It’s a bad week for Sabal Trail and its proposed fracked methane pipeline,
with three back-to-back protests today alone (March and Protest in Valdosta, GA plus Development Authority meeting, and Protest at Sabal Trail Open House in Jasper, FL, plus Hamilton and Suwannee County Commission meetings)
after one yesterday (at Albany Open House and Dougherty County Commission) and more to come. Continue reading
Category Archives: WACE
Videos: GP Investments, Hahira, Pipeline, Alapaha Water Trail @ LCC 2014-09-09
Five
citizens spoke, on topics including
the “horrible wretched smell” from ADS,
the
Sabal Trail pipeline,
the proposed local charter school,
and
the board packet and the Alapaha River Water Trail.
Chairman Bill Slaughter asserted there had been nineteen applicants
for the
Planning Commission appointment and seemed to think the public
should be happy about that, having learned it presumably by telepathy.
He didn’t divulge who those applicants were, and the only one
in the board packet (charming young white guy Brad Folsom)
was appointed after somebody reminded
the Chairman to at least get a motion first.
They also appointed Commissioner Joyce Evans to the
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
On the
GP Investments water rezoning,
County Planner Jason Davenport didn’t know whether there had been
a dump site there or where the well would go, but they approved it anyway.
They also approved the bookkeeping
ULDC updates for Special Events, Zoning Map, Fees
and they have since put the new zoning map online!
They approved unanimously the annual prisoner work detail contract without even mentioning the cost. And unanimously with no discussion they approved the Hahira extratorial request.
Here’s the agenda with links to the videos and some notes. See also the board packet, obtained for you by LAKE through an open records request, and the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session, which have quite a bit more information, including applicants for appointment speaking.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Videos: Candidates, Landowners, Methane and Solar Power @ SpectraBusters 2014-03-29
Candidates for Lowndes County Commission went on the record ( Mark Wisenbaker and Tom Hochschild both running for District 3, and Norman Bennett and Gretchen Quarterman both running for District 5), plus a statement by County Chairman Bill Slaughter, in addition to essential background information from directly affected landowners in the audience and from the panelists on why the proposed Sabal Trail methane pipeline is bad for property values, is hazardous here and elsewhere, and will be obsolete in a few decades, all at a SpectraBusters panel on the Sabal Trail pipeline at VSU, Saturday 29 March 2014.
The panelists were Continue reading
There are things you can do about the Sabal Trail Pipeline –Mario Bartoletti @ LCC 2014-03-11
Apparently the community believes the Commission thinks
there’s nothing they can do,
but Mario Bartoletti, speaking for himself and for
WACE,
said he thought there were things the Commission could do
about that 36-inch methane pipeline, and he listed some things,
at the
11 March 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Here’s the video:
There are things you can do about the Sabal Trail Pipeline –Mario Bartoletti
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 March 2014.
His list included:
Continue readingMoody Family Housing Environmental Assessment published
Spotted first by Michael G. Noll in the VDT yesterday, the document promised by Col. Ford the previous evening. A quick search finds nothing about the Nelson Hill Wells, and no mention of VSU or any of the professors there who have expressed concern and asked for access to the site to conduct an independent study.
USAF ANNOUNCES AN
ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENTIn accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act and Air Force regulations, the Air Force Civil
Engineer Center (AFCEC) has completed a Revised Draft
Environmental Assessment (EA), Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI), and a Finding of No
Practicable Alternative (FONPA) to evaluate the
consequences of the following stated proposed action:The revised Proposed Action would involve the
construction of 11 housing units for senior leadership on
a 15-acre parcel on the base and 90 units on an
approximately 60-acre parcel located northwest of the
city of Valdosta, GA on Val-Del Road (the Val-Del
Parcel). This represents a reduction Continue reading
Frack Off Spectra, We Want Solar @ LCC 2013-12-09
Some citizens spoke up before the
Lowndes County Commission meeting, even if the Commission didn’t want to hear from them during.
Videos: Solar Canopy Ceremony @ SAVE 2013-11-15
VSU’s president turns out to be a professor of environmental ethics,
as he reminded us at the
VSU Solar Canopy Ceremony 15 November 2013.
-
Danielle Jordan President of SAVE
“Anytime we use coal or natural gas we are linked to fracking and of course climate change”; see separate post.
-
Dr. Michael Noll
“Making this a green campus”; see separate post.
-
VSU President Dr. William McKinney
“I am committed to developing a culture of sustainability on this campus”; see separate post.
Here’s a video playlist:
Continue readingMaking this a green campus –Dr. Michael G. Noll @ SAVE 2013-11-15
Dr. Noll remarked on the rain falling and said of the solar canopy:
It’s multipurpose, it provides shade, it provides shelter, and it provides renewable energy, so that makes it really awesome.
He offered as story about events and world population at those times:
- 1 billion in 1783: the first hot air balloon in 1783 in Paris, France
- 2 billion in 1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first flight
-
1969: Apollo 11 landed on the moon when Dr. Noll was 8 years old
- 1973: Oil crisis
- 4 billion in 1977: Jimmy Carter installed first solar panels on White House
- 1981: Ronald Reagan took down those solar panels
- 7 billion now: Accelerating climate change
He said we’re entering a second solar age,
the first one being the fossilized solar power of fossil fuels.
He mentioned the solar powered long flights of the
Solar Impulse
airplane as an example of hope, and an example of accelerating change.
Then you know what we are capable of, what we can do.
He concluded: Continue reading
From fracking to pipelines –Michael G. Noll
LTE in the VDT today. I added the images and the links. -jsq
Albert Einstein once said that “the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” This philosophy can be applied to countless social and political issues and speaks of the dangers of apathy. Add to this situation a lack of information and our society is truly in danger, as companies like SPECTRA Energy not only count on our apathy, but will also try to hoodwink us.
The Sabal Trail Pipeline currently discussed in our community is really part of a larger story, a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking allows companies like Halliburton to free oil and gas trapped in geologic formations, but in a fashion that is extremely dangerous to our environment (especially
groundwater aquifers) and human health. Exempt from the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, fracking has created countless problems for communities from Pennsylvania to Texas, and may soon be coming to north Georgia.
The gas pipeline under discussion is literally a tentacle 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.
Continue reading
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