Breaking News from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Atlanta-based Southern Company disclosed it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over a power plant that already has caused the company years of heartburn and billions of dollars.

Southern said it learned of the probe by the DOJ’s Civil Division on Monday and that it involved the Kemper County plant owned by the utility’s Mississippi Power subsidiary.

Southern, which is also the parent of Georgia Power, reported in a quarterly filing that it could not determine the outcome of the investigation but that it ultimately might prove significant enough to materially affect the parent company’s financial disclosures to investors.

A Southern spokesman emailed The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday that, “As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment beyond what we provided in our filing.”

Now observers are wondering: Will disgraced law firm Balch & Bingham be representing Southern Company or has Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning (pictured above) truly tossed them aside?