If you're driving down highway 23 in Juliette Georgia, you won't miss Plant Scherer. It’s a coal plant own by Georgia Power that supplies energy to several communities in the area.

Now one local attorney has concerns about the long term effects of the plant and how it could be causing health problems for neighbors living nearby.

It’s a concern local lawyer Brain Adams says is a concern for him because he was raised right here is central Georgia and wants the environment to continue to be one he wants to live in. "We want our home to be a safe place to live that is the residual effect we hope comes from us taking action," says Adams.

He wants to take on Plant Scherer in court, accusing them of failing to uphold their moral responsibility to the community right outside of Juliette. "The coal ash ponds is the main source that we are looking at right now that is on the Georgia Power property," adds Adams. He says research shows that the unlined pond at the plant creates two problems, degrading water quality and air pollution.

"That could be causing problems to both properties and people's health," Though Brian Adams says that there are some health risk and pollution risk here at Plant Scherer we spoke with Mark Williams who works for Georgia Power and he says that they follow every federal regulation."

"It is under the same stringent environmental regulations that all our plants are under and we strive to meet and exceed all of those,” says Mark Williams a spokesperson for Georgia Power. “Not just because they are required but because this is the right thing to do."

Adams is not concerned with governmentally issued regulations, "That's really a different issue than what we are looking at here,” Adams adds. “They are a private citizen just like just like me or you your next door neighbor has duties to you and whether or not they follow federal regulations from taking responsibly for their actions.”

Williams says that Georgia Power does everything required of them and more to keep the community safe from any risk involved in operating the plant, and says they have a 30 year track record to prove it.

"We are very interested in the public health we live here too,” he adds. “Our people who work at the plant, most of them in and around that area. Our priority is to produce the safest most reliable, most affordable electricity to the customers that we serve and that's what we do at Plant Scherer."

Brian Adams will host two meetings for concern citizens living around Plant Scherer this week. Both meetings will be at Rum Creek Banquet hall in Juliette, Georgia.

November 1, 2012 at 5:30p.m. & November 2, 2012 at 12:30 p.m.