Category Archives: Agriculture

VDT starts to catch up about pipeline

Spectra used Dougherty County Commissioner Ewell Lyle’s question in answer the Valdosta Daily Times about that natural gas pipeline from Alabama to Florida. And notice how they’re saying Tallapoosa County, Alabama now, and not mentioning PCB-polluted Anniston, Alabama as the source of the pipeline? The VDT map conveniently clips Alabama completely out of the picture. How about we clip Georgia out of the pipeline and install solar power instead?

Matthew Woody wrote on the front page of the VDT today, Pipeline intersects area: Sabal Trail project runs from Alabama to Florida,

Andrea Grover, Public Affairs Representative from Spectra Energy, said that initially the pipe was going to be a closed system, but Spectra Energy decided to turn the pipe into an “open access pipe,” meaning that any area along the pipe could potentially tap into the system to either receive gas from or supply gas to the pipeline. Describing the pipeline as a highway, Grover said it will have on-ramps and off-ramps. They provide the transportation of the gas, and once the pipe is in service, communities are encouraged to work with Sabal.

Dougherty County Commissioner Ewell Lyle suggested letting locals tap it less than a week ago.

Note that weasel word: “potentially”. I could “potentially” tap into the two (2) pipelines that cross my property, but decades they’ve been there and that’s never happened.

When asked about the benefits of the pipe, Grover stated, Continue reading

Cancelled: Valdosta City Council this week @ VCC 2013-09-19

According to In the City this Week, Sept. 16-21

The Valdosta City Council meeting = scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 19 has been canceled. The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Oct. 10. The Mayor and Council look forward to seeing you there. Click here for information about Mayor and Council meetings.

I guess you’ll have to get your entertainment elsewhere downtown this week. From that same newsletter: Continue reading

Fukushima has contaminated its aquifer; what about our aquifer?

Fukushima is dumping radioactive water into its aquifer. Plant Hatch is the same design and sits above the Floridan Aquifer we drink out of. Can’t happen here? On 19 December 2001 TEPCO said there was no possibility of a tsunami large enough to knock out Fukushima Daiichi. Plant Hatch is the same design as Fukushima, and while a tsunami really is unlikely at Hatch, for all we know Hatch still has substandard fire protection and the risk if Hatch does go bad is like the risk if a French reactor goes bad: soil contamination the size of France and Germany (or larger than Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and north Florida) plus radioactive contamination of the aquifer we drink out of.

Harvey Wasserman wrote for the Progress today, The Fukushima Nightmare Gets Worse, Continue reading

Hahira Third Thursday and Village Market today

Today is the first Hahira Southern Village Market Day, Vendors, food, and live music, 5-8PM!

June sign at the Caboose This happens every Third Thursday in downtown Hahira.

If you come in from I-75 or Valdosta, you’ll see these signs:

Continue reading

How to make a rural economy desirable: beyond retirees

Basing a local economy on attracting retirees may not work so well anymore. Fortunately, there are plenty of things we can do here to provide jobs for our graduates and to attract non-retirees.

Jim Galloway wrote for the AJC Saturday, Rural areas a less populated place as Baby Boomers shy away,

This week, the U.S. Census Bureau issued 2012 population estimates showing that, for the first time ever, the rural population of America has suffered a measureable drop.

“First time ever”? I guess Galloway has never heard of Continue reading

GM Ag corporations thank Jack Kingston for Monsanto rider

A long list of agricultural corporations wrote a letter thanking Jack Kingson (R GA-01) for working to get the Monsanto rider into the 2013 Ag. bill:

Again, we commend Subcommittee Chairman Kingston’s efforts and urge the support of Section 733 in the Fiscal Year 2013 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
This letter is on Monsanto’s own website. It contains not one word about public health or quality of food or preservation of farmers who do not choose to poison people the Monsanto way. The glyphosate mentioned in the letter is the principal ingredient in Roundup, and research shows it causes DNA damage even when vastly diluted. Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant crops are genetically modified to include a gene which produces a poison that other research indicates is toxic to humans. These poisons are what the Monsanto rider makes harder to get out of fields.

June 12, 2012 
The Honorable Harold Rogers 
Chairman 
House Committee on Appropriations 
United States House of Representatives 
H‐307 U.S. Capitol 
Washington, D.C. 20515 
The Honorable Norm Dicks 
Ranking Member 
House Committee on Appropriations 
United States House of Representatives 
1016 Longworth House Office Building 
Washington, DC 20515 
Page 1

Dear Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Dicks:   

Our organizations strongly support Section 733 of the Fiscal Year 2013 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The provision will give growers assurance that crops developed through biotechnology that have already been approved by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) can be planted and harvested under temporary stewardship conditions in the event of litigation against the agency’s decision. We commend Subcommittee Chairman Kingston for including Section 733 in the subcommittee bill and urge your support for this necessary provision when the Appropriations Committee considers this bill later this month. The provision addresses Continue reading

Monsanto rider came from south Georgia: Jack Kingston GA-01

Jack Kingston (GA-01) slipped the Monsanto rider into a recent law, requiring “the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed”.

Alexis Baden-Mayer wrote for AlterNet 8 July 2012, The “Monsanto Rider”: Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity From Federal Law?

Whom do we have to thank for this sneak attack on USDA safeguards? The agricultural sub-committee chair Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) — who not coincidentally was voted “legislator of the year for 2011-2012” by none other than the Biotechnology Industry Organization, whose members include Monsanto and DuPont. As reported by Mother Jones, the Biotechnology Industry Organization declared Kingston a “champion of America’s biotechnology industry” who has “helped to protect funding for programs essential to the survival of biotechnology companies across the United States.”

The Biotechnology Industry Organization’s PR about that award of 24 April 2012 says down at the bottom:

Photos of the award presentation are available upon request.

If that award is such an honor, why are they hiding the pictures of Jack Kingston receiving it? If Monsanto’s products are so great, why don’t they label them so we can tell which they are? Why did a French court just uphold a conviction of Monsanto for poisoning a French farmer? Why does Monsanto oppose independent GMO research? And why did hundreds of thousands of people just march against Monsanto?

Could it be because of liver and kidney damage, cancer and birth defects, pollution of water and air, systematic gaming of the patent system, perversion of the regulatory system, and corruption of the legislative system?

Speaking of corruption, Kingston has put the survival of biotechnology companies above the survival of farmers and the health of the American people.


Jack Kingston, voted Biotech “Legislator of the Year.” Responsible for adding the Monsanto Immunity Rider to the farm bill (H.R. 5973, Section 733). Tell him what you think!
www.facebook.coim/jackkingston/, 202-225-5821, 912-352-0101

-jsq

Religious freedom and the neighbors @ LCC 2013-05-14

Apparently concern about a different religion is what it takes to get a Lowndes County Commissioner to speak up for the majority of the neighbors.

Mike Allen, Utilities Director After Utilities Director Mike Allen outlined the case again at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 14 May 2013 Commissioner John Page elaborated on his question of the previous morning:

Subdivision? --John Page But the trust deed that we have in our notebook says it’s for the Valdosta Islamic Center Corporation, so this is a, uh, I know they’re calling it the Mercy Community Center, but isn’t this going to be a Muslim worship center instead of a subdivision?

County Planner Jason Davenport responded:

Continue reading

Georgia missing out on solar jobs behind New Jersey and Michigan

Other states, even New Jersey and far-north Michigan, are beating Georgia to solar jobs. Why isn’t sunny Georgia leading in one of the fastest-growing industries in the country that is deploying rural jobs everywhere else? Hint: who’s holding a shareholder meeting this month?

Carin Hall wrote for energydigital 13 May 2013, Solar Jobs Outnumber Texas Ranchers and US Coal Miners: New statistics show that solar is one of the fastest growing industries in the US, creating thousands of jobs across the country

There are now more solar energy workers in the state of Texas than there are ranchers, according to solar research group The Solar Foundation.

The group’s data mapping out solar jobs across the nation also showed that there are more solar jobs in California than actors, and more solar workers than coal miners nationwide. Sunny states like California and Arizona topped the list. Wyoming came in last, with just 50 workers, while Utah showed a mere 290 solar workers despite being one of the country’s sunniest states.

Even the states with less sunshine like New Jersey and Michigan showed a high number of solar jobs—thanks to favorable tax and regulatory policies that help attract developers to cope with high electricity prices.

New Jersey is #9 and Michigan is #15 according to The Solar Foundation’s map of State Solar Jobs. Where’s Georgia? Number 41 in solar jobs per capita. Yet Michigan is #47 by maximum solar resource and New Jersey is #36, while Georgia is #18: much sunnier than those northern states. Why is Georgia so far behind?

LEGAL STATUS OF THIRD-PARTY OWNERSHIP: NOT ALLOWED

Because of Continue reading

Videos: trucks and row crops @ LCC 2013-04-23

Plus a presentation to Joyce Evans, all about mosquitoes, and a love fest between the county and the VDT!

Here’s the agenda with a few notes, and links into the video. See also the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s work session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading