Now Wally was purchased with grant funds. Rudy was trained with grant funds. Our mobile command center was purchased with grant funds. Several other pieces of equipment for Police and Fire departments are purchased with grants. Now, there are those that scream and shake their fist at government to say, “Take no grants, for they are evil”.Continue reading
Category Archives: VLCIA
Authority should listen to other sources –John S. Quarterman
This op-ed by me appeared in the VDT today, 24 Feb 2011.
On 15 Feb 2011 I spoke directly to the VLCIA board about the main points
and the next day I sent them the longer version,
Why “jobs, jobs, jobs” isn’t good enough for the public good and the general welfare,
which includes links to videos of the relevant speeches and to
VLCIA’s charter. -jsq
Continue readingEveryone wants jobs for those who need them and jobs for young people so they don’t have to go somewhere else to find one. But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water those people need to drink?
At the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner Brad Lofton gave a speech which I liked, and I told him so afterwards, because it was mostly about real industry with real jobs that that the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) has brought into the area.
But it had a problem:
VDT on VLCIA biomass “Forum” expenses
David Rodock writes in the VDT,
Report on funds spent by Industrial Authority during biomass conference:
An open records request led to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) publicly releasing the detailed costs associated with hosting a panel discussion to answer questions about the Wiregrass biomass plant at the Rainwater Conference Center on Dec. 6, 2010.LAKE posted the detailed expense documents Monday 20 Feb 2011.The total cost for the event was $17,534.36.
The VDT article quotes Col. Allan Ricketts as saying:
“These costs included renting the center and providing refreshments. We view these costs as due diligence because they relate directly to our community. We need to make sure that a project is a good fit for our community and that it won’t do harm to our community,” said Ricketts.If they were so qualified, why wasn’t the VLCIA willing to have local people who would have charged nothing sit on the panel and debate them? Perhaps it’s because so many of the paid experts’ points were so easy to refute, as we know because so many of them have since been amply refuted?“You would want to insure that you going provide the best information available – they are the most qualified professionals you can find. You’d expect to pay them and they expect to be paid for their services.”
-jsq
Biomass no, solar yes –Kathryn Grant
Kathryn Grant at the
groundbreaking for the
Wiregrass Solar LLC plant:
We’re here to oppose the biomass plant…. We want people to know we support solar energy in hopes that that could be incorporated throughout the state.Here’s the video:
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
“Go solar! But no to biomass” –Dr. Michael Noll
Dr. Michael Noll at the
groundbreaking for the
Wiregrass Solar LLC plant:
We’re all for solar, go solar! But no to biomass.Here’s the video:
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
More Noll here.
-jsq
Georgia Power at Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011
It was good to see
Georgia Power assisting at the groundbreaking of the
Wiregrass Solar LLC plant, instead of just studying and demonstrating.
The speaker equated solar, biomass, and nuclear.
Hm, what’s that over their heads?
Why, biomass doesn’t seem to be as popular as solar!
I didn’t catch the speaker’s name, but he also recognized
Robbie Hastings, detail manager in Valdosta.
Here’s
the video:
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Georgia Power had several pages in the business section of the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT) the previous Sunday, written up on Monday as Harnessing the sun’s rays: Georgia Power kicks off 18-month solar power study, by Karah-Leigh Hancock, about what Gapower is doing instead of actually deploying solar: Continue reading
“Olive branch or smokescreen?” –Patrick Davis
Patrick Davis
wonders from Macon:
The solar plant has been part of the plan from the beginning, which of course doesn’t quite answer Patrick Davis’ question. VLCIA knows it can increase the size of the solar plant, and they seem to think that could be a good idea. They could also choose to forget the biomass plant, but they refuse to do that. Much more about Wiregrass Solar Power LLC.Is this Brad Lofton-led ‘solar’ groundbreaking event by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority an olive branch or a smokescreen.for the community Or an example of ‘compassionate consevratism’?
Also please note that this blog is
On the LAKE Front,
where
LAKE is an acronym for the
Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange,
which is about
citizen dialog for transparent process
for all of Lowndes County and the general area, not just Valdosta.
-jsq
Hannah Solar at Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011
Actually installing the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant is
Hannah Solar.
Speaking
here is
Patrick T. O’Donnell, Managing Partner,
who talks about two other Hannah Solar people standing there,
Project Manager Dave Fisher,
and CEO Pete Marte.
Here’s the video.
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
“Solar energy is definitely part of the solution for water issues in Georgia, and it’s not being talked about. When the president of Georgia Power is the chairman of the water commission and 52 percent of water is being used for power generation, you’ve got the fox in the henhouse,” said Pete Marte, chief executive officer of Hannah Solar.According to VDT commenter Solar All The Way: Continue reading
Sonny Murphy talks at Solar Groundbreaking
The biggest dignitary among the bunch at the
Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking
was
Therrell “Sonny” Murphy,
Chairman of the Board, Sterling Planet, the parent company
of Wiregrass Solar LLC.
Nice fellow; I talked to him at length before most people showed up.
To his credit, he didn’t shy away from directly talking about
the proposed neighboring biomass plant (Sterling Planet owns
Wiregrass Power LLC, too).
He also mentioned geothermal and “efficiency itself”,
which shows he has a broader grasp of the potential energy sources
than some participants.
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
I congratulate Chairman Murpny and Sterling Planet on the solar groundbreaking.
I offered to introduce him to the biomass protesters.
He said he didn’t want to get into a debate.
Hm, that
reminds me of something.
-jsq
Mayor Fretti at Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking
Valdosta Mayor John Fretti remarked
at the Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking 21 Feb 2011:
“…solar is an important component of our electricity needs and our power energy needs, and that it will continue to be. We need to take into consideration all renewable energy resources such as solar, and wind, and bio, and bring those together to eventually make them more efficient and effective to supply our grid with energy sources.”He also talked about eventual lower rates to the customers. And he bragged about how big it is:
“I think currently the largest array… in Georgia”Um, no, Dalton, Georgia already has a 365kW solar array installed and in use, although that information never seems to get through the VLCIA filter.
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Still, it’s a start, and I congratulate VLCIA on doing it.
-jsq