Tag Archives: Government

Florida Southeast Connection pipeline preliminary filing with FERC

What costs less than a latte or a slice of pizza? A day’s electricity from Florida Power and Light, according to FPL VP Pam Rauch who also is NextEraEnergy VP and President of yet another pipeline company shell that wants to pull a 100 foot gas pipeline through Georgia for the benefit of Florida.

Still more names in the pipeline shell game: Pamela Rauch who filed FP14-2 for Florida Southeast Connection LLC (FSC), is Vice President, Development and External Affairs for NextEraEnergy and Vice President of External Affairs for Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) in January since 2008; on her LinkedIn profile she has the NextEra logo next to the FPL name. Here’s a nice picture of her making a case for an FPL rate increase for, among other things,

“our ability to finance the billions of dollars in improvements that keep reliability high and bills low, and that create thousands of jobs for you and your neighbors.”

Those would include “modernizations” as Spectra rep Andrea Grover put it in Moultrie like closing coal plants and building this pipeline through Georgia by Spectra Energy, a company with a corrosive-record of property damage and PCB-spilling environmental damaga for neighbors like hers in Florida. We could have more jobs for people right here through rooftop solar, and we’d get energy, reduced bills, and no risk of PCB or other spills.

What do you think about this, neighbors in Georgia? Maybe you’d like to get the Lowndes County Commission to get Spectra and maybe FSC to come explain themselves?

FERC file list for FP14-2 and text of the preliminary filing approval for Florida Southeast Connection: Continue reading →

WCTV on the pipeline

Spectra said “more rural” “lessens stakeholder impact”. What do you think about that, rural landowners whose land Spectra wants? County Chairman Bill Slaughter said the most positive thing he’s said so far, “we’re going to be looking out for the citizens of Lowndes County”, about this natural gas pipeline potentially ripping a 100 foot right of way through this county and many others in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama for the benefit of Florida Power and Light. And Valdosta, you’re not for sure out of the pipeline path: remember FERC could choose that Option B through Valdosta that is Spectra’s alternate route.

Option B by WCTV

James Buechele wrote for WCTV yesterday, Pipeline Would Cut Through Florida & Georgia, Continue reading →

Sabal Trail pipeline preliminary filing with FERC

Look at the other company names in this filing: Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transco), Florida Southeast Connection, LLC (FSC), and Merjent, Inc. And another one, since filer Lisa A. Connolly is listed by Spectra as with Gulfstream Natural Gas System, LLC. Oh, and she’s also General Manager, Spectra Energy Transmission, according to Center for Houston’s Future. United Way of Houston says she’s General Manager, Rates & Certificates for the Spectral puppet master, Spectra Energy.

All three shells, Sabal Trail, Transco, and FSC, are hoping to get a common environmental rubberstamp with Merjent ghost-writing their Spectral document:

Transco- and FSC-sponsored projects are requesting separate pre-filing reviews. However, you have indicated that these three projects are connected actions and, as such, my staff will perform a single environmental review of these projects and will prepare one environmental impact statement that addresses all three projects….

My staff has reviewed the proposals submitted for the selection of one third-party contractor to assist us in preparing the National Environmental Policy Act documentation required for the Sabal Trail, Transco, and FSC Projects. We have selected Merjent, Inc. (Merjent) as the third-party contractor to work under the direct supervision and control of the Commission staff for all three projects. I request that you, Transco and FSC proceed with executing a contract with Merjent so work may begin as soon as possible.

FERC file list for PF14-1 and text of the letter: Continue reading →

Videos: Health, insurance, library, and alcohol @ LCC 2013-10-21

Vice Chair Richard Raines ran the work session, calling the meeting to order and moving briskly through the first item (minutes for approval). Commissioners asked questions on most of the other items. -gretchen

In the Library item Commissioners discovered even they didn’t get the whole board packet. After the meeting, Gretchen filed an open records request for the agenda packet, but if the county runs true to form she won’t get it until after they vote in the Regular Session tomorrow evening at 5:30 PM. Insurance plan and health plan took more than 20 minutes, with many questions from Commissioners.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Striping and citing @ LCC 2013-10-08

Catching up with the Regular Session of 8 October 2013, why is the county going to pay $150/month for a traffic signal and $2200/month for offramp lighting (both at Exit 22, North Valdosta Road) when they could install solar panels and batteries once and pay nothing ongoing?

They tabled Nottinghill like the Planning Commission did. They voted to let Barrington subdivision sprawl into the county with no conditions, taking staff’s recommendation instead of one about a fence by the Planning Commission.. They voted to rotate the mostly ceremonial Vice Chairman position every eight months. They decided on a price for tentants in the Leila Ellis Building and will get around to drawing up a lease agreement. Commissioners finally did get that list of roads for striping. Fiddling changes to percentages evidence for juvenile justice and hardware and software for fining people coming off of I-75.

Here’s the agenda with links to the videos and a few notes. See also videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Cancelled due to lack of agenda items: Valdosta City Council meeting @ VCC 2013-10-24

The internal email from the City Clerk (see below) has a bit more detail than the website notice.

From: Teresa Bolden
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 4:26 PM
Subject: COUNCIL MEETING CANCELLED

Good afternoon — I just wanted to let you know that the Council Meeting scheduled for October 24th has been cancelled due to a lack of Agenda Items.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks! Teresa
Teresa S. Bolden, CMC
City Clerk
P. O. Box 1125
Valdosta, GA 31603-1125
Phone: (229) 259-3503
Fax: (229) 259-5411

-jsq

Health, insurance, library, and alcohol @ LCC 2013-10-21

The county is considering an insurance plan ( Section 125 or cafeteria or flexible benefit), presumably related to the health plan they’re also considering. They may abandon Green Lane. The only family living on Green Lane appears to be Alphonso Simmons Jr.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Press freedom is not opposed to freedom –AP

Press freedom is an essential part of liberty, and without liberty there is no security. It’s good to see the CEO of AP speaking up about this, after Julian Assange, Bruce Schneier, and Benjamin Franklin.

Colleen Slevin wrote for AP yesterday, AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a ‘false choice’,

Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free press and national security create a “false choice” that weakens democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government overreach that has had a chilling effect on efforts to hold leaders accountable, the president and CEO of The Associated Press said Saturday.

Gary Pruitt told the 69th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association that the U.S. Justice Department’s secret seizure of records of thousands of telephone calls to and from AP reporters in 2012 is one of the most blatant violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution the 167-year-old news cooperative has ever encountered.

The Justice Department action involving the AP resonated far beyond the U.S., including Continue reading →

Nukes have always been a government sponsored boondogle as cover for nuclear weapons production –John Pate

From Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace and Matsutaro Shoriki founding the Japanese nuclear industry to Shinzo Abe’s international nuclear salesmanship, nuclear power has always been a whitewash for nuclear weapons, with “peaceful” nukes a boondoggle for big corps subsidized by taxpayers and ratepayers. Yet the sun is rising around the world, on Japan as well as on the U.S.

U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower kicked it off with his “Atoms for Peace” speech at the UN, 8 December 1953,

The Atomic Energy Agency could be made responsible for the impounding, storage, and protection of the contributed fissionable and other materials. The ingenuity of our scientists will provide special safe conditions under which such a bank of fissionable material can be made essentially immune to surprise seizure.

The more important responsibility of this Atomic Energy Agency would be to devise methods whereby this fissionable material would be allocated to serve the peaceful pursuits of mankind. Experts would be mobilized to apply atomic energy to the needs of agriculture, medicine, and other peaceful activities. A special purpose would be to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world. Thus the contributing powers would be dedicating some of their strength to serve the needs rather than the fears of mankind….

Against the dark background of the atomic bomb, the United States does not wish merely to present strength, but also the desire and the hope for peace.

And “Atoms for Peace” was part of an organized government PR campaign (“Operation Candor”) about Soviet nuclear weapons; see http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/atoms_for_peace.html”>Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library for sources. Operation Candor was replaced by Operation Soothing Syrup (I am not making this up), according to Continue reading →

Fracking at VSU

It’s good to see fracking reviewed in the VSU Spectator, including that it’s coming to Georgia unless we stop it, and we should stop it. It’s unfortunate the story ends with a bad idea when there’s a much better idea already rapidly being deployed: solar power.

Stephen Cavallaro wrote yesterday for the VSU Spectator, Fracking hits Georgia,

Fracking, the process of harvesting the environmentally unfriendly natural gas called shale that is being pushed by the government, plows its way through Georgia.

More like being pushed by fossil fuel companies who have bought too many politicians.

In March, I discussed a deal backed by the government between British-owned Centrica and American-owned Cheniere. The agreement was that Cheniere would spread toxic chemicals across America in order to fuel millions of British homes.

Kind of like Continue reading →