Emily Davenport, Valdosta Stormwater Manager, sent a letter 2 June 2014
to attendees of the 6 May 2014 Army Corps of Engineers presentations,
with paper materials attached, and a note that they are also online at
Stormwater Division, Regional Flooding. [Not there anymore, but see updated first bullet item below. 2018-01-28 -jsq]
This one is just the presentation by the Corps.
See also: Continue reading
An additional 90 megawatts of solar power by Georgia Power,
beyond what the GA PSC required last summer?
With whose Army?
Kristi E. Swartz wrote for EnergyWire 16 May 2014,
Georgia Power plan would install solar arrays on 3 Army bases,
Georgia Power and the
Army jointly released plans to install large
solar arrays at three military bases yesterday in what officials say
could be a model for other states.The three solar arrays are scheduled to start producing power in
2015 and will lead to the Army getting 18 percent of its electricity
in Georgia from renewable fuels that are on-site.The 90 total megawatts of solar electricity also will move the Army
9 percent closer to meeting federal goals for renewable energy.Adding three 30 MW arrays would continue to boost Georgia’s rapidly
growing solar output and would help the military meet its renewable
energy goals to become sustainable and more secure.The move also alleviates mounting political and public pressure on
Georgia Power to remove roadblocks that some say have made it
difficult for the military to meet its federal renewable energy
goals.
OK, that’s all good stuff.
However, I’m missing the part about SO is going beyond what GA PSC
required Georgia Power to do:
“From the commission standpoint, it’s a joint venture between the
Georgia Public Service Commission and the Georgia Power Co. It is a
partnership,” PSC member Lauren “Bubba” McDonald said in an
interview with EnergyWire. “Georgia will be the model state.”At least a couple of state utility regulators have been working with
Georgia Power for months on a program specifically to install solar
at military bases. The utility will use a 90 MW self-build project
that the Georgia Public Service Commission approved in 2007 to
implement its plans.
So if that 90 MW was approved by GA PSC in 2007, how is it
beyond
the 525 MW GA PSC required of Georgia Power last summer?
Maybe Georgia Power and GA PSC won’t count that 90MW within the 525 MW.
This could confirm that interpretation:
McDonald said this program is an extension of his efforts last
summer when he shepherded a proposal to have Georgia Power add 525
MW of solar to the grid as part of the utility’s long-term energy
plan.
OK, that’s good.
It’s still not enough: Georgia Power should be doubling its solar
generation every year, not just adding 17% above what it’s required.
But it’s some sort of acknowledgement that something needs to be done,
and it is something Georgia Power is actually doing.
-jsq
In these videos of
the initial flooding study
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Valdosta City Council Work Session,
you can see they’re the Corps, all right: they want to build a levee.
They did emphasize that this was just an initial study on
what could be done inside Valdosta, and their main conclusion
was that there was enough need to indicate federal interest,
as in possibilities of getting federal funding for solutions.
City Manager Larry Hanson got the Corps to confirm (several times)
that Valdosta alone couldn’t stop the flooding, since the vast
majority of floodwaters comes from upstream
on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers.
Later that same evening in response to citizen questions
at the Valdosta City Hall Annex, the Corps clarified more that
they did understand there were issues of impervious surfaces
and development and loss of wetlands and they wanted to
do a much larger study of the entire watershed,
which could take several years to accomplish.
They kept emphasizing that the Suwannee River watershed
is one of the largest in the country, and there are also
flooding problems on the Suwannee River, which could be important
for obtaining federal dollars.
As we already knew, Valdosta has funded projects already started
to move the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) uphill
and to add a force main to prevent manhole overflows.
People
downstream in Florida may be relieved to hear something is being done.
Here’s
a video playlist, followed by images of the Corp’s slides and of the City Council, and some notes.
Two
speakers about
the Sabal Trail pipeline,
one about
water issues under Moody Family Housing,
One
request to do something about speeding
(good luck),
a
recognition (firefighters),
a
proclamation (purple hearts),
and
an
award (budget),
one rezoning
withdrawn,
three
others
approved,
two contracts (bus system renewal
and
software master contract),
some but not all
streets accepted in Nelson Hill,
and no mention of the
Lake Park annexation request that took up at least five minutes the
previous morning.
For why John Page is no longer on the Commission, see
the previous post with the agenda.
Here’s the agenda again with links to the videos and a few notes.
See also
videos from the previous morning’s Work Session.
And see also
Lowndes County becomes third purple heart county in the state,
by Matthew Woody, VDT, 12 March 2014.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Water issues still need to be investigated and resolved under
the proposed Moody Family Housing,
said Dr. Michael Noll,
presenting a public comment by him and two other VSU professors about the recent
evironmental assessment
to the
11 March 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Here’s
the video:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC)
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 March 2014.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Appended is the text of the VSU professors’ letter,
and here it is in
PDF.
Spotted first by Michael G. Noll in the VDT yesterday,
the document promised by
Col. Ford
the previous evening.
A quick search finds nothing about the
Nelson Hill Wells,
and no mention of VSU or any of the professors there who have
expressed
concern and asked for access to the site to conduct an independent study.
USAF ANNOUNCES AN
ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act and Air Force regulations, the Air Force Civil
Engineer Center (AFCEC) has completed a Revised Draft
Environmental Assessment (EA), Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI), and a Finding of No
Practicable Alternative (FONPA) to evaluate the
consequences of the following stated proposed action:The revised Proposed Action would involve the
construction of 11 housing units for senior leadership on
a 15-acre parcel on the base and 90 units on an
approximately 60-acre parcel located northwest of the
city of Valdosta, GA on Val-Del Road (the Val-Del
Parcel). This represents a reduction Continue reading
Last night I chatted briefly with Moody’s
Col. Ford, before he spoke at the
Lake Park Chamber Annual Awards Dinner.
He said he had been able to get on the site of the proposed Moody Family
Housing about a year ago.
I mentioned the
Nelson Hill Wells
and he said they had spent a lot of time already investigating
water issues, and now the Air Force has received the environmental assessment.
Perhaps it includes the missing piece this time,
and maybe there’s a way for the public and local professors
to provide input.
Colonel Edward Ford is commander of the 23d Mission Support Group at
Moody AFB, Ga. He leads a group of more than 1,450 military and
civilian members providing support and services to a population of
28,000 active duty, retired military and family members. His group
maintains an installation with more than 830 buildings and more than
17,500 acres, including an adjacent bombing or strafing range. He is
responsible for ensuring the readiness of support forces to mobilize
and deploy to build, secure, and sustain air base operations at
austere bare base locations anywhere in the world.The 23d Mission Support Group also retains responsibility for civil
engineering, environmental compliance, Continue reading
Seen today on
Recent clear cutting in north of Lowndes County:
In the Northwest and Southwest of the most westerly boundary line of
Nelson Hill Subdivision there are two well sites that had been
previously deeded to Lowndes County for Deep Wells for Lowndes
County Water Supply due to the problems at that time with the Well
at Stone Creek location. However the test bore water samples came
back with negative results due to surface water contamination
entering the aquifer from all the fractures in the fragile lime
stone basin and active sinkholes in that area, there is a sinkhole
less than half of a mile south from where the test bores were done
and it’s probably 90 feet deep. All this boarders the subject site
Moody Housing.
So let’s look on the west side of the
remainder of the Nelson Hill site,
parcel 0071 006B.
There are two cutouts, each about 50 feet square or 2500 square feet or 0.057 acre.
Trying to select those in the online tax assessors maps, we get:
No data found for Continue reading
Multiple people reported clearing work at the site of the
Moody Family Housing project on Val Del Road,
with its
sinkhole next to an aquifer recharge zone,
that
not even
Moody Air Force Base can get in to inspect.
So we went out to look. There is clear cutting happening on Val Del Road (both sides) but it does not appear to be happening on the property slated for Moody Family Housing.
There has been clear cutting going on in the north of Lowndes County
for some time on large tracts near Skipper Bridge Road, Staten Road (near the
new river bridge) and on Val Del Road immediately south of the Moody Family
Housing tract.
It appears that most of those properties are owned by Natco LLC: Continue reading
What’s a
“Presidio Change Order”?
(Not like those
change orders in DeKalb County, let’s hope.)
A
GEFA loan application
for what?
What’s going on with the
Moody AFB Library?
Apparently
Nottinghill is going to have a community water system,
since it’s on the agenda for a trust deed,
but you wouldn’t know that unless you’d followed
other trust deeds, such as the one
for Raisin’ Cane approved in December.
At least we know they’ve been itching to turn Cat Creek
Road into a highway at least since
they put widening it on their T-SPLOST list in 2012,
and on this agenda is
replacing the old bridge on Cat Creek Road.
The
agenda
actually says the final item is only in the Work Session.
Maybe this will avoid the kind of confusion that happened
with the Sabal Trail pipeline presentation in November and December.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
