Tag Archives: UGA

Model Solar Ordinance Public Workshop, Tifton, GA 2018-03-12

A few years ago, a doctor in Valdosta applied for a variance for solar panels over his parking lot. The Zoning Board of Approvals (ZBOA) tabled it, because Valdosta’s Land Development Regulations (LDR) did not permit that. I think he then made the panels connected to his building, which put them a different and already-permitted category.

What if Valdosta and other local governments updated their codes to enable parking lot and other solar power?

When:

4-6PM Monday, March 12, 2018

Where: National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Library (NESPAL)
2356 Rainwater Road, Tifton, GA 31793

Event: eventbrite

What: “The Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, and University of Georgia have come together to develop a model solar zoning ordinance to provide county and city officials and other decision-makers in Georgia access to best practices and a common baseline from which to work. We will produce a comprehensive document that addresses multiple scales and types of solar energy systems that counties and cities can adopt and adapt to their needs.”

More about the event: Continue reading →

Videos: Development Authority’s BRAT @ VLCIA 2015-06-16

They meet again tonight with a bylaw amendment scheduled, which is probably for extending officer terms to two years as Roy Copeland proposed. (He first suggested that at least several years ago when he was re-elected Chairman.) And their nominating committee nominated the same officers again.

Lots of dials showing targets and where they are in reaching them, which is good, because I keep getting questions about what they’re doing with all that tax money and are they doing enough to justify it.

One citizen asked about the airport and another (OK, me) handed out Alapaha River Water Trail brochures and once again suggested solar panels at the airport to turn that otherwise-unusable space into profit.

Here’s the agenda and below are LAKE videos, followed by a playlist. Continue reading →

Development Authority’s BRAT @ VLCIA 2015-06-16

Late o tonight’s agenda but big on their minds, and described and pictured by Stuart Taylor, VDT, 31 May 2015, as consisting of:

Georgia Department of Economic Development — Michelle Shaw
Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce — Myrna Ballard
University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center — Lynn Bennett
Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority — Stan Crance
Georgia Department of Labor, Valdosta Career Center — Jamon Williams
Wiregrass Georgia Technical College — Bill Tillman
Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute — Art Ford
Georgia Power Company — Scott Purvis

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority’s Business Retention Action Team, or BRAT, brings together a number of local and state organizations to offer services, information, solutions and contacts that a company might need.

“We’ve always had an existing industry program,” said Meghan Duke,VLDA marketing and community relations. “These organizations have always worked together, but now we’re formalizing it.”

Here’s the agenda:

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 5:30 p.m. Continue reading →

Videos: South Georgia Native Plant and Wild Flower Symposium at NESPAL in Tifton GA 2015-03-25

Gretchen took these LAKE videos at the South Georgia Native Plant and Wild Flower Symposium, at NESPAL, UGA, Tifton, GA. The event was sponsored by the University of Georgia and the Garden Clubs of Georgia.

Continue reading →

Does SO have a business model for energy conservation? –Dan Everett @ SO 2013-05-22

SO has done a lot about energy efficiency, but can it do more, and how will it profit by doing so? Prof. Dan Everett asked this at the 22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting.

I have Mr. Dan Everett from Athens, Georgia, and he holds 11 shares of Southern Company.

TF: Talked to Dan earlier today. Dan is a professor at the University of Georgia, right?

DE: Right.

He’s Daniel M. Everett, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, UGA Athens. The SO Annual Stockholders Meeting apparently doesn’t get many professors.

TF: Fantastic. Well, welcome.

DE: Oh, thank you very much. And as a guy who has some professional interest in this stuff, I totally applaud the research that y’all are doing on energy technologies and renewable energies and efficiency technologies because it does take a while to deploy those.
My specific question is about energy conservation. I’ve noticed Continue reading →

Highest paid public employee in Georgia?

Come on, guess! You’re right: it’s a football coach. UGA football coaching staff get even more compensation than Paul Bowers, CEO of Georgia Power, or Thomas A. Fanning, CEO of the Southern Company, let alone any insignificant college president or elected official.

If I’m reading the ESPN database right, UGA coaches get around $14 million a year, while Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers gets only Continue reading →

Plant Scherer coal ash maybe related to uranium in well water

Uranium has been found in well water near Juliette, Georgia, but tests by several different groups of researchers differ on whether it might be related to nearby coal ash from Plant Scherer. The same coal ash ponds near which some people are getting cancer from uranium in their well water. Coal ash like we have in Veolia landfill in Lowndes County.

S. Heather Duncan wrote for Macon.com yesterday, New water test results shed light on Juliette contamination,

Many Juliette residents have expressed concern that a coal ash pond at Plant Scherer, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the country, might be causing the problem. Georgia Power is majority owner and operator of the plant and its 750-acre, unlined pond filled with coal ash slurry, which can contain heavy metals such as uranium….
Since then, water samples tested by the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as a smaller group of samples tested by a group of University of Georgia graduate students, showed no pattern of contamination that could be clearly linked to groundwater flow from the coal ash pond. The samples were taken last year, but in some cases it took months for the samples to be analyzed….
On the other hand,

Continue reading →

Videos: Ham and Eggs Show 2013-02-20

The Lowndes County Ham and Eggs show is the only one in Georgia and one of only two in the country. Now, you might wonder why? Many folks are interested in good, local foods and the craft of curing meats. Well, it has to do with regulations and having the hogs slaughtered and cured in USDA certified facilities.

Years ago, men, women and children would cure the meats at home and bring the hams on the appointed day to the contest (and auction). But, now no meat can be sold Continue reading →

Watershed seminar tomorrow in Tifton

Boating, walking, birding, hunting, fishing: our watersheds provide us all that, plus what goes in upstream comes out in your drinking water. Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little Rivers: WWALS Seminar tomorrow in Tifton. Good talks, good food, good water. Y’all come!

-jsq

10:00 – 10:20	Dave Hetzel, WWALS President Welcome/Introductions
10:20 – 10:35	Karen Hendrix, WATER MATTERS: Co-Chair WATER MATTERS: Focus & Function
10:35 – 11:10	Neill Herring, Veteran Conservation Lobbyist at the GA General Assembly The Political Economy of Water Conservation in Georgia
11:10 – 11:45	Jesslyn Shields, Georgia River Network River Protection Success Stories in Georgia
11:45 – 11:55	Break
11:55 – 12:10	Bret Wagenhorst Water Trails: Conservation and Development
12:10 – 12:45	Babe McGowan, Forester Best Management Practices for Riparian Ecosystems
12:45 – 1:00	Karan Rawlins, University of Georgia SEEDN smartphone app
1:00 – 2:00	Dave Hetzel Open Discussion and Pot Luck Lunch
2:00 – 4:00pm	Walk to the Arboretum and Practice SEEDN App

WWALS Watershed Seminar
10:00 am Saturday 22 September, 2012 Seminar Room NESPAL Building 2360 Rainwater Road Tifton Campus University of Georgia
WWALS
WWALS Watershed Coalition is an Advocacy Organization working for watershed conservation of the Willacoochee, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Little River Systems watershed in south Georgia and north Florida through awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen advocacy.
Introducing WWALS Board
Dave Hetzel — President John S. Quarterman — VP Brittney Hull — Treasurer Nathan Wilkins — Secretary Gretchen Quarterman Bret Wagenhorst Garry Gentry Karan A. Rawlins Al Browning
Pot Luck Lunch
All Attendees, please bring your favorite dish to share WWALS is Providing the Main Course In the spirit of conservation please bring your own set up: Plate, fork, knife, spoon, cup

Lunch & Learn: What is Lowndes County Extension —Lake Park Chamber of Commerce

I think you have to be a member of the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce to go to this, but that might be a reason to join.

Lake Park Chamber of Commerce wrote 21 Oct 2011, Lunch & Learn: What is Lowndes County Extension:

Where: Lake Park Civic Center
123 N Essa St.
Lake Park, GA 31636
When: Wed 9 Nov 2011
from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST
Don’t miss out on this Lunch & Learn!
The Lowndes County Extension Service is a program dedicated to educating our future workforce and getting the local community involved.