Category Archives: Climate change

NOAA Weather Radios “wasteful spending” –Richard Raines

Are NOAA Weather Radios “wasteful spending”?

We’ve already seen staff present the case for about 5,000 NOAA Weather Radios at $21.50 each, paid for out of grant money. They made that case at the 8:30AM 7 Feb 2011 Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

At the regular session the next day (5:30 PM Tuesday 8 Feb 2011), citizen Nolen Cox spoke against the NOAA grant and more generally said “just say no to grants”. He also went on at some length about how he didn’t believe in climate change. Nevermind that the fifth U.S. or British board of inquiry has reconfirmed yet again that the data and analysis for climate change are solid.

EMA Director Ashley Tye summarized the case for NOAA Weather radios, according to the minutes,

stating Lowndes County had been awarded $107,500.00, in Hazard Mitigation grant funding for the purchase of 5,000 NOAA weather radios to benefit all of Lowndes County. Mr. Tye added that Alert Works had presented the low bid in the amount of $21.50 per radio.
Finally, the Commission had some discussion. According to the minutes: Continue reading →

The business of carbon trading in Georgia

Rich McKay wrote for the ajc, Carbon limits a boon for traders: Proposed emissions standards may galvanize business in Georgia.
The carbon-emitting companies pay the farmers to not cut down the trees or to plant new trees. The idea is that the trees, which gobble up carbon, will store up the carbon from the atmosphere and offset what the smokestacks spew.
Blake Sullivan, of the Macon-based Carbon Tree Bank, has 26,000 acres of forest in the state under contract for carbon banking.

“Georgia has an abundance of forests right here, and trees are like the lungs of the Earth,” he said. “They inhale carbon and exhale oxygen. We can be part of the solution right here in our own backyard.”

Why is this suddenly a business? Continue reading →

Say no to grants and shut off debate on biomass –Nolen Cox, LCC, 8 Feb 2011

Local resident Nolen Cox says government grants are more addictive than drugs, and “all the federal money is my tax money.” He mentions federal debt, and lists only social programs. Regarding grants, he’s specifically referring to a proposal to accept a grant for NOAA weather radios, which we’ll come back to later.

His other topic is that he thinks we need more oil, more nuclear, and biomass. His recommendation: “I would stop discusssing it.” He thinks it’s like global warming, which he thinks is a lie. He sums up:

Build the plant, employ people, get on with the program.
It’s interesting that these are about the best arguments biomass proponents have. Perhaps he’s not aware that shutting off the debate was tried recently and doesn’t seem to be working too well. Here’s the video.


Regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 8 February 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Taking water for granted? –Matthew Richard

This LTE appeared in the VDT today. -jsq
In the aftermath of Valdosta’s recent water calamity, it might be a good time to ask whether residents of Lowndes County are taking things like plentiful water for granted? Apparently, the Valdosta City Council is already thinking ahead, for on the agenda of their January 20, 2011 meeting, was a “Consideration of an Ordinance to establish standards for outdoor watering for the City of Valdosta.” One wonders if they’re worried about people watering their lawns in the summer? If that’s the case, it’s good that they acknowledge that the South is in the midst of a long-term drought.

Or perhaps I’m giving Council credit where it’s not due?

Continue reading →

Michael Noll: “enough is enough”

Here is a followup to the VDT story in the previous post.

-jsq

Dear Lowndes County Commissioners.

My sincere thanks for letting me present my concerns at yesterday’s meeting. It is very much appreciated.

Please understand that what I presented is based on facts. I have worked for ten years at VSU as an educator, and my students and colleagues know me as a straightforward person. I may ruffle some feathers at times, but I clearly was brought up in a no-nonsense household.

If Mr. Lofton would not continue to ignore our concerns (as he again did at the BOE meeting), to misrepresent organizations such as the Sierra Club (an organization I happen to support), or to keep bringing up names of those who endorse the biomass plant (yet conveniently overlooks a conflict of interest), I  probably would have never brought this up. However, during these past couple weeks, and particularly with his behavior at the BOE meeting, Mr. Lofton has added insult to injury, and enough is enough.

To substantiate the comments I made yesterday,

Continue reading →

Michael Noll: “We owe it to our children, our neighbors and friends”

Appended is an extract from the VDT’s writeup on the Lowndes County Commission meeting of 28 Sep 2010. The “area schools” was the Valdosta Board of Education meeting of the previous evening, 27 Sep 2010. Much more about that here. The list of concerns Dr. Noll presented in writing is already blogged here as Let’s Think About This!

-jsq

During the citizens to be heard portionof the meeting, Dr. Michael Noll reiterated concerns his wife, Karen, presented to the board during its last meeting regarding the proposed Wiregrass Biomass Plant.

Noll spoke about his concerns with the project and lack of straight answers he has received from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority’s (VLCIA).

Continue reading →

Longleaf Flood Prevention and Carbon Sequestration

dscn1384_candle_dead_leaves Instead of planting fast-growing slash or loblolly pines just to burn up in a biomass plant, how about plant the south’s iconic longleaf pine trees to capture and hold carbon from the atmosphere?
“Longleaf should be the centerpiece of land-based carbon sequestration efforts in the Southeast,” the report states, urging that national policymakers make the ecosystem as high a priority as the Everglades or Chesapeake Bay.
The report is Restoring the Longleaf Pine: Preparing the Southeast for Global Warming, Published December 10, 2009 by the National Wildlife Federation and two southeast forest conservation groups, America’s Longleaf, and The Longleaf Alliance.

People rightly worry about deforestation in the Amazon basin of Brazil, but forget or never knew that we already did that right here in the southeast: Continue reading →