on you. That's, I like that a bunch. Thank you. Well, you navigate a website. I mean, the QR code takes you straight there. I mean, some people can figure it out, but it gets difficult. So, if it takes you straight to that car's page, don't cost you nothing. We're paying for the car facts. I mean, you should come out here and take a look and figure it out by yourself if you don't want to be bothered by salesperson, and then we can help you once you make your own decision. All right, man. I love it. So, if y'all are going to go see a person like David or the crew, or do the QR code, how do they find you? We're highway 90 and plantation in Theodore. It's one mile south of ITN exit 15A. You can give us a call at 251-3750068 or go to the website, lcmotorcars.com, free car facts on every car that we have on there. It should be pictures of 90% of the vehicles on there. So, just let us know what we can do for you. Hey, thanks, David. We'll talk next week. Have a good weekend, buddy. All right, you too. There goes David McCreary at LCM Motorcourse. I like that QR code thing. That's good because you can just kind of walk through and check out that. Okay, yes. Yes to that. Supermom also adds this. She says I'm following a TikTok account with the running list with missing/decease count in North Carolina, and there's show over 1,500 people missing. Death count is going to surpass the 200 number. Unfortunately, you're probably right. I wonder how many of those 1500 are just not in communication. How about Elon Musk talking about showing up with Starlink for those people up there? How they're all going to be delivered? I don't know, but that's going to be an important thing for a lot of people up there as they try to recover. Your prayers to those people, and once again, Leanna, quick on the Facebook that challenge of donating $10 to Samaritan's Purse and/or Operation Hair Drop that Supermom put up is up on her Facebook page, just facebook.com/FMTalk1065. The Baroness said just voted, and Twinkle, he means Twinkle Kavanaugh from the PSC, is running unopposed again. Remember what happens last time somebody ran against her? The person was not some particular liberal, but they painted him as that. This is why Montgomery is important. That's why we talk about it on this show. There's yes, there's so much, and we're all caught up in what happens on November 5th, and the national cycle and the election. That's important. I'm not saying no, don't pay attention to that. At the same time, pay attention to the state level, a county level, a municipal level. I know y'all do, but make sure that word spreads. That's where government that touches you most resides closest to you. Take it upon yourself to see the issues that are important. Figure out who's making the decisions on them and make your voice heard. Mike Paul Finebaum on the way next. I will talk to you all tomorrow morning. Mike Gordon and I for FMTalk1065 outdoors at seven. I know we got our buddy, Captain Wayne Miller coming on, talking some bass fishing and a whole lot more tomorrow morning at seven. Y'all have a great one. And check out Dan and Dalton talking football tonight at eight o'clock.