The sinkholes are not just in
Michael McCormick’s garage.
According to groundscan radar by a VSU professor and students,
the sinkholes are also
spreading
under his
front steps and
his house.
The steps are sinking and there’s a crack on the wall inside the house.
Continue readingReceived yesterday on WCTV on biomass site VLCIA v. Sterling Planet. -jsq
Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) have made it clear from
the start that biomass plants have a number of issues: 1) biomass plants bear significant health risks; 2) biomass plants waste enormous amounts of water; 3) biomass plants are risky investments in an increasingly competitive energy sector; and 4) biomass plants contribute to global warming.
In the light of rising global temperatures, worsening drought conditions, and dropping prices for solar panels, an increasing number of people are understanding these simple truths.
The Industrial Authority has to be congratulated for the courage to admit that energy from biomass plants is indeed more expensive than energy from solar plants, and we have not even figured in the costs associated with the consequences of air pollution coming from biomass plants.
(For more information on biomass plants, here a testimony I recently gave: http://www.bredl.org/pdf3/120828_WACE-Comments-Docket_NO-E-100_SUB113.pdf)
Although this point has already been made earlier, note again that solar plants are much better alternatives, economically and environmentally: they do not pollute our air, they do not need any water, and a huge spill of solar energy is simply called a sunny day … of which we have plenty here in the south.
-Michael G. Noll
-jsq
In what the County Planner calls “central Lowndes County” there’s
a sinkhole in a garage,
deeper than a hoe handle.
Michael McCormick called me up yesterday and told me about this
sinkhole in his garage at 4326 Norman Hall Road.
Naturally he’s a bit concerned about this problem.
He thinks his insurance may cover it, but he’s looking for other
options in case.
So far, nobody seems to know what to do.
Which can’t be the case:
this isn’t the first sinkhole in Lowndes County.
We’re helping get the word out to help find whoever does know more about
sinkholes and what resources are available to deal with them.
It’s not only straight down and under the carport concrete.
Continue reading
WCTV does what VDT dares not:
Greg Gullberg mentioned last year’s biomass protests in the first sentence of this
story about the Industrial Authority threatening to sue Sterling Planet
to get clear title to the former proposed biomass plant site.
Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Dispute Over Land For Proposed Biomass Plant,
The vocal protests in Valdosta are long gone, but the controversy over the proposed Biomass plant lingers. This time not for concerns of health safety, but over the land.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority plans to sue Wiregrass Power LLC to end its contract.
Ban the Burn Go 100% Solar.
The proposed Biomass Plant was supposed to be a low-cost source of efficient energy. Supporters say it would have created hundreds of jobs. But opponents say the health risks include cancer, lung disease and respiratory disease.
750,000 gallons of water each day
Tell me, Col. Ricketts, doesn’t it feel better to be visibly on the side of the people, instead of having to defend a bad business deal?
Continue readingIt’s not just VLCIA’s Community Assessment that argues for a public transportation system in Valdosta-Lowndes County. Getting people to work without requiring cars is an even bigger problem in larger metropolitan areas, but many of the issues are the same here.
Nancy Andrews and Audrey Choi wrote for Huffpo 20 Aug 2012,
How Transit-Oriented Development Can Help Get America To Work,
To truly get America back to work, we have to focus on more than
jobs, jobs, jobs. It is about integrating jobs, transportation, housing and community services in ways that work equally well for lower- and upper-income families.
Vibrant communities where residents can walk to shops, restaurants, grocery stores and community services; and where public transportation provides convenient connections between home and work can be built. Planning community development with public transportation as a central consideration — transit-oriented development or TOD — can spur economic growth, sometimes dramatically. But that approach has not been systematically applied to communities of all income levels.
For these reasons, it is important for government, public transit agencies, nonprofits, foundations and the private sector to come together so that thriving communities for families of all economic levels can be created.
It’s a safety issue, too.
Far more Americans die in traffic accidents than in foreign wars,
and widening roads farther out just makes the problem worse.
Currently, Lowndes County
says that’s not pertinent.
Maybe we should change that.
What if we built
communities, not cul-de-sacs?
-jsq
Compare 6 arrested of about 25 demonstrators against Green Mountain Power’s wind energy project on Lowell Mountain vs. 130 arrested of a thousand protesting in March against the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.
Also notice what they were protesting. The location on Lowell Mountain, as damaging the mountain top and being unsightly, plus:
“I feel like they [GMP] only went through the public process to a point, and the process is flawed,” said Young, a self-employed logger and farmer from Westfield. “Community members don’t have the resources to have a strong voice. It’s complex, expensive, and lawyers don’t want to do it.”
At Vermont Yankee, the protests were against radioactive leaks, nuclear waste, and this:
Yankee’s initial 40-year license expired Wednesday. The plant is still running, under a 20-year extension from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission—despite a vote by the state senate not to allow the plant to continue operating in Vermont.
A common theme is lack of democratic oversight, although even that seems greater in degree for Vermont Yankee. We are familiar with that issue in Georgia, where there’s an election going on for Public Service Commissioners and legislators.
Another common theme is that it’s complex and expensive, which is indeed an issue for big wind projects. Power companies like them as big as they can build them because that fits their corporate bureaucracy. They can instead be smaller and distributed. Nuclear power plants, on the other hand, are always big, bureaucratic, and expensive.
While I thoroughly sympathize with the Lowell Mountain protesters about the mountain top issues, I don’t see anything about them protesting the risk of a wind spill. Risks of nuclear radioactive contamination are very real, and are among the Vermont Yankee protesters’ main issues. Wind off the coast of Georgia would not have that problem.
-jsq
A house burned down this morning on US 122 east of the Boys Ranch. Multiple Lowndes County Fire and Rescue trucks were there, one from as far away as Shiloh, plus Moody Fire Emergency Services, an SGMC Paramedic Unit, and a Sheriff’s deputy directing traffic. The location was 5522 E Highway 122.
Here’s Part 1 of 3:
Fire on U.S. 122, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 August 2012 Part 1 of 3:
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 August 2012.
The SGMC unit appeared to have nothing to do, Continue reading
The VDT apparently declined to print this LTE submission. I added the links and images. -jsq
Continue readingWhen I opened a recent “Sunday Business” section of the Valdosta Daily Times I was expecting to see a thorough discussion of the pros and cons of smart meters. After all, the headline read: “Smart Meters — Fact or Fiction?” What I found, however, was quite different. In case you missed it, here a summary of the highlights:
According to Georgia Power “concerns about smart meters are
nothing more than myths.” These concerns range from health risks and increased bills to an invasion of your privacy and house fires started by electrical shorts. Myths or not, the best way to counter customers’ concerns would be to provide studies that, for example, show that smart meters are less dangerous than cellular phones or that electricity bills have not increased as a result of smart meters. However, customers only get assurances which, frankly, do nothing to dispel existing concerns.
Georgia Power also claims that it is using smart meters to be more environmentally
Back in April Southern Company CEO Thomas A. Fanning gave yet another version of his stump speech that we saw at the shareholders’ meeting in May and that he’s video blogging on YouTube now. In April he emphasized a huge assumption with no evidence; an assumption that may just not be true.
National Energy Policy – Part 5 of 7 (30 April 2012)
This much we know: demand for electricity will increase. The Energy Information Administration projects an 18% increase in electricity demand nationally and in the southeast, we’re as expecting as much as a 25% increase over the next 20 years. So we know the need is real, immediate, and critical.
Really? Here’s recent electricity use and nearterm forcast by the U.S. Energy Information Administration:
Sure looks to me like there was a big dip in 2009, and projected use in 2013 is no higher than in 2007. What was that about “immediate”?
Now you may say, of course, that’s a recession. But what about this?
Continue reading 
Since our coverage of the Southern Company (SO) shareholders meeting in May, SO CEO Thomas A. Fanning has started his own YouTube video series, “Why Energy Matters to You”, in which he tries to head off a real energy policy by advocating SO’s nuclear and coal strategy instead.
SO PR 28 June 2012, Southern Company Chairman Launches CEO Social Media Video Series,
Southern Company SO today unveiled the first in a series of CEO Web videos examining issues critical to the electric utility industry. The video series, “Why Energy Matters to You,” is available on YouTube and features Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning. Fanning announced the Web series during an appearance at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo.
Here are his two episodes so far. His theme:
“I believe that every American deserves a supply of clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy.”
Who could argue with that? It’s just SO’s ideas of how to do it that provoke some argument.
Here’s Part 1 of 2:
Why Energy Matters to You —Thomas A. Fanning Part 1 of 2
His question:
“How can better energy create more economic freedom for the American people?”
His answer is in Part 2 of 2:
Continue reading