Continue readingEveryone wants jobs for those who need them and jobs for young people so they don’t have to go somewhere else to find one. But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water those people need to drink?
At the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner Brad Lofton gave a speech which I liked, and I told him so afterwards, because it was mostly about real industry with real jobs that that the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) has brought into the area.
But it had a problem:
Tag Archives: Mary Gooding
How much has VLCIA paid for Sterling Energy travel?
![](http://cdn3.pathable.com/user_profiles/996108371/photo/medium/1291217967.jpg)
According to the VDT, “Biomass plant said good for Valdosta and Georgia,” by Johnna Pinholster, 4 Nov 2010, “Gilbert Waldman is vice president and general manager of Sterling Energy Assets” and “Sterling Energy brought in Robert McCann, Jr. from Golder Associates Inc.” It’s curious that VLCIA paid for a room for the general manager of Sterling Energy, which I thought VLCIA said was the principle investor in the project. Seems like more we, we, we to me. This is yet more evidence that VLCIA and Sterling Energy do indeed have a public-private partnership. In which case, why can Sterling and VLCIA claim Sterling’s wood fuel sourcing study is proprietary?
The VDT also said:
On Tuesday, Waldman, an environmental consultant, members of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority board, and Brad Lofton, executive director of the authority, sat down to discuss the plant, how it works and how clean it will be.Did VLCIA also pay for rooms for Waldman and McCann for that Tuesday 2 Nov 2010 meeting? How much money has VLCIA spent bringing them down here?
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VLCIA Payments for 6 Dec 2010 biomass “Forum”
![](http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/iBeVljkejo4/default.jpg)
Here is a summary of the expenses: Continue reading
Where is the Wiregrass Solar plant?
![](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5015/5459156645_e02b07ae78_t.jpg)
The groundbreaking for the Wiregrass Solar plant is Monday 21 February, rumor has it at 11:30AM, but where? My understanding is that the site is at the back of the City of Valdosta’s Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment property, which is
View Larger Map |
However, VLCIA’s land proposed for the Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant is around the corner off of Inner Perimeter Road east of Deloach Road: It’s conceivable that VLCIA might hold the ceremony on its own property. See their map below: Continue reading
Wiregrass Solar LLC –J. Stephen Gupton, VLCIA, 15 Feb 2011
![](http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/jc-NQ6jfYgE/default.jpg)
Here’s the video:
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director,
Allan Ricketts Program Manager, 15 February 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Turning on Wiregrass Solar –Col. Ricketts
![](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5017/5456318667_fd2f6bee1e_m.jpg)
Here you can see his timeline slide.
It’s a bit hard to read, but he mentioned at least these items:
- Site preparation starts 16 Feb 2011.
- Groundbreaking Monday 21st Feb 2011.
- Commissioning ceremony and turn the switch on Wednesday 16th April 2011.
VLCIA board meeting today
All Meetings will be held at 5:30pm in the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street, unless otherwise notified.I would post a link to their agenda, if they had it online, but they don’t.
Meanwhile, here they are.
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![]() Roy Copeland |
Tom Call |
![]() Mary Gooding |
![]() Norman Bennett |
![]() Jerry Jennett, Chairman |
Why “jobs, jobs, jobs” isn’t good enough for the public good and the general welfare –John S. Quarterman
![](http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/xOJQWjr6fHA/default.jpg)
This is the problem:
“What I believe the three most important things are, not only for our community, and our state, and our country, but for our country, thats jobs number 1, jobs number 2, and jobs.”
speaking at the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner,
Lake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 January 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
I shook Brad Lofton’s hand after that speech and told him I liked it, because I did: in general it was a positive speech about real accomplishments. I’ve also pointed out I had a few nits with that speech. This one is more than a nit. This one is basic philosophy and policy.
Now one would expect an executive director of an industrial authority to be all about jobs. And that would be OK, if Continue reading
Contracts between VLCIA and Wiregrass Power LLC
![](http://www.industrialauthority.com/images/stories/steve(1).jpg)
Update 10 Feb 2011: JPEG images of each page are also available now.
Here they are, as PDFs generated from scans of paper copies.
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Cover letter from
J. Stephen Gupton, JR., P.C. (VLCIA Attorney, pictured here), 19 Aug 2010
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Restatement and Modifications to Development Agreement
- Restatement and Modifications to Indenture of Lease
These documents were obtained by an open records request by a citizen who then gave copies to LAKE.
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VLCIA biomass website
![](http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/vCXYiuoSoYE/default.jpg)
Update 24 Jan 2011 7:13 PM: Bruce J. Bendl found the FAQ.
In this video,
Brad Lofton tells the VLCIA board that staff have put a lot
of time and effort into building a website to answer
frequently asked questions about biomass, including
videos from the 6 Dec 2010 event.
When I congratulated Lofton on this
and asked the board for an answer to one of those qeustions,
I didn’t think to ask for a URL for this new website,
figuring it would be announced on
the main VLCIA website.
If it’s there, I don’t see it.
However, VLCIA has sprouted
a YouTube channel
in which the long-awaited professional videos from the 6 Dec 2010 event
have appeared, six weeks after the event.
by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
More on that below. Meanwhile,
LAKE’s videos of the entire event have been on YouTube
since a few days after the event.
Continue reading