Category Archives: Safety

letter to city council –Matt Flumerfelt

Received today. -jsq
From: “Matt Flumerfelt”
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:58:56 -0500

My Dear Mayor, City Manager, and City Council Members,

You who I know to be men and women of principle, you should know by now I have no axe to grind, no agenda except to see justice done, no desire but to benefit the people of this fair community. I ask you to please put the brakes on the Industrial Authority and convince them that the Wiregrass Power Biomass Electric Generating Plant may be complying with the current laws and clean air requirements of Georgia, but it is still not safe. Opening this plant is not in the best interest of our community.

We are at an important crossroads in our nation’s history,

Continue reading →

VDT Civics Lesson on How to Stop a Biomass Plant

The VDT explains how to effect change, if anyone is listening. Editorial, 13 Jan 2010, Powerless to stop the power plant:
This week as the rhetoric around the proposed biomass facility has continued heating up, leading up to last night’s forum, one of the main themes has been that “government should do something.”

While the Times does not condone or condemn Chairman Paulk’s actions in the commission meeting Tuesday night, understanding the situation may help shed light on the issue. The county is powerless to do anything to stop this power plant. The only governmental entity with any power over the project is the city, and that’s only in the form of the services being extended and the water being sold to the company, as well as the sewage sludge that’s being burned. They too are powerless at this point to stop it.

The editorial continues with the tired old excuse “they can be sued”. Don’t they have insurance for that? If the whole thing goes as bad as some opponents predict, they could be sued for the kind of financial disaster that faces Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

There is one governmental entity that does have the power. Ah, here it is: Continue reading →

The issue of the proposed biomass incinerator is far from over –Dr. Noll

LAKE has reviewed the allegedly “threatening” letter Chairman Paulk referred to in his interrogation of Dr. Noll, and we find nothing alarming about a wakeup call, so we have posted it on LAKE’s website. More on that later. -jsq
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:05:59 -0500
From: noll_family
To: apaulk@lowndescounty.com, jevans@lowndescounty.com, rraines@lowndescounty.com, cpowell@lowndescounty.com CC: noll_family@bellsouth.net, kay.harris@gaflnews.com, “John S. Quarterman” <jsq@quarterman.org>
Subject: Re: Tuesday’s Meeting

Dear Chairman Paulk and Commissioners.

I again would like to extend my invitation as President of WACE to the upcoming event this Thursday (see attachment).

The issue of the proposed biomass incinerator is far from over and concerned citizens of Lowndes County and Valdosta will use their constitutional rights to (respectfully) speak up at future meetings, as they have done in the past.

Continue reading →

Paulk interrogates Noll

Last night the County Commission Chairman turned a routine event invitation into front page news in the VDT this morning: http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x1162624684/Paulk-No-more-biomass:
Lowndes County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk called a halt Tuesday evening to commissioners hearing biomass comments during public portions of regular board meetings.
LAKE has videos; here’s a playlist, and here it is embedded: Continue reading →

‘Mr. Lofton has no proof whatsoever that biomass is “safe”.’ –Dr. Noll

Since Brad Lofton has once again wrapped himself in a self-imposed cloak of silence, Dr. Noll gets the last word, including two attachments, which you can find here. -jsq
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:10:58 +0000

Good evening everyone.

It is obvious by now that Mr. Lofton has no proof whatsoever that biomass is “safe”. He does not have one statement by a medical organization, not one scholarly publication he can share with us that backs up his claim. (Coincidentally, the same is true for other claims, as the event on January 13 will show.)

Members of WACE (and others in the community) have tried to receive proof

Continue reading →

Brad Lofton’s memory fails him again

On 28 Dec 2010 Brad Lofton wrote:
No one but WACE has made any claims about our efforts to substantiate this project.
Who are all these people, then, asking questions at the VLCIA’s 6 Dec 2010 event?

For example, this one, following up about the Environmental Impact Study he requested back at the EPD air quality hearing (see video of that event). He didn’t get an answer then, and at VLCIA’s 6 Dec event he still only got allusions to studies and standards that were not produced.

You can see Brad Lofton in that video, listening. Did he forget so quickly?

What about SAVE’s event at VSU at which Dr. Sammons spoke? What about the well-attended Biomass Town Hall that Pastor Angela Manning organized? And other events.

What about my question at the 6 Dec 2010 VLCIA board meeting? Continue reading →

“In other words, you do not have any proof!” –Noll to Lofton

Continuing the Noll-Lofton email exchange: eight messages in this post. -jsq
From: Michael G. Noll
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 23:42:44 +0000

Mr. Lofton.

Let’s remain focused on the health risks associated with your biomass project, the most important issue for our community. (WACE will deal with other claims you make, yet can’t back up with scientific studies, on January 13.)

The only thing the public has received in regard to your claim that biomass is safe are your “assurances” and the testimony by a hired gun, who is not even a medical professional, and who also could not back up his claim. No scientific studies. No statements by medical organizations. No links to scholarly publications. Nothing.

At the same time,

Continue reading →

“folks come into the community.” –Col. Ricketts responding to WACE in VLCIA board meeting

Previously I promised to post the rest of what Col. Ricketts and Brad Lofton said about biomass in the 21 Dec 2010 VLCIA board meeting.

In these two videos, Col. Ricketts responds to materials sent to VLCIA by WACE. He dismisses certain material as being from Massachusetts or being from “folks come into the community.” That’s rather rich, since as near as I can tell, all of VLCIA’s “expert” panelists at their 6 Dec 2010 event were from not from around here. Some were from states a thousand miles from here. Maybe somebody can transcribe Brad Lofton’s enumeration of those “experts” from the board meeting, since as near as I can tell VLCIA has provided no written list of them. And of course Sterling Planet is located in Atlanta, not Lowndes County.

In the first video, Col. Ricketts says he’s responding to WACE materials: Continue reading →

“no way shape or form” –Brad Lofton on Dr. Teaf

A week after Brad Lofton failed to produce evidence and offered to file Dr. Noll’s correspondence “in the appropriate file”, VLCIA has still not published the videos or slides from their 6 Dec 2010 event at the Rainwater Conference Center.

However, Brad Lofton and Col. Ricketts summarized that event for the VLCIA board at their recent board meeting, and they never presented any actual evidence there, either.

Brad Lofton said his toxicologist says the biomass plant in “no way shape or form” will cause health problems. Then he rattled off a long list of supporters of a Gainesville biomass plant. The rest of this post has videos of what he and Col. Ricketts said, plus screenshots of each of Dr. Teaf’s slides: see if you can find the details. Continue reading →

“we will make sure they get in the appropriate file.” –Brad Lofton

Mr. Lofton refusing to respond to Dr. Noll’s latest. -jsq
From: “blofton@industrialauthority.com” <blofton@industrialauthority.com>,
To: “Michael G. Noll”, “Mary B. Gooding”, “Ricketts, Allan” <aricketts@industrialauthority.com>, “Copeland, Roy”, “‘John S. Quarterman'”, “Susan R. Wehling”, Kay Harris
Subject: RE: Wiregrass Power, LLC
Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2010 14:01:51 -0500

Dr. Noll-

Please feel free to continue sending e-mails, and we will make sure they get in the appropriate file. We appreciate your passion for one of our projects. As I mentioned yesterday, we’re enthusiastically moving forward at this time, and we will be breaking ground in the Spring.

Thanks,
BL
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone