Some concerned citizens
met with the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority on JulyJune 10, 2010
about the proposed biomass plant on Inner Perimeter Road.
Not everyone was convinced that it was a good idea.
Pastor Angela Manning of New Life Ministries has organized a Town Hall meeting for tomorrow, Thursday 8 July 2010 at 7PM:
| Date: | Thursday, July 8th, 2010 |
| Time: | 7 p.m. |
| Venue: | New Life Ministries |
| Address: | 5651 Inner Perimeter Rd., Valdosta, GA 31606 |
-jsq
“Forests Dominate Georgia’s Land Use”
That’s the title of slide 10 of 21 in
Center of Innovation – Energy (CIE)
by Jill Stuckey, Director.
Actually, massively pesticided planted pines dominate south Georgia’s land use;
not the same as actual forests with species diversity and diverse ages of trees.
The same CIE slide equates
Georgia Forestry = Biomass EnergyThat is what the state government seems to want it to be.
Back on slide 9, solar is defined as a southwestern regional energy source; nevermind that the solar map on that page shows Georgia with the same insolation as most of Texas (more on that later). And wind is defined as a central U.S. regional strength, nevermind that even Georgia Power has started exploring the possibility of wind off the Georgia coast.
I get it that Georgia has trees and forestry is a big industry in Georgia. I’m a tree farmer myself. I’d love to be convinced that biomass from trees is one good way to go. But at what costs? And compared to what? Continue reading
He did find
this list of “renewable energy strategy”
hits from a GEFA search.
At least one of those links points us to http://www.georgiaenergyplan.org/,
which now gets us
Are you interested in buying this domain name?The state has apparently abandoned that domain. Is that an indication of how seriously Georgia takes renewable energy?
Here’s something that looks promising: State Energy Strategy for Georgia (SESG), December 14, 2006, Governor’s Energy Policy Council, GEFA. It says it’s an energy strategy, but it’s mostly about transportation of existing fuels such as natural gas. Towards the end of the document in Figure 2 (shown above) the SESG illustrates the pit we’re in: about a third of Georgia’s energy comes from coal, another third from petroleum, a sixth from natural gas, and so little from renewable sources they apparently weren’t worth putting on the pie chart.
The SESG does contain this: Continue reading
Here Coy Brightwell asks for a show of hands for those against
rezoning for the Glen Laurel subdivision on Old Pine Road.
Many hands went up throughout the packed room.
Even more to the point, not one neighbor spoke for the rezoning.
He ends with an additional disclaimer that he’s not against development; he’s against the density of this development in this place. VDT quoted him as saying:
“We are not against progress. We are not against the development of Lowndes County … The part that we do have a problem with is the density of this proposal. We’re just not in agreement with the drastic changes that will take place in our community (and) we are here for a compromise.”
Another view of the show of hands: Continue reading
Complaints are more frequent along Mary Street, a short stretch a few hundred yards south of the plant. Residents there deal with more intense noise and odors.Nonetheless he didn’t say it affected his property values. However, that’s not the only issue.Craig Walworth’s home is among the closest to the plant. He walked up to his Jeep — a vehicle he cleaned the day before — and dragged his finger through a layer of film on the hood.
“Every morning, you have that to look forward to,” he said. “I clean my screens three times a year during the summer because they clog up.”
Meanwhile, about an hour north on the edge of Lake Michigan, in Traverse City local activism caused cancellation of a proposed biomass plant: Continue reading
In the VLCIA meeting with concerned citizens of 10 June 2010, one of the action items taken by the VLCIA was:
Obtain, if available, an analysis of the property value trends of residential/ commercial property adjacent to the Cadillac Michigan biomass electric generating plant.Col. Ricketts has reported back on that action item.
My transcription of what he said is rather long, so please follow the link.
Allan Ricketts’ summary: nobody could find a systematic analysis of property value trends. He did get various personal analyses (as above).
I agreed he’s made a good effort to find what he could find.
And that we would continue looking in other sources.
-jsq
Previously discussing the Glen Laurel subdivision on Old Pine Road near Bemiss, several of the people speaking against at the County Commission meeting mentioned the Greyfield subdivision.
That’s Greyfield Villas; see the entrance sign in the picture on the right.
It’s in Lowndes County but not in Valdosta; somebody correct me if I’m wrong abo
ut that.
In that picture it’s hard to read the sign in the background on the north side of North Oak Street Extension. Here’s a closeup:
For Rent. Just inside we see a dumpster with For Rent signs on the houses on either side: Continue reading
Previously writing about biomass and carbon dioxide I said I’d supply an example of the sort of thing I’m looking for as a regional analysis for renewable energy, including biomass, solar, wind, wave, tides, and others.
Here it is: the Highland Renewable Energy Strategy
approved by the Highland Council at its 4 May 2006 meeting.
It’s a 58 page document about renewable energy strategy and planning guidelines,
considering numerous types of renewable energy, pros and cons
of each, power distribution, effects on environment, protected
areas, etc., illustrated copiously with detailed maps.
And updated:
Continue reading
Natasha Fast (SAVE), Pastor Angela Manning (New Life Ministries), Allan Ricketts (Project Manager), Geraldine Fairell, Ken Klanicki, Brad Lofton (Executive Director), picture by John S. Quarterman (LAKE) |
Lying in the center of the table in the picture is this document:
Biomass carbon neutrality in the context of forest-based fuels and productsThe copy on the table is dated April 7, 2010; the online version is dated May 2010. It’s a powerpoint presentation that makes many good points, among them that coal doesn’t grow back, while trees do. So in theory it would be possible, by organizing harvesting of biomass over a region to make burning biomass for electricity carbon neutral.
by Reid Miner, NCASI, Al Lucier, NCASI
The document comes right out and says:
At point of combustion, CO2 emissions per unit of energy produced are generally higher for biomass fuels than for fossil fuels.Continue reading
An interesting series of exchanges here.
First Coy Brightwell compared the proposed Glen Laurel subdivision
(on Old Pine Road) to the existing Greyfield subdivision (off Oak Street
Extension) with a number of specific points: run down quickly, rental property, etc.:
Then a Mr. Mulligan gets into an interesting discussion about code enforcement: Continue reading