Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/921986
13 T he Southeast Asian country of Cambodia has 15 million people. Every episode in the last season of HBO's "Game of Thrones" will cost $15 million. The number 15 million is a lot. That's the number of pounds of trash that has been removed from Alabama Power and other Southern Company lakes since the Renew Our Rivers (ROR) cleanup campaign started in 2000. "Fieen million is a staggering number in and of itself," said Susan Comensky, vice president of Alabama Power's Environmental Affairs department, which oversees ROR. "But when you apply it to the amount of trash and debris that otherwise would be in these lakes, it is beyond staggering. Renew Our Rivers has made an overwhelming difference." It was late last year the 15-million-pound milestone was reached. The first cleanup, started by now- retired Plant Gadsden regulatory compliance supervisor Gene Phifer, gathered unsightly trash and junk from a 2-mile stretch of the Coosa River near the plant. What was then dubbed "Renew the Coosa" morphed into ROR. As the effort gained notoriety, it was embraced by Alabama Power plants companywide, then by Southern Company operating companies. "Although the cleanup was started by a single power company employee, and has been championed and led by Alabama Power these past 19 years, Renew Our Rivers has only had the level of success that it has had because of all the volunteers," said Mike Clelland, an Environmental Affairs specialist who coordinates ROR cleanups. Some 110,000 people have volunteered systemwide; 83,000 from Alabama alone. "HOBO (homeowner and boatowner) groups, lake associations, municipalities and school students – enthusiastic volunteers like these are 100 percent the reason Renew Our Rivers has been successful. They're the reason this cleanup program will be successful in the future," Clelland said. Speaking of which, 29 cleanups are on tap in 2018 between March and November on the Coosa, Tallapoosa, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Alabama, Mobile and Chaahoochee rivers. For more information, contact Clelland at mbclella@southernco.com.