Tag Archives: Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority

Far more citizens are concerned about the plant –VDT

In the VDT, Friday 25 March 2011:
“THUMBS DOWN: To area officials who continue to refer to the opponents of the biomass plant as a “fringe” group. Far more citizens are concerned about the plant than officials would like for the public to believe. Thankfully, the city council allowed them to speak at Thursday’s meeting, but the issue is not going away until their health concerns are addressed.”

A year ago the VDT was solidly in the pro biomass camp. Guess they didn’t like being fed misinformation, any more than the rest of us did. And that was before the VDT said VLCIA illegally made up a document.

Rumor has it that there’s going to be another demonstration today outside Valdosta City Hall starting at 5PM.

-jsq

VDT says VLCIA illegally made up a document

Today’s editorial in the VDT is Another Industrial Authority misstep refers to the VDT article and editorial of Sunday, and continues:
The reporter who conducted the interview with Industrial Authority Project Manager Allen Ricketts has been subsequently repeatedly contacted by Ricketts for what he deems “false reporting.” According to Ricketts, the timeline was never official and was only something the Industrial Authority threw together to appease the Times when given an official Open Records Request. Ricketts is apparently unaware that legally he cannot produce a document that does not exist to comply with said request. If he knowingly did so, as he now claims, that is a clear violation of the Open Records Act.
Presumably that would be the “Project Critical Path time-line is attached” that wasn’t actually attached to documents returned for an open records request of 17 February 2011. Hm, since VLCIA did supply such a document to the VDT, presumably it is now a VLCIA document subject to open records request, even though it was not what VLCIA told VDT it was.

Back to the VDT editorial: Continue reading →

Commissioning ceremony cancelled for Wiregrass Solar plant

Yesterday I heard that the commissioning ceremony for the Wiregrass Solar plant was cancelled by VLCIA due to impending weather. Perhaps you didn’t know it was scheduled; I didn’t. Back at the March VLCIA board meeting, they said they would discuss that “later”.

So I called Col. Ricketts this morning to see if it was back on for today, considering that the weather had already passed by. He said no, they had cancelled it, not wanting to chance having people in a tent in bad weather. He also said the press release had gone out yesterday.

I asked him to let me know when it was rescheduled, reminding him that LAKE likes to take videos of VLCIA events, and we like the Wiregrass Solar plant, so it would be a bit of free publicity for them. He said he would, and he expected it to be probably within the next couple of weeks. I asked him to send LAKE a copy of the new press release when it was sent out. He said he would.

We’ll be happy to post such a press release.

-jsq

T-SPLOST explained by Corey Hull and Ashley Paulk, tonight, LCDP

6PM tonight, Monday 4 April 2011, at Hildegard’s Cafe, 101 East Central Ave, the topic at the Lowndes County Democratic Monthly Meeting is T-SPLOST, according to their Chair Gretchen Quarterman:
Come hear Chairman Ashley Paulk and MPO Director Cory Hull give us information about T-SPLOST. The special local option tax for Transportation.
Ashley Paulk is Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission. Corey Hull is Coordinator for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO).

So you’ll have some idea what to expect, here’s Corey Hull’s explanation of T-SPLOST to VLCIA in February.

Here’s a very interesting question by Norman Bennett at that same meeting.

You can come ask questions tonight!

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Explain about the penalties if the voters don’t pass T-SPLOST? –Norman Bennett

What about those penalities Corey Hull of VLMPO mentioned when he explained T-SPLOST to VLCIA?

Norman Bennett, VLCIA board member and former chairman of the Lowndes County Commmission, asked Corey Hull:

Can you explain that again for me about the penalties if the voters don’t pass the tax? If the county’s got a project, then they’ve got to put up ten percent or whatever the percentage is?
Continue reading →

Corey Hull explains T-SPLOST to VLCIA, 15 Feb 2011

What’s this about yet another sales tax decided on by regional transportation boards and GDOT?

Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO) explained T-SPLOST at the regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA). Georgia HB 277, which was passed by the legislature and signed into law last year, calls for a 1% regional sales tax (T-SPLOST) to fund transportation projects.

The region including Lowndes County has 18 counties, Continue reading →

Just say no to biomass –VDT to VLCIA

VDT reported on Biomass plant misses deadlines, but what do they really think? The title is my paraphrase of Sunday’s editorial title, It’s all up to the Industrial Authority:
In two months, less than 60 days away, Wiregrass Power LLC is supposed to break ground on the biomass facility in Lowndes County. By now, they are supposed to have contracts with power companies to sell the electricity to and with suppliers to purchase the wood waste. They have neither, nor does the company have an agreement with the city of Valdosta to purchase the wastewater from the sewage treatment plant.
Well, the City of Valdosta could refuse to sell the wastewater. And maybe the Lowndes County Commission could exercise its fiduciary responsibility. But, sure, the Industrial Authority could just say no.
And yet the folks at the Industrial Authority appear to be rather nonchalant about the fact that this company has yet again broken its agreement. They have the power to renogiate the terms of the agreement and they also have the power to cancel it, but neither is happening. Instead, they are giving the company all the leeway they need to continue dragging this project along that the community doesn’t want.
Folks? Like Col. Ricketts? But remember, he and Lame-Duck Lofton are only Continue reading →

More about Open Records Requests

How do we know what agreements the Industrial Authority has with Wiregrass Power LLC? Open records requests!

Some local councils don’t even have open records request forms, and many don’t have them posted online. But that doesn’t have to stop you!

As mentioned, there are plenty of open records requests still to be filed. If you want suggestions, inquire at information at l-a-k-e.org (the dashes are part of the address). For how, see the previous post on the Open Records Act. Send LAKE the results of your request and we may publish them. If you want your name mentioned in a LAKE post as the open records requestor, please say so.

Also remember that any communications you may receive from an elected Continue reading →

Biomass plant misses deadlines –VDT

David Rodock writes on the front page of the Sunday VDT today (the highest profile news source for the region) that Biomass plant misses deadlines: Will the plant move forward?
The Wiregrass Power LLC biomass facility was supposed to have met a number of project goals established by the Economic Development Agreement (EDA) between the company and the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority by April 1, 2011. According to Allen Ricketts, Industrial Authority project manager, those goals still have yet to be met.

The specific goals in the agreement were that a “finalized engineering procurement construction contract” would be ready by March 31. By April 1, the company was supposed to have finalized both a power purchase/transmission agreement along with a wastewater/biosolids agreement.

They’ve been slipping deadlines for quite some time. According to page 4 of that EDA (which you can see for yourself on the LAKE web site): Continue reading →

Private Prisons failing in Texas, leaving locals in lurch

John Burnett writes for NPR that Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns In Trouble:
It seemed like a good idea at the time when the west Texas farming town of Littlefield borrowed $10 million and built the Bill Clayton Detention Center in a cotton field south of town in 2000. The charmless steel-and-cement-block buildings ringed with razor wire would provide jobs to keep young people from moving to Lubbock or Dallas.

For eight years, the prison was a good employer. Idaho and Wyoming paid for prisoners to serve time there. But two years ago, Idaho pulled out all of its contract inmates because of a budget crunch at home. There was also a scandal surrounding the suicide of an inmate.

Shortly afterward, the for-profit operator, GEO Group, gave notice that it was leaving, too. One hundred prison jobs disappeared. The facility has been empty ever since.

The pullquote: Continue reading →