Category Archives: Politics

George Rhynes is not in favor of the biomass plant

A citizen responds:

TO: Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, Local and State SCLC, NAACP, ICU, Churches, Editors, and beyond http://kvci.blogspot.com
On September 27, 2010 while attending the Valdosta City School Board Meeting held at J.L. Newbern Middle School at 7:00. When Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Executive Director Brad Lofton, and Mr. Allen Ricketts, did their presentation before the school board concerning the Biomass Plant projected to come into our community.
What concerns me was Mr. Ricketts using my name during his presentation that could have given the impression that I (George Boston Rhynes) was in support of the Biomass plant coming into the minority community that already have too many existing pollutants. School Board Chairman Love closed the meeting before I could respond to Mr. Ricketts before the meeting was adjourned.
Mr. Ricketts comments during his presentation: “…the practical matter is once you put the electricity on the grid we don’t know where it will flow but most likely it will stay in Georgia because it will be purchased by a Georgia utility. Ah, of that 40 mega watts about two will be used to run the plant because the plant will be self sustainable. Ah, it will be able to produce enough electricity to carry forth its own operation.” &ldquoGeorge, you and I talked about that. Ah a couple of months ago when you was in my office. We had a good conversation about that. Now let us talk about what that means….”
MY RESPONSE! I would like to say to the board. That I know you have adjourned the meeting. But because my name was used I need to respond because I value my credibility and my name means everything go me. So I want each board member to know that George Boston Rhynes does not sign off on any part of the Biomass Plant. This I want to make perfectly clear so there is no confusion; about where I stand concerning the Biomass Plant coming into the minority community. Because I do NOT approve of it!
I live closer to Cherry Creek, than I do Mud Creek. And I would rather see

Continue reading →

SB 409, the “Georgia Forest Product Fairness Act”

State Senator Tim Golden reported May 1 on the April 2010 end of the Georgia legislative session:

Forest Tax Fairness: As a lead co-sponsor of legislation that would ensure property tax fairness for the owners of forest land, I am pleased to report that the House gave final approval to SB 409 last week and sent it to the governor for his signature.
This bill, which passed unanimously in both the Senate and House, requires that any tax break or exemption granted to a business that uses “raw forest products,” such as a biomass energy plant, must also be granted to the owner of the property where that product is harvested.
This is good legislation for PCA and other manufacturers in our district, as well as the forest industry.

Unlike the VDT, Sen. Golden’s own website includes a link to the bill, SB 409, the “Georgia Forest Product Fairness Act” which reads in part: Continue reading →

Video of Biomass Air Quality Hearing, Valdosta, 27 April 2010

A video of a hearing about the biomass plant Wiregrass Power LLC proposes to build in Lowndes County just outside of Valdosta was held in Valdosta on 27 April 2010 by the Air Protection Branch (APD) of the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Eric Cornwell of APD explains location, process flow, and specific items covered by the permit (soot, SO₂, NOX, CO, VOC, HCL, etc., but not CO₂). He remarks that Wiregrass Power LLC is building a small plant with a “lower emission limit in order to avoid some of the red tape” by getting a minor permit instead of a major permit. The first half hour concludes with Bob Turner, the plant manager, presenting similar material, ending with:

“No new carbon is added to the atmosphere when burning woody byproducts.”

I beg to differ on that: in the time it takes trees to grow back, there is indeed new carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere. More from Dr. William Sammons on that.

Back to the video of the hearing. Questions start at 00:29:44. Here are some time markers and very brief summaries of Q and A; see the video for the full questions and answers. Continue reading →

SAVE educates about biomass at First Friday

Students Against Violence Against the Environment (SAVE) educate people about the proposed Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant in Lowndes County just outside of Valdosta.

On the right, Natasha Fast is explaining it to somebody.

First Friday, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 3 September 2010, Pictures and videos by Gretchen Quarterman.

-jsq

Biomass plant air quality permit approved, but is that final?

Georgia EPD approved the air quality permit for the Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant on Perimeter Road just outside Valdosta in Lowndes County, with an effective date of July 19, 2010 (PDF, Word). Somebody may want to do the exercise of comparing the approved permit with the application to see if the process was entirely rubberstamp or whether any changes at all were made after the many questions people asked at the public hearing.

Meanwhile, is that it? Will the plant be built? Not necessarily: Continue reading →

Dr. William Sammons on Biomass Sustainability and Economics

Here’s an interesting video interview with Dr. William Sammons, the doctor who spoke in Traverse City just before that biomass plant was nixed.

Is it more important to reach the target … or to say we have new information and we need to revise the targets and what qualifies?

He’s talking about potential billions of dollars of health costs from particulates, about “waste” wood (what they say they will burn) vs. whole trees (what they end up burning), and most importantly about sustainability.

Biomass plants don’t have to report their CO₂ emissions, so if all the proposed biomass plants get built we’re talking about as much as 800 million tons of CO₂ from biomass plants by 2020, 12 to 14% of total CO₂ emissions for the U.S. (not just power emissions: total national emissions). Trees don’t grow fast enough to suck all that back out of the air in ten years. Continue reading →

Candidates, Lowndes County Commission, District 2, at LCDP BBQ

Every year the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) has a barbecue to which it invites candidates for public office. These include local candidates. Here we have the two Democrats running for Lowndes County Commission in District 2, in alphabetical order: Debra M. Franklin and John S. Quarterman. Notice the two candidates dining amicably side by side.

Debra M. Franklin: Continue reading →

Biomass Town Hall Part 2

This is part 2 about the July 8th town Hall meeting about the biomass plant proposed for Valdosta.

First let’s hear George Rhynes explain that it’s never too late to reregulate our minds:

Here I’ve selected videos of local County Commission candidates: Continue reading →

Biomass Town Hall, 8 July 2010

On July 8th there was a town Hall meeting about the biomass plant proposed for Valdosta.

Pastor Angela Manning of New Life Ministries sums up why she called this Town Hall meeting:

Speakers included: Continue reading →

Good Meeting, Foxborough vs. McDonalds

Vince Schneider of Foxborough Avenue sums up the sense of a well-attended meeting (7PM Thursday July 8 2010) at which residents said they don’t want a McDonalds at the entrance to the Foxborough neighborhood. Vince will be speaking at the County Commission meeting Tuesday at 5:30 PM July 13, and also at the work session Monday at 8:30AM July 12.

See you there.