People are still sick and dying in Waycross, and
answers are still few, but now there’s increasing help,
and organization at a meeting next Tuesday.
Remember
wastewater from
the Waycross SevenOut SuperFund site was sent to the Pecan Row
Landfill in Valdosta, and
we could have similar sites here, too.
Helping Waycross is helping everyone deal with toxic chemicals. -jsq
Facebook event, Meeting Announcement – Tuesday Evening, January 6, 2014, Continue reading
When a power source grows 66% a year on average people start taking notice. Few had heard of the Internet in 1993: now it’s in your pocket. In less than a decade, by 2023, solar power will generate more energy than any other U.S. source. To keep Georgia from being left behind, this is the year to change a 1973 law.
If charts like this one aren’t familiar yet, they will be in the next year or two:
Tim McDonnell, Mother Jones, 7 November 2014,
Here Comes the Sun: America’s Solar Boom, in Charts:
It’s been a bit player, but solar power is about to shine.
At 66% more per year, solar power’s current 1% of U.S. electricity next year will be 1.66%, then 2.76%, then Continue reading
Who would pass up cutting their monthly electric and transportation costs by 60%? Well, people in Georgia will get passed by unless we change an antique 1973 law.
Chris Mooney wrote for Washington Post 24 December 2014, How solar power and electric cars could make suburban living awesome again,
…the solar-EV combo may just be too good for suburbanites to pass up — no matter their political ideology. Strikingly, the new paper estimates that for a household that buys an electric vehicle and also owns a solar panel system generating enough power for both the home and the electric car, the monthly cost might be just $89 per month — compared with $255 per month for a household driving a regular car without any solar panels.
Here are videos of
swearing in the new Commissioners,
Commissioners, Mark Wisenbaker (District 3) and Scott Orenstein (District 2),
and also the re-elected Commissioner, Demarcus Marshall (District 4),
by
Senior Superior Court Judge, H. Arthur McLane, at 10 AM this morning,
19 December 2014. Continue reading
On the county’s website under News Flash aka Spotlight (but not in the county’s calendar), New County Commissioners scheduled for ceremony,
On December 19, at 10:00 a.m., Senior Superior Court Judge, H. Arthur McLane, will swear in newly elected Commissioners, Mark Wisenbaker (District 3) and Scott Orenstein (District 2). The new Commissioners will officially take office effective January 1, 2015. You are invited to attend this event to be held in the Commission Chambers, Lowndes County Administrative Building, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.
-jsq
After two years of no integrated project schedule (IPS), Georgia Power tried to get the the elected Public Service Commissioners to tell it how to enforce a contract for Plant Vogtle that Georgia Power brought to them. This video clip ends with formerly staunch pro-nuclear Commissioner H. Doug Everett saying any company that did that probably would be imprudent. And Everett also said:
We haven’t seen any results.
Georgia Power’s representative, I think Rob Trokey, said:
We have agreed haven’t we that the company does not manage this project. They oversee it, they may report to this commission the status of it, but it does not manage this project.
Answer from the Commission:
It doesn’t.
So who does? According to Georgia Power: Continue reading
Every year since about 2000 one or more solar bills have been
before the Georgia legislature to modify the
1973 Territorial Electric Service Act
to enable solar financing.
2015 could be the year one of them finally passes,
what with
influential people finally waking up
to the cost-saving and energy-independence power of solar panels.
If you want
real energy reliability, lower power bills, and local jobs,
you can help pass whichever bill gets before the legislature this year,
and right now is a good time to help draft that bill.
Here are a few recent bills.
That year even the Georgia Municipal Association fell for opposing SB 51, and ALEC and Georgia Power once again smothered it in committee. This year two people in the Valdosta City government have told LAKE of their interest in passing a solar financing bill, so that’s a big change. Continue reading
People are starting to wake up as the solar sun rises above their horizon. This could be the year the Georgia legislature finally passes a bill to amend the law that inhibits solar financing. Even the City of Valdosta seems suddenly interested in helping with that.
Michael Caputo and Grant Blankenship, GPB, 12 December 2014, (VIDEO) Will Solar Power’s Surge in Georgia Make It To Homeowners?,
Early adopter Creighton Rosental of Macon is what you’d call a solar pioneer. The early adopter said that he had the 4-kilowatt panels installed on the backyard side of his roof about five years ago. Two-thirds of the upfront cost—about $30,000—was covered by a federal tax credit and a Georgia state credit.
“They built a frame and mounted it to the roof, which was a substantial fairly substantial enterprise.” Rosental said.
Continue reading
Go away, Sabal Trail:
NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that the City of Valdosta supports the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners in their opposition to the construction of the Sabal Trail pipeline in any portion of Lowndes County. The City’s support includes concerns with fundamental property rights, the manner in which eminent domain might be utilized, and the lack of demonstrated benefit to the City and County. Furthermore, the City of Valdosta supports the Lowndes County Commission in their formal request to the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC), and to State and Federal Legislators in the effort to have Lowndes County and the State of Georgia bypassed in the construction of the proposed pipeline.
Here is Continue reading
The resolution against the Sabal Trail pipeline, including to be filed with FERC, was
passed 6 to 1 by the Valdosta City Council Thursday 11 December 2014,
supporting
the resolution the Lowndes County Commission passed unanimously Tuesday,
plus
a clause about protecting our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer; see
separate post.
John Robinson
thanked the city for a VSEB contract.
The
personal care home rezoning passed.
The
taxicab ordinance was deferred (not all cab company owners had been consulted yet), while two others passed.
Also
some bids rejected
while
others
were
approved,
a reappointment of
Tom Kurrie to the Valdosta Housing Authority,
and
recognized
employee of the month Terrial Small.
Here’s the agenda. For background, see the videos of the Tuesday Work Session, including a bomb report by Police Chief Childress. The videos from the Thursday Regular Session are linked below, followed by a video playlist.
Continue reading