Johnna Pinholster writes in the
the Valdosta Daily Times (paper 25 Oct,

online 27 Oct 2010)
about the

the SAVE Biomass Forum at VSU:

A medical atrocity.

That is the phrase Dr. William Sammons used to described biomass energy
plants at Monday night’s biomass forum at Valdosta State University’s
Student Union theater.

Dr. Sammons answered many of the unanswered concerns about the biomass
incinerator, and,

unlike the lack of peer-reviewed evidence from the plant proponents:

Sammons was meticulous in pointing out where his data came from citing
scientific studies and journals and even the Environmental Protection
Agency, along with health organizations like the American Cancer Society
and the American Lung Association.

The people who approve the plant and the people who own the biomass plant
will not being paying the medical bills in the future, Sammons said,
community members and their children will be.

The reason the country has seen an uptick in the building of biomass
plants in recent years relates to the number of tax incentives, both
locally and at the state and national levels, that have become available,
he said.

When taken at cost, biomass plants are just as expensive as nuclear
plants, Sammons said.

If the more than 300 proposed biomass plants come online the federal
government, Sammons said, will be on the hook to spend $250 billion
dollars through tax incentives and tax credits.

“That’s your dollars,” Sammons said.

And that’s despite repeated assertions from the Valdosta-Lowndes
County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) that the local biomass incinerator
will use no tax dollars.

How about we repurpose those subsidies, and
the massive fossil fuel subsidies,
to real clean energy, such as wind offshore, solar inland, and efficiency
and conservation everywhere?

As Dr. Sammons concluded:

Sammons told the audience that this was a preventative issue and that
other means of energy production and conservation are available.

Currently, Germany leads the world in solar installations, he said.

Valdosta, Sammons said, gets 70 percent more sunlight than any city in Germany.

“You have another source of energy here,” he said.

There’s

much more in the VDT article; the whole thing is well worth reading.
More pictures in the flickr set. Videos forthcoming.

-jsq