Thank you to everyone who voted for me, to everyone who helped me in
so very many ways. I was not successful in winning
my campaign, but
I was successful in raising issues and have a lot of fun.
Final Score: GQ:16,752 BS:19,531
When the VDT called, she added:
If the chairman-elect is for good communications,
I challenge him to be transparent.
There’s an election going on!
Here are some pictures of precincts around Lowndes County today.
I’ve seen no lines, and everything seems to be flowing smoothly.
Except there are multiple reports that when people call the Board of Elections
to ask where they vote they’re getting a “this number disconnected” message.
Apparently there are ten phone lines down there but only three people
answering them, and the phone is not rolling over properly.
Given all the recent changes in precincts, this is a problem.
Around 1PM Sara Crow said she heard at Pine Grove that about 900 people had
already voted there today.
Georgia Power is raising rates
in January, despite its recent announcement that it would lower
rates because of lower fuel bills.
Why raising?
Mostly the new nukes and for a new natural gas plant.
And 16% of the rise is for energy efficiency.
Does that seem like the right proportion to you?
The average Georgia Power bill will increase about 44 cents a month
starting in January, not decrease as many might have expected when
the company announced last month its fuel costs had dropped.
The utility, which serves 2.4 million customers, notified state
regulators in October that it would be applying for a residential
rate reduction because the amount it pays for fuel has fallen 7
percent, saving $122 million. The utility cannot profit from lower
fuel costs and must pass those savings on to customers.
So why are customer rates going up?
About $1.05 of the typical residential bill will go toward paying
for a new natural gas unit at Plant McDonough-Atkinson in Smyrna.
That increase already was approved as part of a three-tiered rate
hike set in 2010.
If you think of nuclear reactors as something far away,
or as much safer than Fukushima,
you’re in for a surprise.
The most notorious reactors are the ones not yet built,
units 3 and 4 at Plant Vogtle near Augusta and their
famous financial boondoggle.
But others are closer, older, and more numerous than you may know.
Here’s a map by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
That map’s not clickable, so here’s a table,
selected from an
NRC table
by distance from Valdosta:
Name
Owner
Where
Distance from Valdosta
Hatch 1 & 2*
SNOC
11 miles N of Baxley, GA
100 miles
Farley 1 & 2
SNOC
18 miles SE of Dothan, AL
125 miles
Crystal River 3
PGN
80 miles N of Tampa, FL
160 miles
Vogtle 1 & 2
SNOC
26 miles SE of Augusta, GA
200 miles
Summer
SCEG
26 miles NW of Columbia, SC
300 miles
Saint Lucie 1 & 2
FPL
10 miles SE of Ft. Pierce, FL
325 miles
Oconee 1,2,3
Duke
30 miles W of Greenville, SC
330 miles
Robinson 2
PGN
26 miles NW of Florence, SC
350 miles
Sequoya 1 & 2
TVA
16 miles NE of Chattanooga, TN
360 miles
Catawba 1 & 2
Duke
18 miles S of Charlotte, NC
390 miles
McGuire 1 & 2
Duke
17 miles N of Charlotte, NC
410 miles
Browns Ferry 1,2,3*
TVA
32 miles W of Huntsville, AL
410 miles
Turkey Point 3 & 4
FPL
20 miles S of Miami, FL
440 miles
Brunswick 1 & 2*
PGN
40 miles S of Wilmington, NC
480 miles
Waterford 3
Entergy
25 miles W of New Orleans, LA
495 miles
Shearon Harris 1
PGN
20 miles SW of Raleigh, NC
498 miles
* GE Mark I;
Duke: Duke Energy Power Company, LLC;
Entergy: Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.;
FPL: Florida Power & Light Co.;
PGN: Progress Energy;
SCEG: South Carolina Electric & Gas Co.;
SNOC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company;
TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority
Five operating nuclear power reactors are closer to us
Continue reading →
More people have now voted early in Lowndes County than any time in
history. Sherrie Luther was voter 22,00[0]…
making her ballot the one
that broke the previous record set four years ago.
In the 2008 presidential election, there were 45 days of early
voting in Lowndes County. In this year’s election there were just 16
days. Nevertheless the record was broken.
Yet another example of government contracting not following the fair
bidding practices or allowing community public input. Even if you
attend government meetings no bid information is made public & even
if bids are referred to the amounts are always in those elusive
"packets before you" that only the members have access to.
In a recent Hahira City Council meeting the city attorney ruled that
the city council did not have to put out the garbage service for
bids & that it did not even have to have a contract. As of December
31, 2012 the city collection services will not be under contract at
all so who knows what the rates may be or if a lower bid would have
saved citizens money?
I've been involved in government contracting for years & I can tell
you that the recent path government bodies have endorsed is leading
further & further away from the bidding procedures that were enacted
to prevent good old boy politics & kick backs & is opening the door
wide for public/private partnerships that never answer to the
citizens.
The state attorney general's office which should regulate bidding
practices will not interfere with county or municipal issues unless
a citizen is willing to pay $500 to a lawyer to present the case to
them. They justify this as catering to "home rule" but in actuality
they are turning a blind eye because it is within their jurisdiction
to rule on non-adherence to proper bidding practices.
If the state believes in "home rule" why is Governor Deal pushing a
state charter school board amendment that will take away local rule?
The state seems to pick & choose its standards.
Some residents in unincorporated Lowndes County have complained that
their garbage cans have been taken up, leaving them without a way to
dispose of their trash until Jan. 1.
Allgreen Services, one of the waste management companies ousted out
of unincorporated Lowndes County with the Oct. 9 Commissioners
decision to award a waste contract bid to Veolia Environmental
Service, has begun picking up the waste carts in anticipation of the
holiday season.
“We hate to have to remove them, but we have to,”
Allgreen General Manager Sam Sullivan said. “We thought about
waiting a month, but the problem is if we wait until the end of the
year, we would be removing the carts around Christmastime. We didn’t
want to be out there then.”
Funny how there was no mention of this possibility in
the County Commission meeting that adopted this new solid waste plan.
“I don’t think it could get any easier,” said Commissioner Richard Raines.
It looks like it’s not getting easier for county residents who want
to dispose of their trash.
Yesterday on Nuclear Information and Resource Service’s
website:
Update, November 1, 2012: UniStar is seeking review of decision by
NRC Commissioners, Nuclear Energy Institute filed motion in
support. NIRSandNRC staff support the ASLB decision. We
will post the Commissioners’ decision when filed. However,
today the ASLB officially issued an order terminating the
Calvert Cliffs-3 licensing proceeding.
My op-ed in the VDT today. Remember
to vote today or Tuesday.
-jsq
This spring,
the University at Buffalo turned on 750 kilowatts of
solar electricity.
Rutgers U., in New Jersey, installed 1.4
megawatts in 2009 and started on 8 MW this summer. Down here with a
lot more sun, how about solar panels on VSU parking lots?
What are these
new solar projects?
Here are a few FERC lists,
in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Florida,
and there are more in Texas.
Not so many in Georgia.
Zongyi Solar America’s 20 MW Tinton Falls Solar in Monmouth County,
New Jersey, is online. Tinton Falls Solar is the largest
photovoltaic project in New Jersey.
Southern Sky Renewable Energy LLC’s 5.6 MW Canton Landfill Solar
Project in Canton County, Massachusetts is online. This photovoltaic
project is built on the closed and capped Canton Landfill. It is the
largest solar facility in New England. The electricity generated is
sold to the Town of Canton under a long-term agreement.
New Jersey again!
20 Megawatts is even larger than the
6.1 MW at Lawrenceville School.
And Massachusetts, even farther north.
Let’s also look just south of us:
SunEdison’s 3.6 MW Phase 2 Lakeland Regional Airport Solar Project
expansion in Polk County, Florida is online. The Lakeland Regional
Airport Solar has a total capacity of 6.3 MW. It is the largest
photovoltaic project in Florida. The electricity generated is sold
under long-term contract to Lakeland Department of Electric Water
Utilities.
Ah, but
that’s illegal in Georgia!
Here you can sell electricity only to your one and only monopoly utility,
predetermined for you by the 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act.
Maybe we should change that?