Category Archives: Georgia

Retreat tab?

Local governments here probably don’t want to get into the news for the cost of their upcoming retreats, Lowndes County Commission this month, and Valdosta City Council next month, like Roswell alrady did.

Pat Fox wrote for the AJC 15 Feb 2013, Record shows $4,800 tab for Roswell retreat,

Roswell city officials ran up a tab of at least $4,800 for their three-day work retreat this month at the Reynolds Plantation, 106 miles away in Greensboro.

Financial records from five north Fulton cities show these planning sessions can run the gamut, from a shoestring event for $700 in Sandy Springs to more than $10,000 for Johns Creek.

The Roswell retreat, held Jan. 31-Feb. 2, included nine people — Mayor Jere Wood, six council members, City Administrator Kay Love and a facilitator, who did not charge for his services. All spent two nights at the Reynolds facility near Lake Oconee.

Perhaps stay close to home where hotels aren’t necessary.

-jsq

Thank you for helping the community —April Huntley

Received Wednesday from April Huntley to Joyce Evans. -jsq

Good morning, Commissioner Evans!

Thank you very much for helping the community get the public hearing for the closure of Old State Rd. tabled until next meeting! I hope we will all be able to work together to find a lasting solution that will enable the residents of Lowndes County and surrounding areas to continue to enjoy this beautiful spot on the Alapaha River. I hope you agree that this is not a standard road abandonment since it affects a body of water. I hope you have a great day, and I look forward to speaking with you soon!

Thank you again!

April Huntley

Radioactive tritium leak at Plant Hatch discovered yesterday

Will Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers say this tritium leak at Plant Hatch is not a problem, like he did about the one in September 2011? Meanwhile, how many tritium leaks have you heard of from solar panels or wind mills?

According to the NRC’s Event Notification Report for February 14, 2013, OFFSITE NOTIFICATION DUE TO TRITIUM RELEASE ONSITE,

“As part of routine rounds on 2/13/13, site personnel discovered an overflow condition at a collection tank containing water with low levels of tritium (approximately 6,000 pCi/L). The discharge pump for the tank was found to be nonfunctional which resulted in the overflow condition. Following discovery, a portable pump was utilized to pump the water to the normal monitored discharge path and terminate the overflow condition. The exact volume could not be determined but it is estimated that the volume of water that overflowed to the ground was greater than the 100 gallon threshold for voluntary reporting as indicated in Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 07-07, ‘Industry Ground Water Initiative-Final Guidance Document.’ A rough estimate of the release is between 100 and 300 gallons. The tritium was contained to a small area on the plant site in the vicinity of the discharge structure, and there is no significant potential for off-site impact or impact to on-site personnel.

“Because the leak remained on site, there will be no offsite impact to drinking water sources. Furthermore, the release posed no threat to employees or the public. Southern Nuclear [SNC] will continue to monitor the affected area as required.

Sure, and they’ve got a ten-mile-radius emergency plan for Plant Hatch, too! Nevermind the Floridan Aquifer that underlies the whole coastal plain hereabouts, and that we drink from over here, only 100 miles from Plant Hatch. The report says they’ll report to the state:

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Renewable energy much needed in Georgia —John S. Quarterman

My op-ed in the VDT today; I’ve added links, plus some more after the op-ed.

Finally! Kewaunee, Calvert Cliffs, and now Crystal River permanently closing say it’s time for Georgia to stop wasting money on Southern Company’s already over-budget and increasingly-late nukes and get on with solar power and wind off the coast: for jobs, for energy independence, and for clean air and plenty of clean water.

February 2013:
Duke Energy is closing the Crystal River nuclear reactor (Tampa Bay Times, 6 Feb 2013), 160 miles south of us, because nobody wants to pay to fix it: between “$1.5 billion and $3.4 billion, plus what it costs to buy power to replace what Crystal River would have produced while it is being repaired” [Charlotte Business Journal, 11 Jan 2013].
November 2012:
NRC terminated Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs 3 (NRC 1 Nov 2012) after Constellation Energy dropped out because the cost “is too high and creates too much risk for Constellation” [Bloomberg 10 Oct 2010].
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No list of who bought waste collection center cards? @ LCC 2013-02-12

How can Lowndes County not have a list of who it sold waste collection center cards to? How can it not provide it in response to an open records request?

In the 9 October 2012 Regular Session, Lowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard said:

Just under 5,000 residents who have purchased the cards

That was in his curiously redacted summary of the history of solid waste handling in the county, and he was referring to the access cards to the waste collection centers.

Paige Dukes to April Huntley 2013-01-28 Yet when April Huntley submitted an open records request asking for the names of the 5,000 people who would be affected by the waste collection centers, this is what County Clerk Paige Dukes replied:

In regards to your open records requst for a copy of the 5,000 residents in unincorporated Lowndes County who will be affected by the closing of the recycling centers, the document you have requested does not exist.

Maybe this explains part of why Veolia, excuse me, ADS, seemed so confused yesterday morning. Come tonight to see if any Commissioners ask about this.

-jsq

Ways to fix the trash problem

I commend Commissioner John Page for his op-ed in the VDT today, attempting to do what no other Commissioner has tried: to explain the trash issue. Indeed, like him, most of the people I talked to while campaigning for Gretchen were for keeping the waste collection centers open, and of those the vast majority were willing to pay more, which is the main reason the previous Commission made a big mistake in closing those centers. Unfortunately his letter seems to indicate nothing can be done. Well, here are some things that can be done.

Let the contract lapse.

Commissioner Joyce Evans insisted on the contract with the sole provider being only for one year. Let it lapse after that year!

Publish the contract.

What’s in the contract? How do we even know it’s for only one year? The new Commission already had to do over a decision of the previous Commission (remove license fee from Sunday alcohol sales) because the ordinance written up afterwards wasn’t what they thought they passed. Publish the contract and let everyone see!

Publish an accounting for the waste collection sites.

Commissioner Page wrote:
The county was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each year because the fees for the permits were not bringing in enough money to fully fund the sites.
How do we know that? Continue reading →

Return of water misinformation by Forrest H. Williams in the VDT

Seen today on the WACE facebook page is an image of an op-ed in the VDT, and alongside it I include here Michael Noll’s initial comments, plus a few links.

There is good reason why Stephen Hawkins once said “the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” When entities like Fox News can claim that “solar won’t work in America because it’s not as sunny as Germany”, we shouldn’t be surprised by the results of such “educational” efforts. The fact is that we have a number of clean and renewable forms of energy (e.g. wind, solar, geothermal) that already work. Just go to Spain, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, or simply stay in the US and visit places like from New Jersey and New York to California and Arizona. Combine these pieces of a larger energy puzzle with meaningful initiatives of energy conservation and energy efficiency, and we find a way out of our current predicament (i.e. continuing dependence on finite and dirty sources of energy), while saving money (see solar vs. nuclear), preserving our natural resources (e.g. water, forests), and providing clean, healthy and safe environments to live in (e.g. wind and solar do not produce radioactive waste, pollute our air and groundwater).

The guest columnist appearing above is the same individual who thought

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HB 267 Financing costs; construction of nuclear generating plant

As promised, a bipartisan bill was filed Thursday to stop Georgia Power from charging for nuclear cost overruns on Plant Vogtle; this could free up some financing for Georgia to move ahead on solar and wind power.

2013-2014 Regular Session – HB 267 Financing costs; construction of nuclear generating plant; change calculation that utility can recover from customers,

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 46-2-25 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the procedure for changing any rate, charge, classification, or service and the recovery of financing costs, so as to change the calculation used under certain circumstances to determine the costs of financing associated with the construction of a nuclear generating plant that a utility may recover from its customers; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

The bill would add this text to Georgia Code:

…provided, however, that in the event the amounts recorded in the utility’s construction work in progress accounts plus the amount of all financing costs accrued on any construction work in progress accounts exceeds the costs approved by the commission in the original certificate of the nuclear generating plant granted under Code Section 46-3A-5, the cost of equity portion of the financing costs shall be calculated using a rate no higher than the utility’s actual cost of debt.

Let’s see what Georgia Power does to fight this one. So far, it’s Continue reading →

Bill against Vogtle nuke overruns to be filed Thursday

It’s about time. -jsq

Jeanne Bonner wrote for GPB today Vogtle Cost Overruns Targeted,

A state lawmaker wants to prevent Georgia Power from reaping profits on cost overruns at Plant Vogtle. Rep. Jeff Chapman will file a bill Thursday that would bar the utility from making money on anything other than the certified cost of the nuclear power plant it’s building in eastern Georgia.

Chapman said before writing the bill, he sent a letter to Georgia Power, asking the company to forego the profits.

He said he hasn’t had a response.

Under a 2009 bill, the company can collect in advance the financing costs for the two reactors it’s building near Augusta.

Chapman, a Brunswick Republican, says he supports the project. But

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Forest Bioenergy Conference —GFA

Seen Monday. Seems to me that instead of burning trees tree farmers should start growing solar farms on some of their less useful land.

Forest Bioenergy Conference —GFA

Deadline for early registration is Sunday, February 10…register today to save money!

It’s 21 February 2013 in Forsyth.

Interest in forest biomass as a potential feedstock for renewable energy facilities has been especially keen for the past several years and much of the activity has been centered in Georgia. GFA and UGA are excited about hosting our fourth biennial conference to examine where we are with forest bioenergy development in Georgia and where we may be going in the near future. While many issues are becoming clearer, much uncertainty remains with regard to government policy and market prices for fossil fuels. This conference is an excellent opportunity to hear from some of the players on the front lines of developing markets, influencing government policies, and conducting research on how these changes may impact our wood supply system.

These are some of the topics that will be addressed during this conference by many of the people directly involved with these changes that are taking place in our state. Join us and stay abreast of these significant changes taking place in our forest industry.

The talk I think they should pay attention to is:

What does Low-Cost Natural Gas Mean for Future Biomass Use?
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