Some concerned citizens
met with the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority on JulyJune 10, 2010
about the proposed biomass plant on Inner Perimeter Road.
Not everyone was convinced that it was a good idea.
Pastor Angela Manning of New Life Ministries has organized a Town Hall meeting for tomorrow, Thursday 8 July 2010 at 7PM:
| Date: | Thursday, July 8th, 2010 |
| Time: | 7 p.m. |
| Venue: | New Life Ministries |
| Address: | 5651 Inner Perimeter Rd., Valdosta, GA 31606 |
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I found that map on Georgia Power’s web pages. Meanwhile, here are Georgia Power Solar Projects. Hm, “a rooftop solar demonstration program”, “plans to install solar panels at schools in each of the company’s regions”, “showcase its technology”. Where’s the actual rapid deployment?
Meanwhile, Texas almost doubled its renewable energy generation between 2004 and 2006 and hasn’t stopped since. Continue reading
“Forests Dominate Georgia’s Land Use”
That’s the title of slide 10 of 21 in
Center of Innovation – Energy (CIE)
by Jill Stuckey, Director.
Actually, massively pesticided planted pines dominate south Georgia’s land use;
not the same as actual forests with species diversity and diverse ages of trees.
The same CIE slide equates
Georgia Forestry = Biomass EnergyThat is what the state government seems to want it to be.
Back on slide 9, solar is defined as a southwestern regional energy source; nevermind that the solar map on that page shows Georgia with the same insolation as most of Texas (more on that later). And wind is defined as a central U.S. regional strength, nevermind that even Georgia Power has started exploring the possibility of wind off the Georgia coast.
I get it that Georgia has trees and forestry is a big industry in Georgia. I’m a tree farmer myself. I’d love to be convinced that biomass from trees is one good way to go. But at what costs? And compared to what? Continue reading
He did find
this list of “renewable energy strategy”
hits from a GEFA search.
At least one of those links points us to http://www.georgiaenergyplan.org/,
which now gets us
Are you interested in buying this domain name?The state has apparently abandoned that domain. Is that an indication of how seriously Georgia takes renewable energy?
Here’s something that looks promising: State Energy Strategy for Georgia (SESG), December 14, 2006, Governor’s Energy Policy Council, GEFA. It says it’s an energy strategy, but it’s mostly about transportation of existing fuels such as natural gas. Towards the end of the document in Figure 2 (shown above) the SESG illustrates the pit we’re in: about a third of Georgia’s energy comes from coal, another third from petroleum, a sixth from natural gas, and so little from renewable sources they apparently weren’t worth putting on the pie chart.
The SESG does contain this: Continue reading
Complaints are more frequent along Mary Street, a short stretch a few hundred yards south of the plant. Residents there deal with more intense noise and odors.Nonetheless he didn’t say it affected his property values. However, that’s not the only issue.Craig Walworth’s home is among the closest to the plant. He walked up to his Jeep — a vehicle he cleaned the day before — and dragged his finger through a layer of film on the hood.
“Every morning, you have that to look forward to,” he said. “I clean my screens three times a year during the summer because they clog up.”
Meanwhile, about an hour north on the edge of Lake Michigan, in Traverse City local activism caused cancellation of a proposed biomass plant: Continue reading
In the VLCIA meeting with concerned citizens of 10 June 2010, one of the action items taken by the VLCIA was:
Obtain, if available, an analysis of the property value trends of residential/ commercial property adjacent to the Cadillac Michigan biomass electric generating plant.Col. Ricketts has reported back on that action item.
My transcription of what he said is rather long, so please follow the link.
Allan Ricketts’ summary: nobody could find a systematic analysis of property value trends. He did get various personal analyses (as above).
I agreed he’s made a good effort to find what he could find.
And that we would continue looking in other sources.
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Previously writing about biomass and carbon dioxide I said I’d supply an example of the sort of thing I’m looking for as a regional analysis for renewable energy, including biomass, solar, wind, wave, tides, and others.
Here it is: the Highland Renewable Energy Strategy
approved by the Highland Council at its 4 May 2006 meeting.
It’s a 58 page document about renewable energy strategy and planning guidelines,
considering numerous types of renewable energy, pros and cons
of each, power distribution, effects on environment, protected
areas, etc., illustrated copiously with detailed maps.
And updated:
Continue reading
Natasha Fast (SAVE), Pastor Angela Manning (New Life Ministries), Allan Ricketts (Project Manager), Geraldine Fairell, Ken Klanicki, Brad Lofton (Executive Director), picture by John S. Quarterman (LAKE) |
Lying in the center of the table in the picture is this document:
Biomass carbon neutrality in the context of forest-based fuels and productsThe copy on the table is dated April 7, 2010; the online version is dated May 2010. It’s a powerpoint presentation that makes many good points, among them that coal doesn’t grow back, while trees do. So in theory it would be possible, by organizing harvesting of biomass over a region to make burning biomass for electricity carbon neutral.
by Reid Miner, NCASI, Al Lucier, NCASI
The document comes right out and says:
At point of combustion, CO2 emissions per unit of energy produced are generally higher for biomass fuels than for fossil fuels.Continue reading
This is about exclusion zones around wells, and maybe about
restrictions on putting new wells next to pollution sources such
as cotton fields.
At their 8 June 2010 regular meeting, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners, at the recommendation of County Planner Jason Davenport, tabled revisions to the Uniform Land Development Code (ULDC) about wellhead protection. Such protections are a new requirment by the Georgia EPD, and it’s taking a while to figure out what is appropriate for the ten wells operated by the county and the 140 private community wells, many of which have trust indentures with the county that require the county to take them over if their current operators do not supply enough water, or of good enough quality.
Picture by John S.Quarterman, video by Gretchen K. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, 8 June 2010.
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Jade Bulecza reports for WALB that
Teachers take outdoor learning to the classroomTeachers take outdoor learning to the classroom:
About 25 teachers from Lowndes County schools were out at the Pine Grove Farm in Thursday identifying trees and looking at leaves.Maybe later they could even take the students out to the trees!It’s part of project learning tree, an environmental education program.
Renee Galloway says students don’t really get out of the classroom in language arts and reading, so she’s glad she’ll have new lessons to bring to her class.
“Hopefully, our teachers can take back the importance of the timber industry to Georgia’s economy to their classrooms,” said Joy Cowart, a Project Learning Tree facilitator.That’s one good lesson. Others might be the diversity of native forests and the economic and natural benefits of reforestation.