Why? Because leading medical associations have identified woody biomass incineration as increasing risks of “a variety of illnesses, some life-threatening”, because biomass incineration produces more CO2, NOX, and fine particulates than existing coal plants, and because it “may lead to unsustainable forestry practices and a net increase in global greenhouse gas emissions”.
Who proposed this? Continue reading
After he talked about
expanding the Wiregrass Solar plant by another megawatt,
Alden Hathaway of Sterling Planet said this:
Solar power is the peoples power.And to development in south Georgia, for that matter. So we can leapfrog that barrier with solar.Whether you’re talking about grid tied power here in America tied to the wire, or solar in the rural countryside of Uganda, it’s immediately available and accessible in all sizes. So I can use it to power a cell phone, charge a laptop, put light in a school, or pump water in a hospital. Solar is immediately available to do that, without massive which is a barrier to development in much of the developing world.
Here’s the video:
Solar power is the peoples power –Alden Hathaway
Commissioning Ceremony,
Wiregrass Solar, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
Continue readingNot sure what started this particular post, but as Stephen Hawking put it: “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” –
We are where we are as a community in relationship to the biomass issue because of our holistic approach, and with “we” I do not mean WACE exclusively. There have been countless
Shankar Vedantam wrote in the Washington Post 15 Sep 2008 about The Power of Political Misinformation, illustrating with a couple of well-known examples of misinformation (you’ll recognize them), and continuing:
Countering bad information directly just reinforces it.Nearly all these efforts rest on the assumption that good information is the antidote to misinformation.
But a series of new experiments show that misinformation can exercise a ghostly influence on people’s minds after it has been debunked — even among people who recognize it as misinformation.
Chris Mooney wrote more about why that is in Mother Jones 18 April 2011, The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science: Continue reading
In Harrisburg, PA, same size as Valdosta, in a county of similar size,
a trash incinerator bit the dust once, but got revived anyway,
and will now probably only go away because:
Harrisburg, PA loses solvency and trust over incinerator.
There are many parallels here, especially the old boy network.
However, the main point I want to draw everyone’s attention to
at the moment is that although local activists may have gotten
that incinerator closed down once, it came back anyway.
Why? Because their local old boys thought it would make money, and Continue reading
He may be gone, but he’s still up to his old tricks, and he’s using us for a reference.
Adva Saldinger wrote in The Sun News 8 May 2011, Lofton hits ground running in new post; CEO asking taxpayers for $1.6 million:
The new Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp. president and chief executive is by many accounts aggressive and personable, and he says, ready to take charge and bring much needed jobs to the area quickly.And a pony!Brad Lofton said he will bring 500 jobs in the first 18 months, and an average of 500 jobs each year over the next five to 10 years.
Has anybody verified the jobs Lofton claimed he brought to Lowndes County? Continue reading
Today, a number of Native tribes, from the Lakota in the Dakotas to the Iroquois Confederacy in New York to the Anishinaabeg in Wisconsin, battle to preserve the environment for those who are yet to come. The next seven generations, the Lakota say, depend upon it.Continue reading“Traditionally, we’re told that as we live in this world, we have to be careful for the next seven generations,” says Loretta Cook. “I don’t want my grandkids to be glowing and say, ‘We have all these bad things happening to us because you didn’t say something about it.’
Part of this family and spiritual obligation to preserve
Continue readingTwo weeks ago I delivered the official NAACP letter to all City Council members (and Mayor Fretti) asking for a written response as to their position on biomass and selling reclaimed water to the Wiregrass, LLC, proposed incinerator.
No response. Not one.
I have heard that at least two Council members refuse to do so because “it might be used against them.”
Citizens are entitled to hear where their elected officials stand on these issues. At least Councilmen Vickers, Wright, and Yost have stated publicly that they support biomass, even though black infants are already dying in Valdosta at a rate twice as high as white infants. According to Mr. Wright,
Because it would be monitored?Continue readingOur community could subsequently also “monitor” increases in respiratory illnesses, cancer rates, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality rates. Just ask the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association.
This is incredible. A city council member who still hides behind an EPD air permit, and who chooses to ignore the testimony of thousands of medical professionals throughout the United States. At the same time, we have a City Council that continues to isolate itself from its citizens with a policy that undermines open dialogue.
The continued silence of our City Council and Mayor in regard to biomass is mind-boggling. Haven’t they noticed the developments of the past couple months? The regular protests? Hundreds and hundreds of signatures and voices in opposition to biomass? Ashley Paulk’s statement? George Bennett’s statement? Even a statement, it appears, by Wesley Langdale who said that biomass is economically not feasible … which is something WACE stated as far back as October 2010, supported by an article from the Wall Street journal called “(Bio)Mass Confusion”.
Dr. Mark George once asked all City Council members the following question: “What is it you still need from us, so that you understand that biomass is a bad deal”? To my knowledge that question was never answered.
Last night I shared a letter from a local physician
Continue readingOn Friday, April 29, 2011 I met with Mr. Yost to discuss the biomass issue in person. Mr. Yost stated that he is FOR the biomass project and FOR selling (grey) water to the plant.
When asked for his reasons, he said it “would be good for the citizens of the county”. When pressed to clarify, he said that the jobs and the energy would be good for the citizens. He had no clear rationale for how these 25 jobs would positively effect his constituents, nor how diversifying GA Powers energy sources would help his constituents.
The other reason given for supporting the biomass project