A dream so real
Amid controversy Gaynor Bracewell completes life-long project
By Patrick Yost
Managing Editor
He is a dreamer. In fact, Gaynor Bracewell has been dreaming most of his life. In 1931 when he was a 6-year-old boy standing with his father on the edge of a hydroelectric plant dam he dreamed of one day building his own. And now, 58 years later, the dream is no longer within Gaynor Bracewell.
It is real. Evidence is a long, snaking tube that runs parallel with the Apalachee River at a scenic area called High Shoals. Water pours through the tube. The tube connects to a turbine, the turbine connects to a generator, the generator produces power.
Hydroelectric power. Bracewell has arrived.
On Saturday, June 10 Bracewell staged grand opening ceremonies for his High Shoals Hydro Plant, the only individually owned hydroelectric generating plant in Georgia. The plant is located on the Morgan County side of the river. He says the opening represented a culmination of 10 years of actual planning and work. He says the money to make in generating hydroelectric power, which he sells to the Georgia Power Company, is limited. "I'm not trying to get rich, but it's been one of my dreams so I decided to do it."
And so he did. Bracewell scoured the country for parts and equipment. His generator was purchased."for a real good deal" from a nuclear powered generating plant in North Carolina. His pipe was second hand, shipped from Montana. His labor force consisted of three men and "labor we picked up on the sidewalk."
His knowledge stemmed from individual study. Bracewell says he fell in love with the North High Shoals area, a popular spot for University of Georgia students, during his college days when he would ride his surplus WWII motorcycle to the cascading falls for relaxation. After he graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in agricultural engineering, Bracewell left the area to develop homes but the area didn't leave the man. He says North High Shoals was always in the back of his mind, always stewing, waiting for an opportunity.
Initially, Bracewell says, he had the idea to turn North High Shoals into a village similar in concept to Helen, Ga. Evidence of a false start on this project is a dilapidated cabin with Alpine trimmings overlooking the falls. The idea never materialized.
But the power plant stands today. At the opening ceremonies Billy Lovett, a member of the Georgia Public Service Commission, gave the final graces to the project. Lovett stood on a flat bed trailer surrounded by musical instruments and speakers and spoke to a sparse crowd. "You've made a real contribution to his state," he told Bracewell. "You're a real contributor to your fellow man."
Lovett added "You're a real pioneer. A real American hero. You may have gotten some arrows in you back but you didn't let that stop you."
The arrows that have pricked Bracewell since the beginning of the project have come both from state government and recently a group of North High Shoals landowners who are voicing concern over the enviromental impact of the project. Bracewell says during the 10 years he has worked on the project, only 16 weeks was spent in actual construction. The rest of the time was filled with filing for permits and waiting on the completion of enviromental studies. "I hate typing and I bet I typed a damn pickup truck load of papers..." he says.
In a small meeting room in North High Shoals Saturday afternoon with the noise of the opening day celebration at the falls drifting through the still air, a small group of local landowners met to discuss their concerns with Lovett. Lovett had just finished his speech to Bracewell. Now it was the landowners turn with the commission member.
"We're not adverse to the hydro project," said Donald Dawe. "What we're concerned about is the enriromental impact..." Dawe and his wife Violet own river front property down river from the site and it is their contention that the project, as it will be run, is detrimental to the river's health. The group told Lovett that they had seen "drastic" changes in the river since Bracewell had started operating his plant in March. However, Lovett stated that because Bracewell had evidently filed for and received the proper permits the only course of action the group may have to halt the project would be civil litigation. "Sometimes you've got to hire a lawyer and do it," he said.
And like Bracewell, the people at the meeting, all river front landowners said they too had dreams. Dreams of living on the majesty of the Apalachee River. However, with the plant in operation they are concerned that their dreams will be compromised.
Bracewell, for the most part discounts the groups claims. He contends he has filed for the proper permits and has obeyed all regulations. He says on Saturday and Sunday afternoons he doesn't generate power in order to allow the maximum amount of water flow down river.
And while the controversy continues, a controversy Lovett said should be able to be "worked out," Bracewell continues to open the flood gates to his dream. He continues to produce power.
Bracewell says his small plant can produce approximately one megawatt of power. That is enough to provide energy to approximately 700 homes, he said. Bracewell says he has spent approximately $1 million on the project. According to Lovett, Bracewell built his hydroelectric plant cheaply. The people at Georgia Power took notice, Lovett said. "Initially I think they (Georgia Power) were sort of stand-offish. I don't think they took him (Bracewell) seriously," said Lovett.
However when Georgia Power officials saw the finished result, said Lovett, they saw a project that was "much better than expected." Their engineers, he added, said the design was "excellent." "They chuckled and said they should have gotten Mr. Bracewell to build some of their plants because he did it a lot cheaper."
And, said Lovett, Bracewell may indeed be paving the future for alternative power sources for Georgia. "The state's attitude has changed towards alternative power producers, he said. "In other words whoever can build the power plant the cheapest, whether it be Georgia Power or Gaynor Bracewell, they ought to do it." And Lovett expressed amazement that Bracewell had indeed finished the project. "There's no incentive to do this," he said. "You can't make money doing this."
But for Bracewell there was the incentive. It began 58 years ago when as a child he stood with his father and watched amazed as water rushed through turbines to produce energy. It was a life long dream, a dream, for better or worse, fulfilled.
And the dream has taken its toll on the man. After Bracewell had thrown the switch in the power house to demonstrate the plant's operation he stood speaking with Kay Lovett, the wife of the Public Service Commission member. His eyes drooped, his voice quivered. He said he had been awake the last few days organizing. Bracewell had a new dream, not nearly as complex, not nearly as involved. He told Mrs. Lovett "If I get all the bugs out and get all the protesters and the game and fish people of my back I'm going to take a vacation to South America."
"I think you should," she replied. "I think you should."
Copied from an article printed in THE MADISONIAN, Thursday, June 15, 1989, page 1 and 21. by Mildred Powell August 2007
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