Category Archives: Economy

Enabling a commodity market in solar power: Dr. Smith’s electric meters

Dr. Smith’s electric meters enable a commodity market in solar power, with billing from generators to customers. And EMCs can take 1% or so for carrying the power, plus they can get advertising rights that could be worth more than selling electricity! If SB 459 or something like it gets out of committee and into law.

Dr. Sidney Smith explained how the electric meter he’s developed uses cellular technology to facilitate direct billing from solar generator and customer. Gretchen asked him what if they generate more than they use. Dr. Smith said they wouldn’t. I asked what if they added more panels. He said they could, but there are trees in the back.

Here’s Part 1 of 5:


Enabling a commodity market in solar power: Dr. Smith’s electric meters Part 1 of 5:
South Eastern Pathology Associates,
Selling Power, Lower Rates for Customers LLC (LRCLLC),
Richmond Hill, Bryan County, Georgia, 17 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

He forgot about the parking lot out front where the panels he just connected are located: no shading there, and plenty of room for more solar panels.

Dr. Smith said the best places for solar are where there is no shade and near power poles. Gretchen asked how do you finance? Dr. Smith answered, Continue reading →

Sweetheart deal for private prison site?

CCA has a contract to buy the private prison site from a private landowner. But who did that landowner get the site from? The Industrial Authority! And the sale prices involved are rather interesting: the landowner gets almost 100% profit in five years. One person I showed them to immediately said, “sweetheart deal.” What do you think?

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) bought the site back in 1998 for $1,243,200, and sold it to the landowner in 2007 for 1,463,512, which is an increase of about 18% in almost 10 years or about 2% per year. CCA can buy it from the landowner in 2012 for $2,907,000, for an increase of 99% in about five years or almost 20% per year. Which is far more than the 20% in five years or about 4% per year shown by the assessed value. And this remarkable surge in the price of that land is during the worst real estate market since the Great Depression.

Does this look like a sweetheart deal to you?

DatePrice$ Increase% Increase% /yearFromTo
2012? $2,907,000 $1,443,488 99% 20% N.L. Bassford JrCCA
2012 $1,756,320 $   292,808 20%   4% Assessed Value
2007 $1,463,512 $   220,312 18%   2% VLCIAN.L. Bassford Jr
1998 $1,243,200 Camellia Investment Co. VLCIA
Prices in this table are taken directly from the legal documents.
All percentages are rounded and approximate.
Images of the deeds and plats are on the LAKE website.

Here is a petition for VLCIA to reject the private prison.

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Cutting the solar ribbon in Richmond Hill 2012 02 17

Drs. Sidney Smith and Pat Godbey and their customer cut the solar ribbon in Richmond Hill, Georgia, 17 Febuary 2012:
To commemorate the future of power in Georgia and the future for our children.
I didn’t get the customer’s name; sorry.

You, too, could be a customer or a seller of distributed solar power if SB 459 gets out of committee and through the Georgia Senate and legislature into law. Contact your state senator today!

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Here’s the video:


Cutting the solar ribbon in Richmond Hill 2012 02 17
South Eastern Pathology Associates,
Selling Power, Lower Rates for Customers LLC (LRCLLC),
Richmond Hill, Bryan County, Georgia, 17 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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SB 401 revived in SB 459: lets you generate and sell solar power

SB 401 got tabled in the Natural Resources Committee. 46 other states already let people generate solar power and sell it to a third party.
Yet in only four states — Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Kentucky Mdash; are third party power purchase agreements disallowed, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
But Georgia Power convinced that committee that it would raise rates for everybody else. Which is pretty rich coming from the same gapower that is already charging customers Construction Work in Progress for its nuke boondoggle. So SB 401 sponsor Sen. Buddy Carter found another way.

Mary Landers wrote for the Savannah Morning News Friday, Solar bill jolted back to life:

To revive his bill, Carter tacked it onto to one already sent to the Regulated Industries Committee — SB 459, which would allow consumers to opt-out of smart meters like the ones Georgia Power is currently installing in Savannah. The committee held a hearing on the bill Thursday, ultimately tabling it, and saying they wanted more information about how power purchase agreements work in other states.

Carter was elated.

“It’s out there now and people are aware of it,” he said. It’s getting media attention. I feel good about it.”

Help him feel even better about it. Contact the committee chair and tell him we want solar cogeneration:
Senator William Ligon
404-656-0045
william.ligon@senate.ga.gov
Oh, regarding the meter opt-out in the main body of the bill, why let gapower charge people for that? You can mention to Sen. Ligon that people should be able to opt out for free.

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PS: Owed to Bob Ingram.

Community activism had nothing to do with biomass plant not coming here —Andrea Schruijer to Bobbi A. Hancock

Received today. -jsq
Subject: Meeting with Andrea

Just a quick recap of a meeting I had yesterday with VLCIA’s Andrea Schruijer. When asked where we were with the private prison issue, she responded, “we contractually agreed to a 3rd extension with a term of 365 and CCA has until March 13, 2012 to request that extension.” So I asked,” if CCA doesn’t request a 3rd extension, then the issue is over, right?” She replied, “If there’s no response from CCA, then it is up to the board to determine how to move forward.” When I asked her why they would even consider honoring a contract extension to CCA knowing some of the controversy over CCA’s business practices, she replied, “because there is a partnership between the VLCIA and CCA and we are contractually bound to a 3rd extension.”

I pointed out that the private prison industry wasn’t interested in public safety and rehabilitation they simply wanted to make a quick buck off the lives of others. I informed her of the chronic employee turnover, understaffing, high rates of violence and extreme cost cutting which all have been attributed to CCA.

I told her that Lowndes County already had its own share of air pollution and that amount of air pollution here is directly proportionate to the amount of lung and bronchial caner in our area. I encouraged her to consider sustainable businesses for the future economic growth of our community, not smoke stack business. Her reply, “so what you are saying is that you think the industrial should just close its doors?” I actually hadn’t thought about that but the question did make me ponder.

I left her with a 91 page research report which takes a critical look at the first twenty years of CCA’s operations. I requested an email response of her thoughts about the report and am currently awaiting the response…

Biomass did come up in the conversation and Mrs. Schruijer was quick to assert that

Continue reading →

Who profits from CCA’s private prisons?

Who profits from taxpayer dollars that support private prisons? Here’s one example: CCA’s CEO.

Jakada Imani wrote for HuffPost 23 February 2012, Private Prisons Profit From Pain,

CCA’s CEO Damon Hininger stands to benefit should the states provide him with prisons well-stocked with prisoners. In 2010, for example, his total compensation equaled $3,266,387.
That would be Damon Hininger, number 4 on America’s 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under (by Jacquelyn Smith, 14 February 2012).
4. Damon T. Hininger
Corrections Corporation of America
Market cap: $2.83 billion
Age: 40
Industry: Property management
How do you like that euphemism? “Property management.” Does that refer to the real estate, or to the prisoners? Or maybe to captive local government agencies that cede CCA “absolute discretion”?

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Valdosta Mayor and Council are implicated in the private prison —John S. Quarterman @ VCC 2012 02 23

Valdosta City Council and Mayor, who may not have been following the private prison issue, now know about it and are aware that they are all implicated in the private prison decision, due to events at the Industrial Authority board meeting and the Valdosta City Council meeting, both Thursday 23 February 2012.

After remarking that I’d rather be talking about the additional solar panels recently installed on my farm workshop up here in the north end of the county, I recapped the case against a private prison and referred the Valdosta City Council to my LTE in the VDT of that morning (Thursday 23 February 2012). I remarked that I was disappointed the Industrial Authority hadn’t done anything to stop the prison at its meeting earlier that same day. Since they might be wondering what all this had to do with them, I pointed out that, if I could use the word, they were all implicated as mayor and council in the private prison decision because Jay Hollis, CCA’s Manager of Site Acquisition, in his Valdosta-Lowndes County, GA / CCA Partnership: Prepared Remarks of August 2010, lavishly praised the Lowndes County Commission and Chairman and the Valdosta City Council and mayor. Although the mayor was different now, and maybe some of the council, nonetheless it was the same offices of council and mayor, still implicated. I asked for their opinions on that subject. Per their custom, they did not offer any at that time. So, maybe we’ll hear from them later. Or maybe the Industrial Authority board will hear from them….

Here’s the video:


Valdosta Mayor and Council are implicated in the private prison —John S. Quarterman @ VCC 2012 02 23
VSEB, employment,
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 23 February 2012.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I., the bostongbr on YouTube.

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VSEB application is too long — John Robinson @ VCC 2012 02 23

John Robinson told the Valdosta City Council that he thought the application for the Valdosta Small Emerging Business (VSEB) Program was too long and complicated compared to the one-page application to do major construction work.

Here’s the video:


VSEB application is too long — John Robinson @ VCC 2012 02 23
VSEB, employment,
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 23 February 2012.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I., the bostongbr on YouTube.

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Crickets, or what the Industrial Authority didn’t say about the private prison

Silence speaks volumes. Your tax-supported Industrial Authority wants a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.

After Tuesday’s conversation with VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer, I went to Thursday’s Industrial Authority board meeting expecting to hear something from the board about the private prison. What I heard:

Crickets.

The only thing a board member said about it was Chairman Roy Copeland reminding me that the board didn’t answer questions in Citizens Wishing to be Heard.

Earlier, Col. Rickets did say that the current contract with CCA for the private prison expires March 13th, and that meanwhile CCA can either request a third extension or CCA could send a Notice to Proceed (NTP) to VLCIA before March 13th. Remember, CCA has, according to the contract, CCA has

“absolute discretion”
for issuing that NTP.

Col. Ricketts added that in staff’s discussions with CCA, CCA had indicated they were mulling it over internally, and VLCIA should “stand by” for CCA’s next move.

That’s right, your local Industrial Authority, whose staff and land purchases are funded by your tax dollars, should stand by waiting for a private prison company to tell them what to do.

And the Industrial Authority board’s silence is an answer: they said nothing different from their previous vote for the contract to bring in this private prison; nothing different from their previous acceptance of the first and second option extensions; and nothing in objection to what Col. Ricketts said.

So your tax-supported Industrial Authority wants a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.

Do you want that? Do you want a private prison with fewer guards per prisoner Continue reading →

LTE: Tell the Industrial Authority No private prison —John S. Quarterman

My LTE in the VDT today. -jsq
Industrial Authority Executive Director Andrea Schruijer told me to expect their board to say something at their 2PM Thursday board meeting about the private prison Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) wants to build on US 84 at Perimeter Road. If they don’t give CCA another extension, the contract expires March 13th.

There’s still time to contact them, (229) 259-9972. Or go to their board meeting at 101 North Ashley Street, 2PM Thursday February 23rd.

A private prison would not increase employment in Lowndes County. It would not even save the state money. And it would have high risk of closing after or even before it opened, because of escapes and inmate disturbances, and most importantly because the state and federal governments can no longer afford to incarcerate so many people. That would leave us and the state holding the bag for any investment in building it.

Outsourcing public justice for private profit at taxpayer expense is not only bad business, we the taxpayers can’t afford to pay for it while public education is under increasing budgetary pressure.

As members of the local community, we do not wish to live in a private prison colony, with the attendant risks of inmate violence and escape, and the accompanying public opprobrium that would drive away the knowledge-based workers we claim to be trying to attract.

Finally, public justice should not be a matter of private profit.

John S. Quarterman
lives in Lowndes County

You may recognize the wording from the petition. You can always write your own letter with your own reasons.

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