Manipulating construction contracts landed two former DeKalb County school employees in prison.
Rhonda Cook wrote for the AJC 9 December 2013,
Former DeKalb schools COO gets 15 years:
Judge rejects former superintendent Crawford Lewis’ deal for no jail time,
Prosecutors allege Reid sent work to her husband by presenting new work at Columbia as an extension of what he was already contracted to do and then Pope allegedly overcharged the district.
Prosecutors also contend Continue reading
And the same is true in Georgia, despite Georgia Power and Southern Company.
John Downey wrote for Charlotte Business Journal 23 October 2013, Study: Solar benefits outweigh costs in NC
An independent study published by a nationally known energy consultant asserts that adding 500 megawatts of solar generation in North Carolina would save utility ratepayers about $26 million annually.
It notes the gains from solar projects — such as lower transmission and distribution costs, avoided emissions, lower losses of electricity in transmission. The study calculates that such benefits outweigh the costs by 30 percent to 40 percent.
Update 2017-04-25: Energy NC seems to have removed or moved its copy of that report, but fortunately SEIA lists it on a backup website, and I’ve linked it into the quotation above, plus a copy on the LAKE website. SEIA also lists many other studies for other states, such as one for Virginia which is on the MDV-SEIA website, and now also has a copy on the LAKE website. For Georgia SEIA lists the testimony of GSEIA before the Georgia Public Service Commission in 2013. For Florida SEIA lists only a very old (2003) study with a broken link, which can be found as a google book, but now would mostly be worthwhile as a museum piece. Duke’s own actions in Florida in 2016 and 2017 indicate Duke Energy knows the sun is rising even on the Sunshine State.
The study considered two intertwined solar methods: Continue reading
A county
no bigger than Lowndes County has
agendas and minutes online for
its Board of Commissioners, Board of Health, Local Emergency Planning Committee,
Board of Adjustment,
Board of Elections,
Social Services Board,
and yes, its Planning Board.
Why can Nash County, NC afford this yet Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter
says Lowndes County can’t afford to put agendas and minutes online for
the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission?
And if a county can require a solar farm to follow stormwater management
and numerous other regulations, why can’t a county require a natural
gas pipeline to follow local regulations?
It can, if its elected officials actually stand up for their citizens.
And why can Nash County, quite a bit north of Lowndes County,
install solar farm after solar farm while there are none in Lowndes County?
The Nash County online documents also include the details of what the various boards were considering, such as in the Agenda and Minutes of the Nash County Planning Board 21 October 2013, which include this item:
- Conditional Use Permit Request CU-130901 (Previously Tabled Item).
Made by Chris Killenberg With Community Energy Solar on Behalf of Castalia Solar LLC to Develop a Solar Farm on an Approximately 22.91 Acre Portion of Two Tracts Located on the West Side of N NC Highway 58 and South of NC Highway 56 in the A1 Agricultural Zoning District.
And not just the agenda item, also extended discussion in the meeting, including: Continue reading
Sombody should tell Georgia Power and Southern Company
they’re still pushing a dead power source.
It’s time to go from far-too-expensive nuclear directly
to solar onshore and wind offshore.
Remember in the last year or so five U.S. nukes have been shut down and five more have been cancelled while in Canada two more have been cancelled, plus maybe two more, and maybe as many as six are to be shut down. Dr Jim Green wrote for Ecologist yesterday, The nuclear renaissance is stone cold dead,
Perhaps the most shocking developments have been in the United States, where the industry is finding it increasingly difficult to profitably operate existing reactors—especially ageing reactors requiring refurbishments—let alone build new ones.
Almost half of the world’s reactors Continue reading
The Army Corps of Engineers has released a Draft Environmental Assessment and a Draft Finding of No Significant Impact for putting more sand on Tybee Island beach, also known as “renourishment”.
Mary Landers wrote for ajc.com yesterday, Tybee beach renourishment plans move forward,
The renourishment process involves using a cutterhead dredge to move about 1.7 million cubic yards of high quality sand from an area located 1.5 miles from the southern tip of Tybee Island. The deposited sand would be enough to compensate for the erosion expected to occur over the subsequent nine years. The project will include placing sand up to the north terminal groin. This northern area was included in previous renourishment cycles, but not the 2008 renourishment.
“It is good news,” said Tybee council member Paul Wolff. “Obviously we depend on the beach for our economy. Everything that gets done to move the process forward helps. We’re optimistic we’ll get the federal cost share again.”
Hm, I wonder if this contact information would work for other projects: Continue reading
Here’s Susan Waller of Spectra
refusing to even listen to a question that she had just asked for:
FERC-required Open House about the
Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline
by Sabal Trail Transmission and Spectra Energy,
Video by Blake Clark, Madison, Madison County, Florida, 17 December 2013.
Blake Clark remarked on this video he took:
This short clip speaks for it’s self. Notice Susan Waller’s condescending tone through out the clips entirety. It is assumed, and I have witnessed her speaking to most landowners inquiring more information in the same tone here. Are the people at Sabal (Spectra) or “what ever they may be calling themselves this week” really concerned for you, your questions, or your property? You decide!
Visit Spectrabusters.org for more information on the Sabal Trail Pipeline, Thank you!
Earlier
she complained that someone who presented her with evidence
was “disruptive”.
What I wanted to ask her about was Continue reading
Lowndes County landowners Larry Rodgers and Mindy Bland on the
Chris Beckham radio show right now.
“Veiled threats” –Mindy Bland.
Larry Rodgers said:
These people do not have a customer in Georgia, so eminent domain does not apply in Georgia.
His attorney (Bill Langdale) responded to a Sabal Trail lawyer letter saying that, and as yet there is no response.
You continue paying taxes on that property forever. They continue making profits on that property forever.
Chris Beckham remarked that there’s no other 36 inch pipeline in Georgia, and Mindy is explaining Continue reading
This was an op-ed submission to the VDT, which didn’t respond.
Today’s the GA PSC vote, so I’m blogging it now.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) wants to do for coal what the Florida PSC already did for that gas pipeline Sabal Trail wants to gash through here: raise utility customer rates!
Who wants a Christmas present of higher electricity rates and
continued coal smoke, plus increased guaranteed profit for Georgia
Power of 11.5%? They
already raised rates each of the last three
years for gas and nuclear plants not yet even built; why should we
permit more rate hikes when the PSC votes December 17th? Last week’s
Public Policy poll
found 69% of Georgia voters oppose that rate hike.
Is a one-time payment enough to let a huge 36 inch fracked methane
pipeline gash through our communities while Spectra Energy of
Houston and FPL of Juno Beach, Florida profit forever, and your
property values go down and your hazards go up?
Those FPL profits come from rate hikes on your cousins the Florida ratepayers. AARP opposes that, saying: Continue reading
Received today on
Spectra reps unfamiliar with Spectra fines @ LCC 2013-12-09. -jsq
Take a stand against the the pipeline by sending in your comment to FERC.gov. At the website you eRegister and they send you an email. Once registered you can submit a comment on docket # PF14-1. Find below an example of a comment, feel free to copy any or all as you please:
Sabal Trail pipeline proposal poses a significant safety threat to our community through accidents. Leaks from such pipelines in the US
have caused explosions and have destroyed homes and killed people 29 times this year alone. Since the proposed pipeline is much larger than any of these recent explosions, a pipeline of 36 inch radius could do extreme damage if such an accident should occur in the
Lowndes county area where it is proposed. Not only those living near the pipeline but Continue reading
Valdosta #51 of 379!
Closest MSAs as green on
the map are Auburn-Opelika #37,
Atlanta #41, Charleston #11, and
Nashville, TN at #14.
Highest weighted components are for growth in jobs, wages, and salaries, so apparently there has been some improvement in those areas. Here are the rank components from the PDF report, plus the corresponding scores from www.best-cities.org:
| Rank | Job Growth | Wage Growth | Short-Term Job Growth |
High-Tech GDP Growth |
High-Tech GDP LQ |
Number of High-Tech Industries |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change | 2012 | 2013 | 2007-12 | 2011-12 | 2006-11 | 2010-11 | 7/2012- 7/2013 | 2007-12 | 2011-12 | 2012 | with LQ≥1 2012 |
| 50 | 101 | 51 | 128 | 33 | 73 | 133 | 84 | 15 | 4 | 76 | 13 |
| Score | 97.36 | 100.68 | 102.32 | 97.65 | 109.89% | 129.20 | 119.63 | 0.56 | 6.0 | ||