Category Archives: Air

Authority should listen to other sources –John S. Quarterman

This op-ed by me appeared in the VDT today, 24 Feb 2011. On 15 Feb 2011 I spoke directly to the VLCIA board about the main points and the next day I sent them the longer version, Why “jobs, jobs, jobs” isn’t good enough for the public good and the general welfare, which includes links to videos of the relevant speeches and to VLCIA’s charter. -jsq
Everyone wants jobs for those who need them and jobs for young people so they don’t have to go somewhere else to find one. But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water those people need to drink?

At the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner Brad Lofton gave a speech which I liked, and I told him so afterwards, because it was mostly about real industry with real jobs that that the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) has brought into the area.

But it had a problem:

Continue reading →

Air pollution and children –Dr. Noll, VCC, 10 Feb 2011

Dr. Noll talks about air pollution and children. He asks if the council thinks numerous medical associations and doctors are lying to us. Mayor Fretti asks if that’s a rhetorical question. Dr. Noll indicates Rev. Rose and others seem quite disappointed in lack of response. Mayor Fretti falls back on process.


Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 10 February 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Georgia forests worth more standing than incinerated

Sandi Martin writes in Southeast Farm Press:
A University of Georgia researcher has found that Georgia’s forestlands provide essential ecosystem services to the state worth an estimated $37 billion annually.

This is in addition to the value of timber, forest products and recreation. This is the first time these indirect benefits of Georgia’s private forests have been estimated.

That’s substantially more than the $28 billion annually from the conventional wood-products industry.

What are these ecosystem services? Continue reading →

Biomass plant a done deal? –Floyd Rose

This LTE appeared in the VDT Sunday 13 February 2011. -jsq
Abraham Lincoln said, “The probability that we shall fail in this struggle should not deter us from the support of a cause that we believe is just.” Such a cause for us is opposition to the biomass plant.

Given its support from city and county officials more concerned about doing the bidding of the rich and powerful than they are about the health of children, it is likely a “done deal.” Done by those who will profit from the deal.

None of the national health organizations endorse biomass plants as safe for children. The American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and the World Health Organization have concluded that biomass plants pose serious threats to children.

None of the deal makers, investors, or politicians who signed off on their deal live in the community which will most be affected by the poisonous toxins that will fill the air. Their children don’t attend the schools, nor do they attend any of the seven area churches.

Meetings have been held on the biomass project. Some by the Industrial Authority, WACE, the NAACP, and SCLC. And not a single citizen has spoken in favor of it. When I asked a council member about this, he said, “They are afraid of you.”

It is not the proponents who have anything to fear.

Continue reading →

Why “jobs, jobs, jobs” isn’t good enough for the public good and the general welfare –John S. Quarterman

Sure, everyone wants jobs for the people right now and jobs so the children don’t have to go somewhere else to find one. But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water those children need to drink?

This is the problem:

“What I believe the three most important things are, not only for our community, and our state, and our country, but for our country, thats jobs number 1, jobs number 2, and jobs.”


Brad Lofton, Executive Director, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
speaking at the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner,
Lake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 January 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

I shook Brad Lofton’s hand after that speech and told him I liked it, because I did: in general it was a positive speech about real accomplishments. I’ve also pointed out I had a few nits with that speech. This one is more than a nit. This one is basic philosophy and policy.

Now one would expect an executive director of an industrial authority to be all about jobs. And that would be OK, if Continue reading →

Inhaling a heart attack

You thought maybe Dr. Sammons was making this stuff up? In physorg.com from 2009, Inhaling a heart attack: How air pollution can cause heart disease:
Accumulating evidence indicates that an increase in particulate air pollution is associated with an increase in heart attacks and deaths. Research has begun in the relatively new field of environmental cardiology — a field that examines the relationship between air pollution and heart disease.
This link owed to Laura Wiggins Norris and NO COAL PLANT IN BEN HILL COUNTY!

-jsq

Brad Lofton asks for your ideas

In a generally congenial and well-received speech to the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce (LPCoC), Industrial Authority (VLCIA) executive director Brad Lofton gave an update on various projects and concluded by asking for input. “Economic development is a team sport,” he said, and “Give us ideas” and “There’s one of us and hundreds of you.”

Lofton was introduced by LPCoC chairman Dan Bremer who said that Lofton and VLCIA brought a plant to Lake Park with 400 workers.

In his speech, Lofton lauded the LPCoC as a great incubator of local businesses.

It’s going to come from all of you.
He talked about expanding local industries, especially PCA at length, asking David Carmon of PCA to stand up, saying PCA made a $230 million expansion in 2010, and noting “We had to compete for the PCA project.” Continue reading →

the myth that biomass constitutes a “health benefit” –Dr. Noll

A followup to his presentation at LCC last Tuesday. -jsq
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:59:50 -0500
From: noll_family
To: apaulk@lowndescounty.com, jevans@lowndescounty.com, rraines@lowndescounty.com, cpowell@lowndescounty.com
CC: kay.harris, “John S. Quarterman”
Subject: Last Night’s Meeting

Dear Chairman Paulk and Commissioners.

Thanks for providing my wife and I and others opposed to the biomass plant the opportunity to address you last night. As a follow-up to last night’s meeting, let me share some thoughts with you, including reflections on a comment made about other “biomass incinerators” in our county and the continuing myth that biomass constitutes a “health benefit”:

Continue reading →

“Georgia’s EPA standards are a lot lower than other standards”

I didn’t get this questioner’s name. He wanted to know:
Georgia’s EPA standards are a lot lower than other standards and lower than federal EPA standards that are coming along. My question is what will the plant do when these new standards come along?
A: Don’t know what you got; probably didn’t include studies. GA EPD issues a permit.
No answer about when new standards come along.


Video by Gretchen Quarterman of 6 Dec 2011 VLCIA biomass event
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

-jsq

NAACP asks EPA for review of biomass plant permit

More from the NAACP about Wiregrass Power LLC’s proposed biomass plant. -jsq
From: Leigh Touchton
Subject: NAACP Georgia State Conference asks EPA for review of Wiregrass permit
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:39:26 -0500
To: [numerous parties]

Apparently some people have incorrect information about the Georgia State NAACP Conference position. Please see attached.

Attached was a PDF file. Here’s an excerpt. Continue reading →