Last night, while the Lowndes County Commission
unanimously approved
their
resolution against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline,
the Valdosta City Council
discussed a supporting resolution at its Work Session.
Council Tim Carroll
said Valdosta had added
a clause about the Floridan Aquifer.
Council Robert Yost said he didn’t think such a resolution was something
the City of Valdosta should be doing, and he would not vote Thursday.
No other Council members expressed any reservations.
Council Sonny Vickers said he thought it was worth doing to show unity.
Mayor John Gayle remarked, “We all live in Lowndes County.” Continue reading
Category Archives: Water
Anti-pipeline ordinance resolution + 3 more ordinances @ VCC 2014-12-09
As
promised,
item 5.c) on the agenda for Thursday’s Regular Meeting and Tuesday’s
Work Session of the Valdosta City Council:
Consideration of a Resolution in support of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners regarding the Sabal Trail Project.
Has staff found the digital copies of the maps for CU-2014-11 Normal Life of Georgia? If the county put agenda packets for the Planning Commission online, staff wouldn’t have to worry about that.
Here’s the agenda, thanks to images from Council Member Tim Carroll.
3:26 PMContinue reading
120514 Agenda Packet.pdf
AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, December 11, 2014
Valdosta proposes resolution against Sabal Trail pipeline @ VCC 2014-12-09
A draft resolution in support of
Lowndes County’s resolution against the Sabal Trail pipeline
will be discussed by the Valdosta City Council at their
Work Session Tuesday 9 December and very likely voted on at their
Regular Session Thursday 11 December.
This is according to
Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll, who has
seen the draft resolution.
This would be a very good idea, not just since Valdosta is the county seat of Lowndes County, but also because three alternative routes would go right down I-75 through Valdosta.
Both Valdosta City Council meetings are at 5:30 PM at Valdosta City Hall, 216 E Central Ave, Valdosta, GA 31601. Yes, that means the City’s Work Session is at the same time as the County’s Regular Session when the county proposes to vote on their own resolution Tuesday 9 December 2014.
Another very bad PR week for Spectra, what with Continue reading
Valdosta recognized for solar power, LED lighting, wastewater improvements
City of Valdosta PR today 5 December 2014, Valdosta Named “Smart Energy Municipality of the Year”,
The City of Valdosta was named “Smart Energy Municipality of the Year” by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) on Dec. 4, at an awards banquet held at the Georgia Tech Wardlaw Building in Atlanta, Ga. The event recognized successful individuals, businesses and municipalities who have shown dynamic leadership over the past year in Georgia’s large and growing Smart Energy sector.
Sixty nominations were received collectively in the three categories. In the municipality category, which includes cities, counties and state government agencies, the City of Valdosta was one of two finalists and the overall recipient of the award ” the other finalist was the Georgia Department of Corrections.
“We are extremely honored Continue reading
Sabal Trail disappointed in GWC Dirty Dozen; locals disappointed in Sabal Trail –WCTV
Spectra’s Andrea Grover is “disappointed” in Sabal Trail being on the Georgia Water Coalition Dirty Dozen; does she also find it “hard to believe” like Sabal Trail’s well-documented eminent domain threats?
Winnie Wright, WCTV, 26 November 2014,
Sabal Trail Pipeline Environmental Concerns Cited In Annual ‘Dirty Dozen’ Report,
Recently, The Georgia Water Coalition put the Sabal Trail Pipeline on their Dirty Dozen Report for 2014.
You can see Cherry Creek sinkhole behind her as she reported.
She was navigated there by VSU professor Can Denizman.
She also interviewed several locals, including me at the Withlacoochee River.
Continue readingEven more U.S. solar jobs than in coal or oil and gas extraction
In a year solar jobs increased more than 20% to 142,000,
according to the
National Solar Jobs Census 2013.
Let’s remember Politifact Rhode Island rated as true Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s claim that there are already more solar jobs than coal mining jobs. And already last year there were more solar jobs than in production and nonsupervisory oil and gas extraction. That was 119,000 solar jobs according to the National Solar Jobs Census 2012 by the Solar Foundation; thus the 20% increase.
Meanwhile, “production and nonsupervisory employees” in the oil and gas extraction industry increased 4% from 106,400 in September 2013 to 110,600 in September 2014, according to Oil and Gas Extraction: NAICS 211 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total oil and gas industry employment increased 8% from 197,500 to 213,100 in the same period.
Of course, we really should be using the 2013 (not 2014) oil and gas figures to compare Continue reading
Board Packet @ LCC 2014-11-11
Here is the board packet for the 11 November 2014 Regular Session and 10 November 2014 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Although the County Clerk once again provided this packet only on paper
and only in black and white, we got via CD-ROM color maps for
REZ-2014-17 Grand Bay Estates
and
REZ-2014-18 White
from County Planner Jason Davenport in response to a separate Open Records Request.
The request to the County Clerk also asked for
electronic copy, but once again she chose not to honor that part of the request.
But who can say? Perhaps things will be different after the Open Government Symposium this Friday, 21 November 2014.
Meanwhile, I have already filed an Open Records Request for the board packet for the next County Commission meeting, which is in December.
-jsq
China, U.S., and Russia energy deals: bad news for Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline?
The U.S. and China made a historic deal on climate change this week.
Here’s the good (it’s real, it’s huge, and it’s positive economically
for both countries), the bad (nuclear is first on the list of those “clean energy” sources), and the ugly.
Also this week China made a second huge natural gas deal with Russia:
what does that mean to the current U.S. push for LNG exports,
including the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline gouge through Georgia?
The Deal
Rebecca Leber, The New Republic, 12 November 2014, The World Has Waited for the U.S. and China to Take Action on Climate Change. They Just Did.
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Wednesday commitments to reduce both countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. The surprise announcement, which came while Obama visits Beijing this week, is the clearest sign yet the two countries are serious on climate change.
After months of negotiations Continue reading
Agriculture or residential: Whitewater compromise @ LCC 2014-11-11
The county staff and Commission listened at length to opponents and proponents of a rezoning back to agriculture with no conditions, and came up with a compromise, in the 11 November 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. It’s curious to me that people are more concerned about a few cows of very minimal effect, rather than about a yard-wide pipeline that could adversely affect the whole county.
7.b. Public Hearing REZ-2014-18 White, Whitewater Rd
Video. Here’s the board packet item, thanks to County Planner Jason Davenport in response to an open records request. In response to a question from Commissioner Demarcus Marshall he said he though the Planning Commission 6 to 0 recommendation for denial would have been different if Continue reading
Videos: Pipeline, agriculture, lighting, appointments, and parks @ LCC 2014-11-11
Update 2014-11-17: board packet.
Three citizens spoke against the unnecessary and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline. Several Commissioners even spoke up in Other Business, turning it into de facto Commisioner Comments. But none of them called for a resolution or ordinance against the pipeline.
The subdivision rezoning still got no objections, while the rezoning for agricultural use got massive objections and a compromise solution.
The emergency security monitor replacement is, you guessed it, Continue reading