Author Archives: John S. Quarterman

Volunteers for Lowndes County Board of Equalization

Update 2014-11-21: Brad Shealy from the District Attorney’s office called back. The reason there was no decision at day before yesterday’s Grand Jury meeting was there were no applicants. He said qualifications include you must be 18, a high school graduate, and a property owner, presumably meaning real estate. Plus you have to go to Tifton or Athens for a 40 hour course. Which he said is better than it used to be when the only location for the course was Athens: Tifton is close enough to drive up and back daily. If you want to serve, please contact the Clerk of Court (see below for her number).

When will new members be appointed to the Board of Equalization, who are the candidates, and how are people to know? Maybe you’d like to volunteer. If so, send your resume to the Clerk of Court (not the County Clerk). Apparently you have about two weeks.

As public comment on facebook by Becky Vaughn Herndon today:

Lowndes County is looking for volunteers to be members of the Board of Equalization (BOE). The purpose of the BOE is to hear property tax disputes between the Lowndes County Board of Assessors (BOA) and property owners. The board must not be biased towards the Lowndes County Assessor’s office or the taxpayer. It hears evidence from both sides and decides, based on the evidence presented, what the value of the contested property should be. The board may:

  1. Find the Continue reading →

SONAT pipeline break in Berrien County, GA on offshoot of same line Sabal Trail proposes to parallel –John S. Quarterman to FERC

300x225 The break in the ditch across from 986 Bradford Road, in Berrien break, by John S. Quarterman, 6 November 2014 “The SONAT pipeline that broke in Berrien County, Georgia was only a 9- or 10-inch line, I’m told at 800PSI. Sabal Trail proposes a 36-inch line, at much higher pressure. I’m no expert, but that seems like at least twenty times the explosive capacity. I don’t want that risk for any of my neighbors anywhere.”

Filed with FERC 15 November 2014 (PDF), posted by FERC 17 November 2014 as Accession Number: 20141117-5040. Continue reading →

Keystone XL pipeline rejected in U.S. Senate

We are all Indians to the fossil fuel cowboys, but this time the Indians won. The U.S. Senate yesterday rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. It won’t end there, but it should, because solar power is cheaper, faster, cleaner, and actually does bring jobs to the U.S.


Picture from US Uncut

Of course, TransCanada has a backup plan for getting its dirty Alberta tar sands oil to overseas market: a pipeline entirely through Canada to New Brunswick. Which means the past several years of TransCanada insistence that Keystone XL was necessary was just so much bs. Which indicates how much we should believe other Keystone XL claims, such as those about jobs the pipeline would supposedly create.


Source: Reuters

Angelo Young, International Business Times, 8 October 2014, No Keystone XL Pipeline? No Problem, Says Canadian Firm Planning To Send Crude East Instead Of South, Continue reading →

Even more U.S. solar jobs than in coal or oil and gas extraction

In a year solar jobs increased more than 20% to 142,000, according to the National Solar Jobs Census 2013.

Let’s remember Politifact Rhode Island rated as true Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s claim that there are already more solar jobs than coal mining jobs. And already last year there were more solar jobs than in production and nonsupervisory oil and gas extraction. That was 119,000 solar jobs according to the National Solar Jobs Census 2012 by the Solar Foundation; thus the 20% increase.

Meanwhile, “production and nonsupervisory employees” in the oil and gas extraction industry increased 4% from 106,400 in September 2013 to 110,600 in September 2014, according to Oil and Gas Extraction: NAICS 211 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total oil and gas industry employment increased 8% from 197,500 to 213,100 in the same period.

Of course, we really should be using the 2013 (not 2014) oil and gas figures to compare Continue reading →

Best Practices for Economic Development @ VLCIA 2014-11-18

Looks like some of them have been (or are thinking of) going to an Area Development Conference & Forum, about Best Practices for Economic Development. Here’s the agenda.

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 5:30 p.m.
Development Authority Conference Room
103 Roosevelt Drive Monthly Meeting Agenda
Continue reading →

Board Packet @ LCC 2014-11-11

Here is the board packet for the 11 November 2014 Regular Session and 10 November 2014 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Although the County Clerk once again provided this packet only on paper and only in black and white, we got via CD-ROM color maps for REZ-2014-17 Grand Bay Estates and REZ-2014-18 White from County Planner Jason Davenport in response to a separate Open Records Request. The request to the County Clerk also asked for electronic copy, but once again she chose not to honor that part of the request.

But who can say? Perhaps things will be different after the Open Government Symposium this Friday, 21 November 2014.

Meanwhile, I have already filed an Open Records Request for the board packet for the next County Commission meeting, which is in December.

-jsq

LAKE Meeting: after Open Government Symposium

After the Open Government Symposium. What about those board packets, agendas, minutes, and maybe the Commissions could video their own meetings?

Plus the usual topics, including pipeline and local governance: Water (sinkholes, aquifer recharge, runoff, drinking water, and wastewater), trash (how about that Exclusive Franchise!), and money (no-bid contracts and plus SPLOST VII). If you want to help, we have a little list of tasks you can do. Facebook event.

What: LAKE Meeting
When: 12:15PM Friday 21 November 2014
after the Open Government Symposium
Where: Michael’s Deli
1307 N Ashley St.
Valdosta, GA 31601

-jsq

Open Government Symposium @ LCC 2014-11-21

Not the Onion: VDT front page Saturday 15 November 2014, County plans open government meeting Friday,

VALDOSTA — An Open Government Symposium this Friday in Valdosta will be hosted by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners.

Valdosta Daily Times Editor Jim Zachary, director of the Transparency Project of Georgia, will be joined by Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, for the open government training event.

Lowndes County leaders approached Zachary and Manheimer about bringing the symposium to Valdosta after they attended the first in a statewide series of open government training sessions held in Macon at the Center for Collaborative Journalism Oct. 17.

The article noted that Commissioner Clay Griner was among the attendees at the previous symposium in Macon and had asked for this local meeting.

All the events are Continue reading →

China, U.S., and Russia energy deals: bad news for Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline?

The U.S. and China made a historic deal on climate change this week. Here’s the good (it’s real, it’s huge, and it’s positive economically for both countries), the bad (nuclear is first on the list of those “clean energy” sources), and the ugly. Also this week China made a second huge natural gas deal with Russia: what does that mean to the current U.S. push for LNG exports, including the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline gouge through Georgia?

The Deal

Rebecca Leber, The New Republic, 12 November 2014, The World Has Waited for the U.S. and China to Take Action on Climate Change. They Just Did.

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Wednesday commitments to reduce both countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. The surprise announcement, which came while Obama visits Beijing this week, is the clearest sign yet the two countries are serious on climate change.

After months of negotiations Continue reading →

Pass a resolution against the Sabal Trail pipeline –Michael Noll @ LCC 2014-11-11

10. CWTBH - Michael Noll Repeat speaker Dr. Michael Noll asked the Commissioners to do what Dougherty County has done and pass a resolution against the unnecessary and hazardous Sabal Trail pipeline, in the 11 November 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Video. Like the previous speaker, Dr. Noll asked everyone there about this topic to stand up, and about 30 people did. Continue reading →