Category Archives: Biomass

What does Adage giving up on Florida mean to south Georgia?


Wesley Langdale, left, President of The Langdale Company, and Reed Wills, right, President of ADAGE, pose at the ADAGE press announcement.
Is Adage giving up on building biomass plants in Gretna, Florida a year ago and in Hamilton County, Florida this year good news for Lowndes County, Georgia, just north of the Florida border?

When Adage announced their proposed Hamilton County, Florida biomass site in May 2009, they already had something Wiregrass Power LLC has never achieved:

“…and The Langdale Company for the supply of waste wood to the project.

“Renewable energy is the next frontier for the working forest, which has been creating jobs and cleaning our air and water for generations,” said Wesley Langdale, President of The Langdale Company. “Working with partners such as AREVA and Duke Energy gives our 115-year-old company confidence in the viability and sustainability of the project.” Langdale and ADAGE made this announcement during the Forest Landowners Association annual conference in Amelia Island.

Hamilton County, Florida is of course just across the state line from Lowndes County, Georgia, home of The Langdale Company. What will removing the nearby competition do for Wiregrass Power LLC’s proposed biomass plant in Lowndes County, Georgia, which still has no suppliers of wood? Will Adage’s failure to build any biomass plants ever serve as a model? Or will something else happen?

-jsq

Shell companies: Adage and Wiregrass Power LLC

Look through the shell companies like Adage to the real backers. Why is the source of the recent news about Adage biomass plants being cancelled the Charlotte Business Journal? Adage is “An Areva/Duke Energy advanced biopower company.” And Charlotte is where Duke Energy is based.

John Downey concludes his article in the Charlotte Business Journal of 16 March 2011:

The joint venture has yet to build a biomass plant anywhere. DePonty says it is clear that Adage will not achieve the goal announced when Duke and Areva formed it to build 10 to 12 biomass plants around the country by 2013.
Seems like the biomass gold rush is fizzling.

Meanwhile, back in Valdosta, Wiregrass Power LLC, the shell company for the biomass plant, is owned by Sterling Planet, whose founder and chairman Sonny Murphy spoke at the groundbreaking for the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant, another Sterling Planet subsidiary. I’m sure Chairman Murphy is aware that his solar plant is already completed while his biomass plant still has no suppliers of raw materials, goods, or services nor buyers for its electricity. Also, the biomass plant site preparation start date is now 1 June 2011, when, if I’m not mistaken, it used to be January 2011. And at the most recent VLCIA board meeting, the only mention I heard of biomass was by a citizen who spoke against it while the VLCIA’s project manager spoke at some length about the completion of the solar plant. Seems to me building out the solar plant in two directions, like VLCIA discussed at a previous board meeting, would make the most sense at this point. I guess we’ll see what Chairman Murphy does.

-jsq

Adage and Gretna’s mayor

That previous plant in Florida was the one in Gretna, Gadsden County, Florida, cancelled last year, according to John Downey in the Charlotte Business Journal, 16 October 2010. In the Gretna case, the mayor of Gretna posted a press release 16 March 2010 saying:
Mayor Anthony Baker of the City of Gretna announced today that in light of Adage, LLC’s decision to suspend activity on its proposed Bioenergy facility slated for construction in Gretna (as well as suspension of its application for an air permit through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection) that the City now considers this matter closed and will take no further action on Adage’s request to locate this facility in Gretna. Inasmuch as the Bioenergy Plant could neither legally operate nor be sited in Gretna without an air permit, the City concluded that this was no longer a viable project and Adage’s decision to suspend activity on its air permit indicated that further consideration of the project by the City was unwarranted. Since there were no issues pending before the City of Gretna requiring action by its Commission relative to the Plant, the Mayor deemed termination of the project as final disposition of this matter as far as the City is concerned.
This is despite promises of jobs, jobs, jobs: Continue reading →

No Adage biomass plant in Hamilton County, Florida

According to Power-Gen Worldwide, Plans for biomass power plant ends:
The company still has a permit to build a 55 MW plant in Florida but there are no plans to start construction and the company is expected to let the permit lapse in June. Adage ended plans in 2010 to build another plant in Florida.

Why is Adage giving up on Hamilton County, Florida? Christopher Dunagan writes in Kitsap Sun:

Meanwhile, a similar project by Adage in Northern Florida also will not be pursued at this time, according to DePonty. That project has been fully permitted and was about to move ahead if only the electricity market had provided the financial incentive, he said.
Here’s the Florida air permit. Despite having that air permit and promising jobs, jobs, jobs Adage is apparently not going to build in Hamilton, County, Florida.

The source of the many stories on this appears to be Continue reading →

Particulate matter is a killer. –Lisa Jackson, EPA, 17 March 2011

Listening to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson about EPA’s proposed new mercury rules, for me, the live feed on facebook did not work, but the one on whitehouse.gov did. A few quotes:
Particulate matter is a killer. We know it results in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

That matches some local concerns in Lowndes County.

How much of a killer? Continue reading →

This morning: Talk to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson about the Clean Air Act

Worried about mercury or other toxic chemicals? Ask EPA what they’re going to do about it.
Join Administrator Jackson for a special White House live chat on the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards tomorrow, Thursday, March 17 at 10:55 a.m. EDT. Administrator Jackson will be joined by young people who are passionate about this issue and the discussion will be moderated by Kalpen Modi of the Office of Public Engagement.

Submit your questions for Administrator Jackson now in a comment on Facebook. And be sure to watch live tomorrow morning at whitehouse.gov/live or join the conversation on Facebook.

-jsq

Goodbye –Brad Lofton @ VLCIA 15 Mar 2011

And now the moment that’s been discussed since Thursday, Brad Lofton’s goodbye:
Like Mr. Minchew I’m not good at goodbyes either. I wanted to say I’ll be brief… I’m not articulate enough to begin to thank y’all for the unbelievable privilege I’ve had for the last five years. …unbelievable board of directors, the most talented staff I’ve ever worked with. … My wife was going to be here but she would have been too emotional. Thank you all for your trust and confidence in me. It really has been the best five years of my life. I just want you to know your leadership…. Wish you the best of luck. That’s all Mr. Chairman. Thank you.


Brad Lofton saying goodbye at the
regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director, Allan Ricketts Program Manager,
15 March 2011.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

He didn’t mention the community.

-jsq

Environmental Justice –Leigh Touchton @ VLCIA 15 March 2011

Chairman Jerry Jennett asked for Citizens Wishing to be Heard, and first up was Leigh Touchton, President of Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP, who presented them a letter from Dr. Robert D. Bullard, about his findings that 80% of the residents within one mile of the proposed Wiregrass Power Plant are black and 75% of biomass facilities in Georgia are sited in minority/poor communities.
“This is what is called environmental racism.”
She also said she was tired of people who are against biomass being represented as a fanatical fringe crew, primarily by Mr. Lofton, considering she stood before them representing the local NAACP, the Georgia state conference of the NAACP, “the largest organization non-profit of voters in the state of Georgia”, and the national NAACP.


Leigh Touchton, President, Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP
regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director, Allan Ricketts Program Manager,
15 March 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Perhaps I missd it because I was a few minutes late, but this was the only mention of the Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant that I heard at this VLCIA board meeting.

-jsq

Protesters at VLCIA, 15 March 2011

The first thing I saw when I drove up to the Industrial Authority building: protesters outside. They don’t seem to like some biomass plant.


Protesters, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) at the
regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director, Allan Ricketts Program Manager,
15 March 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Let’s ask these two what this is about. Dr. Michael Noll, President of Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) said:

“We’re here to protest against biomass. We wish Brad Lofton well in his new job, but we want biomass to go as well.”


Karen and Michael Noll, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) at the
regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director, Allan Ricketts Program Manager,
15 March 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

I asked Leigh Touchton, President of Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP about a letter she forwarded to LAKE, and she said: Continue reading →

“we would appreciate it if our position was no longer misrepresented” –Georgia Sierra Club

Here is a letter that Leigh Touchton forwarded, noting, “Ms. Colleen Kiernan gave me her permission to share it publicly.” -jsq
March 9, 2011

Brad Lofton
Executive Director
Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority
2110 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31602

RE: Sierra Club position on the Wiregrass Energy facility

Dear Mr. Lofton:

Congratulations on the groundbreaking of your solar facility last month. The Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club is very pleased and excited to see those types of clean, renewable projects coming online all across our state, after years of Georgia Power claiming that solar wouldn’t work in our state.

However, I am writing to you primarily on a different subject as it has come to our attention that you continue to claim
Continue reading →