Category Archives: Transparency

NRC tries to ignore hearing requirement for San Onofre nuke restart

Maybe the ASLB was referring to some other NRC that should hold public hearings? The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) agreed with Friends of the Earth (FOE) when it ruled that restarting either San Onofre unit requires a full public hearing like a trial, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) interprets that as having nothing to do with its own staff decision process. This is after the city of Los Angeles (and numerous other southern California cities and the San Diego Unified School District) said it didn’t want any decision about restarting any San Onofre reactor/ without a full, transparent, public decision process. The L.A. Times says all this is creating “confusion”. Just last week I heard Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers say confusion was bad for business. Maybe it will be bad not just for Southern California Edison and its San Onofre nukes, but also for Georgia Power and Southern Company’s 19-month-late and billion-over-budget nuclear boondoggle at Plant Vogtle.

Abby Sewell wrote for the L.A. Times yesterday 7:24 PM, San Onofre ruling creates confusion,

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Two appointments, a rezoning, 2 alcohol, an indenture, a building, and bids for paving LCC 2013-05-13

Where is the Lowndes County Commission getting the money for paving parts of nine roads? Who are they appointing to the Airport Authority and the South Georgia Community Service Board?

Here’s the agenda:

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
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F for Georgia state integrity

Worst of all fifty states; worse than South Carolina and worse than Michigan: that’s why Georgia’s gets an F on its corruption risk report card from State Integrity Investigation. Gov. Nathan Deal did just sign an ethics bill, but as William Perry, executive director of Common Cause Georgia says,

“It’s like you’re starving for a meal and somebody gave you a saltine cracker.
It’s chock full of loopholes.”

I wonder if this lack of ethics in state government has anything to do with widespread rural poverty in Georgia?

-jsq

Harrisburg just keeps getting worse

After Harrisburg, PA defaulted on its incinerator bonds, started selling off pieces of itself, and threatened bankruptcy (twice), now the SEC is suing the city for fraud.

James O’Toole wrote for CNN Money 6 May 2013, SEC sues financially troubled Harrisburg,

The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued the city of Harrisburg for fraud, alleging that officials in the Pennsylvania capital misled the public about the city’s financial condition.

The SEC says the misleading statements came in the city’s 2009 budget report, its annual and mid-year financial statements and a “State of the City” address. The case marks the first time the SEC has charged a municipality with misleading investors in statements made outside of securities documents.

Harrisburg has been mired in

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Lowndes County sewer spill may contaminate Suwannee River

WCTV went downstream to Suwannee County, Florida, to see further effects after the Valdosta PR that revealed what happened with the Lowndes County sewer leak. One of their interviewees recommends escalating this ongoing problem (first Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant flooded, and now this) to the state governors’ level.

Eames Yates wrote for WCTV 27 April 2013, Suwannee River Could be Contaminated After Lowndes Sewer Spill,

Travis Luttrell also vacations in Suwannee County. He said “it’s a pretty big administrative challenge between the two governors. And is something that needs to be worked out between state to state and hopefully we can overcome the administrative challenges it might take to fix these kinds of problems.”

The Florida Department of Health also issued the advisory for Hamilton, Levy, Lafayette and Madison counties.

Here’s the WCTV video:

-jsq

Lowndes County (sort of) takes responsibility for sewer spill

Lowndes County notified the VDT that it was actually their sewer line (not Valdosta’s) that broke this week, but there’s still nothing on the Lowndes County website, not on the front page, not under Utilities, and not under County Clerk. So the Lowndes County government did sort of come clean about its sewer problem, but you have to know where to look to see them washing. And they actually fixed the problem by dumping county sewage into Valdosta’s sewer main, which presumably means it ends up in the same Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant that the county has seemed to mostly regard as the city’s problem and not theirs.

In the VDT 26 April 2013, Lowndes County Notification of Sewer Spill, Lowndes County Commission,

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Valdosta blamed in Florida for Lowndes County sewage spill

Lowndes County Public Information Officer Paige Dukes Maybe Lowndes County should come clean about its sewage spill so Florida will stop blaming Valdosta.

Gainesville.com staff report today, Health dept. urges public to avoid Suwannee, Withlacoochee rivers,

This is the second time in two months that state health officials have had to warn residents of North Central Florida to avoid contact with the water flowing in the Suwannee — and both instances involve sewage contamination involving a spill in Valdosta.

Or maybe it’s normal for GA EPD to be more responsive than our local elected government. What do you think?

-jsq

GA EPD on Lowndes County Waste Water Spill

Lowndes County: voice mail. GA EPD: written response within minutes about that wastewater spill into the Withlacoochee River that turns out to be from a Lowndes County sewer line (not Valdosta’s).

After I called Lowndes County and got referred to voice mail, I filed an open records request with the county. I then called GA EPD in Albany and talked to Mary Sheffield. She said that compliance issues are handled from the Atlanta Office and provided the number.

I called GA EPD in Atlanta and asked for the Lowndes County Compliance Officer. She kindly told me that there had been some confusion about what government was responsible for the spill, because Valdosta called first but then Lowndes County did call and take responsibility for the spill.

She said that the spill had been 1.32 Million Gallons and that so far they had had a verbal report from the county and that the county has 5 days to make a written report.

Further, she said she would e-mail me any information that she had at this time, although the verbal reports are not “official”. And before I finished typing this up, she sent this response:

Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:34:19 -0400
From: Kim Hembree
Subject: Lowndes County Spill

Ms. Quarterman,

The Lowndes County spill was originally reported to the Environmental Protection Division by the City of Valdosta on 4/25/2013. After responding to the spill, the City of Valdosta determined that the spill was coming from a portion of sanitary sewer collection system that belonged to Lowndes County. Lowndes County (County) responded to the spill on 4/25/2013. This morning, the County reported that the spill was approximately 1.32 million and entered the Withlacoochee River.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

To which I replied:

Thank you.

If I understand correctly, Lowndes County now has 5 days to file a complete spill report. I’ll be interested in that when it is available.

Gretchen

Also, has Lowndes County put up a sign at the spill site to replace the Valdosta spill sign?

-gretchen

Open Records Request – 20130426 – Waste Water

Wastewater spills open records request In addition to calling Lowndes County, I also filed this Open Records Request:

Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:56:39 -0400
To: Paige Dukes, Mike Allen, Phyllis Judge
Subject: Open Records Request – 20130426 – Waste Water

Hi,

Please find attached an open records request for the following:

1) All written reports to EPD about waste water spills for the last 3 years
2) All year long monitoring programs/results after each spill
3) published notices in legal organ of all spills for last 3 years
4) a copy of the Overflow Emergency Response Program

I would prefer electronic copies of these documents if they are available.

Thank you,

Gretchen

Gretchen Quarterman

I attached a scan of the paper Lowndes County Open Records Request form I filled out.

-gretchen

Status of (not Valdosta) Lowndes County Waste Water Spill

Mike Allen, Utilities Director, Lowndes County, Georgia After learning that Lowndes County (not Valdosta) was having a waste water spill, I called the Utilities Department and asked to speak with Director Mike Allen.

The person that answered the phone said that he was not available and perhaps she could answer my question or put me through to his voice mail. I figured that perhaps I could get some of my questions answered so I asked about the status of the current waste water spill. She said that it had been repaired as of 5am today (April 26).

I then asked if it would be possible to get a copy of the Overflow Emergency Response Program and she asked my name. When I said my name (Gretchen Quarterman) she said that I would have to talk to Paige Dukes and she would transfer me. After a long wait, she came back on the phone and said she would transfer me and I was transferred to the voice mail of Paige Dukes. I did not leave a message.

-gretchen