Category Archives: Law

Energy experts making excuses for fracking

Numerous eminent current and former regulators, governors,
and legislators’ best advice for how to keep fracking from
polluting our aquifers and drinking water: “strict regulation”.
As Gandhi reputedly said about western civilization: that would be a good idea.
But in Georgia and many other places, where the regulatory agency
(GA PSC) and the legislature are pretty much captured by the utilities
they pretend to regulate, how will we get that “strict regulation”?

This was at a Politico event, sponsored by American Wind Power,
called Energy & the Presidency.

Join POLITICO for a lunch conversation with energy experts and
policy leaders

Energy & the Presidency panel
as they discuss current energy legislation, the
energy debates facing the nation, policy options and what’s ahead in
the year to come. Speakers include: ClearView Energy Partners’ Kevin
Book; former Administrator of the EPA and former Director of the
White House Office on Climate Change, Carol Browner; Rep. Ed Markey
(Mass.); former Gov. Bill Richardson (NM) and former Gov. Bill
Ritter (Colo.).

When: Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm ET



This event was in North Carolina, where the late John Blackburn, Ph.D.
already reported two years ago that

the whole state could be powered by wind, sun, existing hydro, landfill gas, and less natural gas than is already in use,
why do we need fracking at all?

Georgia has similar real renewable energy potential,
plus studies by

Georgia Tech
and Duke
indicate that Georgia doesn’t need any additional total electric power
anyway, if it gets on with energy efficiency.
Add

solar and

wind instead of natural gas, and we can retire a lot of
coal plants.
With no need for fracking.

I have an idea:
let’s elect Public Service Commissioners and legislators who are not
beholden to the utilities they will regulate!

-jsq

Where would Georgia Solar Utilities Inc. get enough land for 80 MW solar generation?


Plant Branch in Georgia
Where will
Georgia Solar Utilities Inc.
get

the 2,200 acres it says it needs to build 80 MW of solar generation?
Well, it’s supposed to be “adjacent to Georgia Power Co’s coal-burning Plant Branch near Milledgeville, Ga.”, so let’s look there.


Plant Branch Location Map
A

brochure on Plant Branch by Georgia Power
(undated, but last date mentioned is 1998, so I’m guessing 1999)
says:

Located on 1,900 acres on Lake Sinclair in Putnam County between
Eatonton and Milledgeville, Plant Branch was the first
million-plus-kilowatt electric generating station to operate on the
Georgia Power system. It is named for Harllee Branch Jr., former
chairman of the board of Southern Company and president of Georgia
Power. Construction on the plant began in 1961, and by the summer of
1969,

Coal pouring onto pile
four units were in operation. The 1,539,000 kilowatts
generated by Plant Branch provides enough electrical power for
342,000 households.

And now Plant Branch will be among the first to close coal-generating
units.
According to
Melissa Stiers for GPB News 12 July 2011,

Georgia Power Closing Three Plants,

Two coal fired units at Plant Branch in Milledgeville will close in
2013. That’s a result of federal regulation tightening air pollution
controls. The company has said it’s too costly to upgrade those
units.


Plant Branch across Lake Sinclair
As we know, Georgia Power’s parent The Southern Company

claimed it was incompetent to deal with the new EPA regulations
even though it had already announced the Plant Branch closures (amounting to about 770 MW),
and later SO announced

4,000 MW of coal plant closures.

While the various news stories keep saying Plant Branch is in Milledgeville,
actually, it’s on the other side of Lake Sinclair, closer to Eatonville,

Plant Branch site in Putnam County qpublic map
and in Putnam County.
A quick glance at the

Putnam County Tax Assessor database maps
shows that the land parcel containing Plant Branch
is 913.87 acres, much of which isn’t actually used by the plant.
And Georgia Power owns a total of more than 3,000 acres adjacent
to that site.
So I’m guessing the 2,200 acres figure is simply around 3,100 total
Georgia Power acres minus 913 acres for the present Plant Branch site.

Estimates for land needed for a megawatt of solar power generation range

Continue reading →

Company to build 90 MW solar and become a utility

What to do if you can’t interest Georgia Power in building solar?
Do it yourself, and do enough so you can be a utility yourself.
That’s the loophole in the 1973

Electric Territorial Act
that FPL and JEA use to burn coal at Plant Scherer in Georgia and export the power to Florida.
Now Georgia Solar Utilities Inc. is using the loophole for a better purpose:
building almost twice as much solar generation
as Georgia Power’s meager 50 MW.


Georgia Solar Utilities
Dave Williams wrote for the Atlanta Business Chronicle yesterday

New Georgia utility pitches solar plant:
A new utility is planning to build a $320 million solar power plant on 2,200 acres adjacent to Georgia Power Co’s coal-burning Plant Branch near Milledgeville, Ga.

Georgia Solar Utilities Inc. initially approached Georgia Power, a
unit of Southern Co. (NYSE: SO), with a proposal to build the plant
and sell it to Georgia Power through a power-purchasing agreement.

Georgia Power is retiring two coal-fired units at Plant Branch, part
of a move to reduce the Atlanta-based utility’s reliance on coal.

But when Georgia Power officials declined to take part in the
project last May, Georgia Solar Utilities executives decided to
build the plant on their own and operate it as a new utility
independent of Georgia Power.

Once cost prohibitive, solar energy has become competitive with
fossil fuels because of the rising costs of coal and tighter
government regulation of coal emissions, said Robert Green, founder
of Georgia Solar Utilities.

“When you don’t have to buy coal or worry about environmental
hangovers, it overwhelms the costs of fossil fuels, Green said
Thursday after presenting the proposal to the Georgia Public Service
Commission’s Energy Committee.

Some say the PSC can’t approve such a utility because of that 1973 law.
I suspect that if they don’t approve this proposal, the next one
will be even harder to turn down, and the next one,
as they become even more competitive.

How competitive?

Continue reading →

Industrial Authority has to be congratulated —Michael G. Noll

Received yesterday on

WCTV on biomass site VLCIA v. Sterling Planet. -jsq

Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) have made it clear from


the start that biomass plants have a number of issues: 1) biomass
plants bear significant health risks; 2) biomass plants waste
enormous amounts of water; 3) biomass plants are risky investments
in an increasingly competitive energy sector; and 4) biomass plants
contribute to global warming.

In the light of rising global temperatures, worsening drought
conditions, and dropping prices for solar panels, an increasing
number of people are understanding these simple truths.

The Industrial Authority has to be congratulated for the courage to
admit that energy from biomass plants is indeed more expensive than
energy from solar plants, and we have not even figured in the costs
associated with the consequences of air pollution coming from
biomass plants.

(For more information on biomass plants, here a testimony I recently
gave:

http://www.bredl.org/pdf3/120828_WACE-Comments-Docket_NO-E-100_SUB113.pdf)

Although this point has already been made earlier, note again that
solar plants are much better alternatives, economically and
environmentally: they do not pollute our air, they do not need any
water, and a huge spill of solar energy is simply called a sunny day
… of which we have plenty here in the south.

-Michael G. Noll

-jsq

 

WCTV on biomass site VLCIA v. Sterling Planet


Greg Gullberg
WCTV does what VDT dares not:
Greg Gullberg mentioned last year’s biomass protests in the first sentence of this
story about the Industrial Authority threatening to sue Sterling Planet

to get clear title to the former proposed biomass plant site.

Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday,

Dispute Over Land For Proposed Biomass Plant,


Gullberg and Ricketts

The vocal protests in Valdosta are long gone, but the controversy
over the proposed Biomass plant lingers. This time not for concerns
of health safety, but over the land.

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority plans to sue
Wiregrass Power LLC to end its contract.


Protesters at City Hall

Ban the Burn Go 100% Solar

Ban the Burn Go 100% Solar.

The proposed Biomass Plant was supposed to be a low-cost source of
efficient energy. Supporters say it would have created hundreds of
jobs. But opponents say the health risks include cancer, lung
disease and respiratory disease.


750,000 gallons of water each day

Biomass site plan

750,000 gallons of water each day

Tell me, Col. Ricketts, doesn’t it feel better to be visibly on the side
of the people, instead of having to defend a bad business deal?

Continue reading →

1.5MW solar field near Philadelphia

Far to the north of here, a botanical garden installed
more than a megawatt of solar power a year ago.
Maybe Georgia Power should ask them how it’s done.

PR of 16 June 2011,

LONGWOOD GARDENS COMMISSIONS 10-ACRE SOLAR FIELD:
Installation first step of goal to achieve 3 MW of solar energy by 2018



June 16, 2011, Kennett Square, PA — Longwood Gardens today
commissioned a new, ground-mounted solar field spanning more than 10
acres at the horticultural showplace in Kennett Square,
Pennsylvania.

One of the largest examples of clean emission-free energy in the
region, the solar field produces 1.2 MW (megawatts) of power and
will produce 1.5 MW when the final panels are installed in the
coming weeks. The fixed-tilt, 1.5 MW solar installation will produce
enough electricity to offset the usage of approximately 138 average
Pennsylvania homes and reduce Longwood’s annual carbon dioxide
emissions by 1,367 tons.

“We are always looking for ways to advance our sustainable
practices,” said Paul Redman, Longwood Gardens Director.
“It is integral to Longwood’s mission to decrease our
dependence on fossil fuels.” We want to establish best
practices and lead the way in showing communities how to live
responsibly,” said Redman.

Imagine if Georgia Power and Southern Company acted responsibly
and led the way in solar power!

Continue reading →

Changes to Lowndes County’s Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) @ GLPC 2012-08-27

Did you know
last night’s Planning Commission meeting included


a public hearing about changes to the county’s
Unified Land Development Code (ULDC)
related to land disturbances and water quality?
You wouldn’t have found out about that in the agenda,
because

it wasn’t posted anywhere you’d be likely to see it.
(Where does GLPC post the one physical copy of the agenda required by law,
anyway?)


Supposedly it was advertised in the Valdosta Daily Times,
but a search

of Public Notices in Statewide Database of Public Notices from Georgia’s Legal Organ Newspapers
for 1 June 2012 through 27 August 2012 finds nothing.



Here’s what

the agenda item for the 27 August 2012 GLPC meeting
(that we only know about because Gretchen went to that GLPC meeting
and asked County Planner Jason Davenport)
says:

From a procedural standpoint the amendment has been advertised in
the Valdosta Daily Times to fulfill legal requirements. Beyond
legal requirements staff has plans to post this agenda
item and draft ULDC on the Lowndes County Website at
http://www.lowndescounty.com/content.asp?pid=23&id=224. Regarding
staff review of the amendments, the TRC recommended for their approval
at their 08/16 regular meeting.

If you’d happened to look several levels deep on the Lowndes County website
you would have found

that undated announcement:

Continue reading →

VLCIA to sue Sterling Power about biomass site?

I’d heard a rumor that some sort of lawsuit about the biomass site
was the subject of some of the Industrial Authority executive
sessions for real estate discussions.
VLCIA has finally said in public what their position is.

Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT today,

Authority weighs suit for biomass land:
Slow progress leads to default, contract argument



The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority plans to send a
petition to Lowndes County Superior Court to sue Wiregrass Power,
LLC, for a clear title on the land purchased for the development of
a biomass energy plant.

The Authority believes Wiregrass defaulted on a lease agreement to
build the plant, placing ownership of the 22.22-acre tract back in
their hands, but Wiregrass denies the allegations. This denial casts
“a cloud” of suspicion on the Authority that may prevent
it from re-marketing the property, according to the petition,
leading to the suit.

Sounds like they’re publicizing their intent
to try to scare Sterling off without having to sue.
I’m for that.

This may explain

a flurry of special called meetings they had in May and June 2011.

Continue reading →

Lowndes County Commission meetings cancelled @ LCC 2012-08-27

Where and when did the preliminary information or discussion happen?
And among whom?
According to
the county's website:

Lowndes County Work & Regular Session Meetings Cancelled (8/28/2012)



Due to lack of agenda items requiring additional information or
discussion, the Lowndes County Work and Regular Session meetings for
August 27-28, 2012, have been cancelled. For more information please
call County Clerk, Paige Dukes, at 229-671-2400.



According to

Georgia's new sunshine law modifications,
as explained

by VLCIA's attorney in an open meeting,
open meetings now include any time a quorum discusses business,
even if there was no scheduled meeting.

And if you wanted to address the Commission about a matter
of interest to the public?
Not this week.

The scheduled next meetings on
their calendar are
a Work Session on Monday 10 September 2012
and a Regular Session on Tuesday 11 September 2012.

-jsq

 

LOST Lawsuits Ahead?

Looks like history may repeat itself like last decade,
now that LOST negotiations between the cities and the county have failed.
Except this time apparently the law has changed so they can’t sue each
other directly.

Gretchen on LOST
Instead next it goes to

Superior Court “baseball arbitration”.
However, I bet that still involves lawyers at taxpayer expense,
not to mention the Court’s time.

Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday,

Tax Negotiations Hit Another Dead End In Lowndes County,
and asked Gretchen down at the County Extension, who said,

It’s sort of sad because it is a waste, if you will, of taxpayer dollars.
That the elected officials can’t get together and come to some agreement
to say that they all understand how the money has to be divided up
Yeah, it’s sad that more money has to go to lawyers
insted of being spent on services.


I continue to think the local governments could spend their time together
better

trying to increase the size of the pie instead of squabbling over slices of it.

-jsq