In Quitman, several people told LAKE about an extensive sewage problem
on the south side of town.
At one house we were told that she had been having problems for 13 years.
She said the city told her to lift up her pipes, which she did.
Yet sewage still makes a pit in her yard, which she has covered with tin;
you can see the pit under there.
When she uses her plumbing, sewage backs up inside the house. The city sent a jail inmate Continue reading
Bill Moyers takes on ALEC.
Posted yesterday On Bill Moyers’ website, ‘United States of ALEC’ Video Previews
This week, Moyers & Company (check local listings) presents
“United States of ALEC,” a report on the most influential corporate-funded political force most of America has never heard of — ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. A national consortium of state politicians and powerful corporations, ALEC presents itself as a “nonpartisan public-private partnership”. But behind that mantra lies a vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to increase corporate profits at public expense without public knowledge.
He said more on Huffington Post Wednesday,
Continue readingIt would be easier for people to vote for SPLOST VII if they knew what they were getting. So far, that’s difficult to tell from what’s been published. Many questions remain to be answered.
We’ve already seen the WCTV story that quotes a total of $35 million for SPLOST VII. And Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT 5 August 2012, SPLOST project list released: Renewed sales tax would build library, auditorium
The county projects penny sales tax collections through SPLOST VII to total at least $150 million during a six-year period, a sum that could fund a library complex, an auditorium, the installation of a mandated public safety radio system, an array of municipal water and sewage improvements, new equipment for police officers and firefighters, and road maintenance projects.
There is not adequate funding for these projects if the SPLOST referendum does not pass, according to city and county planners.
$150 million is not $35 million. $150 million divided by six is $25 million, not $35 million.
The mystery deepens.
Continue readingSounds to me like the NRC is not telling its new chief everything. For example, what about Vogtle unit 1 shutting down right after it passed an NRC review? What about cancer in Shell Bluff, Georgia, near the reactors?
Mike M. Ahlers wrote for CNN 14 August 2012,
New NRC chair vouches for agency’s independence, states goals
Allison Macfarlane said Tuesday she has confidence in the agency and its independence from the nation’s 104 commercial nuclear power plants.
“I have some strong initial impressions of the agency, and one is that I’ve been very impressed with the staff and their dedication to safety, and their willingness to stand up to industry when they believe a situation is not safe,” Macfarlane said in a wide-ranging discussion with reporters.
“So I’m actually quite assured that the agency is completing its mission of protecting public health and safety,” she said. “They take safety issues very seriously. They take their role as regulators very seriously and the public should be assure that they have the public’s best interests in mind.”
Macfarlane said she hopes to build public confidence in the agency by improving communication, increasing transparency and making NRC documents understandable. “Some of them are rather opaque,” she allowed.
She has said some slightly more impressive things back before she was appointed. Continue reading
The sinkholes are not just
in the garage
and
under the front steps,
there’s one
under Michael McCormick’s tool shed.
He already jacked up the shed and put blocks under it
after the ground sunk underneath it.
With all these sinkholes on his lot (and more in the yard),
how are they connected underground?
How will they expand?
Here’s a video playlist:
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 August 2012.
-jsq
The sinkholes are not just in
Michael McCormick’s garage.
According to groundscan radar by a VSU professor and students,
the sinkholes are also
spreading
under his
front steps and
his house.
The steps are sinking and there’s a crack on the wall inside the house.
Continue readingReceived yesterday on WCTV on biomass site VLCIA v. Sterling Planet. -jsq
Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) have made it clear from
the start that biomass plants have a number of issues: 1) biomass plants bear significant health risks; 2) biomass plants waste enormous amounts of water; 3) biomass plants are risky investments in an increasingly competitive energy sector; and 4) biomass plants contribute to global warming.
In the light of rising global temperatures, worsening drought conditions, and dropping prices for solar panels, an increasing number of people are understanding these simple truths.
The Industrial Authority has to be congratulated for the courage to admit that energy from biomass plants is indeed more expensive than energy from solar plants, and we have not even figured in the costs associated with the consequences of air pollution coming from biomass plants.
(For more information on biomass plants, here a testimony I recently gave: http://www.bredl.org/pdf3/120828_WACE-Comments-Docket_NO-E-100_SUB113.pdf)
Although this point has already been made earlier, note again that solar plants are much better alternatives, economically and environmentally: they do not pollute our air, they do not need any water, and a huge spill of solar energy is simply called a sunny day … of which we have plenty here in the south.
-Michael G. Noll
-jsq
In what the County Planner calls “central Lowndes County” there’s
a sinkhole in a garage,
deeper than a hoe handle.
Michael McCormick called me up yesterday and told me about this
sinkhole in his garage at 4326 Norman Hall Road.
Naturally he’s a bit concerned about this problem.
He thinks his insurance may cover it, but he’s looking for other
options in case.
So far, nobody seems to know what to do.
Which can’t be the case:
this isn’t the first sinkhole in Lowndes County.
We’re helping get the word out to help find whoever does know more about
sinkholes and what resources are available to deal with them.
It’s not only straight down and under the carport concrete.
Continue reading
WCTV does what VDT dares not:
Greg Gullberg mentioned last year’s biomass protests in the first sentence of this
story about the Industrial Authority threatening to sue Sterling Planet
to get clear title to the former proposed biomass plant site.
Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Dispute Over Land For Proposed Biomass Plant,
The vocal protests in Valdosta are long gone, but the controversy over the proposed Biomass plant lingers. This time not for concerns of health safety, but over the land.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority plans to sue Wiregrass Power LLC to end its contract.
Ban the Burn Go 100% Solar.
The proposed Biomass Plant was supposed to be a low-cost source of efficient energy. Supporters say it would have created hundreds of jobs. But opponents say the health risks include cancer, lung disease and respiratory disease.
750,000 gallons of water each day
Tell me, Col. Ricketts, doesn’t it feel better to be visibly on the side of the people, instead of having to defend a bad business deal?
Continue readingIt’s not just VLCIA’s Community Assessment that argues for a public transportation system in Valdosta-Lowndes County. Getting people to work without requiring cars is an even bigger problem in larger metropolitan areas, but many of the issues are the same here.
Nancy Andrews and Audrey Choi wrote for Huffpo 20 Aug 2012,
How Transit-Oriented Development Can Help Get America To Work,
To truly get America back to work, we have to focus on more than
jobs, jobs, jobs. It is about integrating jobs, transportation, housing and community services in ways that work equally well for lower- and upper-income families.
Vibrant communities where residents can walk to shops, restaurants, grocery stores and community services; and where public transportation provides convenient connections between home and work can be built. Planning community development with public transportation as a central consideration — transit-oriented development or TOD — can spur economic growth, sometimes dramatically. But that approach has not been systematically applied to communities of all income levels.
For these reasons, it is important for government, public transit agencies, nonprofits, foundations and the private sector to come together so that thriving communities for families of all economic levels can be created.
It’s a safety issue, too.
Far more Americans die in traffic accidents than in foreign wars,
and widening roads farther out just makes the problem worse.
Currently, Lowndes County
says that’s not pertinent.
Maybe we should change that.
What if we built
communities, not cul-de-sacs?
-jsq