Category Archives: Economy

Halliburton says fossil fuels unsustainable, lays off a third worldwide, including management

You know things are bad for fossil fuels when the biggest profiteer of them all takes an axe to itself. The fewer fossil fuel boondoggles (including more pipeline projects going belly-up), the faster investment will keep moving to renewable sun, wind, and water power, for profits, and we get clean air and water and less global warming.

“Tyler Durden”, Zerohedge, 22 April 2016, Halliburton Fires One Third Of Global Staff: “What We Are Experiencing Today Is Unsustainable”,

In a brutally frank and painfully honest first quarter operational update, Halliburton president Jeff Miller poured freezing cold water all over the “oil is stabilizing, and everything is going to be awesome” narrative. After explaining that the firm has laid off one-third of its global employees, and pointing to the collapse in sequential revenues across every business unit, Miller exclaimed: “What we are experiencing today is far beyond headwinds; it is
unsustainable.”

Due to the deadline of its merger agreement with Baker Hughes Halliburtion has delayed its earnings conference call until May 3rd and so gave an operational update. The healdlines were horrific:

Project Max and many others 6PM this evening @ VLCIA 2016-04-19

Is the mysterious Project Max a glass container plant as everyone seems to think? An agenda suddenly appeared It’s on the agenda that suddenly appeared on the Development Authority’s website this afternoon after Gretchen called to ask where it was. She will be there with the LAKE video camera.

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
Tuesday, April 19, 2016 5:30 p.m.
Development Authority Conference Room/103 Roosevelt Drive
Monthly Meeting Agenda Continue reading →

A Tour of Remerton

Welcome to Remerton

Welcome to Remerton

Jessica Freeman, planner and probation officer in Remerton, invited me to get to know Remerton a little better. “It’s not just college student housing and bars.”

Remerton City Hall

Remerton City Hall

I met up with her at Remerton City Hall. She showed me around the new construction, which includes a second payment window for the busy days when water bills are due. It seems that everyone wears more than one hat on the city staff.
Remerton City Council Chambers

Remerton City Council Chambers

If you haven’t been Continue reading →

Wind and Solar are winning by 2 to 1 over gas and coal

Guess what’s really inevitable, pipeline companies? Solar and wind power.

Utility scare tactics that no coal means pipelines are so much hot air. Scare tactics that no pipelines would mean LNG trains are burnt up by solar power. Stop pipelnes or fracking and stop the other and LNG export along with it. And we’re winning!

Tom Randall, Bloomberg, 6 April 2016, Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels: Record clean energy investment outpaces gas and coal 2 to 1. Continue reading →

Videos: Project Max and more at Development Authority @ VLCIA 2016-02-16

They said almost nothing last month about Project Max, so we don’t know for sure if for example it is really a glass container company. They meet again tonight. Actually, that one is cancelled; they meet next April 19th.

At the end, Gretchen spoke about:

  1. Ham and Eggs Show 2016-02-17
  2. the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Workshop at VSU 2016-02-27
  3. the South Georgia Growing Local food conference went well, and led to a planning session led by Charlie Barnes about local food planning 2016-03-31.

Dr. Noll of WACE said he was there to “harrass” Continue reading →

Help fix land revaluation: come to Farm Bureau –Board of Equalization

Come to the Farm Bureau in two weeks to hear Tax Assessor staff present their updates and provide your input Contents for changes to the rural land revaluation, this time taking into account rivers, aquifer recharge zones, and uniformity. Maybe the Tax Assessors actually don’t want more flooding in Valdosta; both the City of Valdosta and GA-EDP have already shown interest in attending about that point.

At an appeal on my property valuation, the Board of Equalization stopped short of actually ordering the Tax Assessors to redo last year’s rural land revaluation, because staff volunteered Continue reading →

Southern Co. gets serious about smart grid: buys PowerSecure

While FPL wastes $3 billion on the 20th century Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, Southern Company (SO) shows it’s serious about distributed energy by buying distributed grid infrastructure company PowerSecure (POWR) for $431 million. That announcement not only bumped POWR stock up by about 75%, the same day (yesterday) smart grid company EnerNOC (ENOC) shares went up 20%. That last could be coincidental, since ENOC announced earnings. But with two smart grid companies going up, the renewable solar and wind energy future is coming closer.

PRNewswire, 24 February 2016, Southern Company to Acquire PowerSecure International, Inc.: Addition of PowerSecure’s proven expertise positions Southern Company to advance distributed infrastructure development, Continue reading →

Project Max and more at Development Authority @ VLCIA 2016-02-16

Is Project Max really a glass container company? What bids did they get for the Clearing & Grubbing RFP last Friday? How is that going to work right next to Mud Swamp after heavy rains?

How’s Nature Nate liking being the only business in the Authority’s Miller Business Park? What about the legislative dinner and the Bird Supper? Gretchen will be there tonight with the LAKE video camera.

Here’s the agenda.

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
Tuesday, February 16, 2016 5:30 p.m.
Development Authority Conference Room/103 Roosevelt Drive Continue reading →

Why people don’t speak up: they owe their soul to the company store

Some of our elected officials wonder few people ever speak up around here. It’s simple: they owe their soul to the company store. If you don’t go along, you don’t get business.

As Tennessee Ernie Ford sang in that old Merle Travis song:

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

Continue reading →

Videos: Planning Meeting, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2016-02-04

Suing local businesses helps run up fees to the county attorney, says County Manager Joe Pritchard. He didn’t mention that continuing to promote sprawl for example through the county’s thoroughfare plan also runs up fees that property taxes will never meet. Commissioners seemed very concerned about “stakeholders” whom they said were “the development community, the real estate community” and “the construction and homebuilder industries”. Maybe somewhere they mentioned the agricultural and forestry industries, or sales tax payers even if they don’t own real estate; if so I missed it. At least they’re thinking about the Comprehensive Plan and the general direction of the county in a public forum. And the County Planner did talk about quality of life. Plus it seems business prospects bringing that up got the attention of the County Manager. They said they have a responsiblity to set the direction of the county. How about instead of continuing to drive sprawl outwards, which is a fiscally (and environmentally) irresponsible path, turn to directing development to be more dense in already-developed areas? They continue this morning at 8:30 AM, and Gretchen is there again with the LAKE video camera.

Here’s the agenda followed by links to each LAKE video with a few notes. See also two previous pictures.

We are looking forward to the improved communication that was touted in the VDT headline. Jason Stewart, VDT, 4 February 2016, Slaughter wants to strengthen communication, Continue reading →