Tim Echols, Vice-Chair of the Georgia Public Service Commission, is a featured presenter at the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, May 21 to May 24, 2017. Echols, who also serves as vice-chair of the Nuclear Waste Subcommittee for the National Association of Regulated Utility Commissioners, will be discussing key trends in future U.S. energy policy, electrical generation and transmission.
 
“When we look at our close our government came under President Obama to enacting stringent regulations that would have superseded state and regional jurisdiction, I shudder,” said Echols. “Trump’s election, despite all of the issues in the press, is good for business and industry, and that means more jobs and more prosperity for our citizens.”
 
Echols will also speak about issues facing nuclear energy. “In order to keep the current share of almost 20 percent of electricity generation in the U.S., new nuclear plants like the ones under construction in Georgia and South Carolina need to be built to replace the wave of retirements coming in the 2030s and 2040s,” said Echols. “The consequences of Georgia and South Carolina not finishing the nuclear reactors will go far beyond the borders of our state and have a chilling effect on the entire nation.”
 
Echols was reelected to his statewide post in 2016 and serves until 2022.