The business of carbon trading in Georgia

Rich McKay wrote for the ajc, Carbon limits a boon for traders: Proposed emissions standards may galvanize business in Georgia.
The carbon-emitting companies pay the farmers to not cut down the trees or to plant new trees. The idea is that the trees, which gobble up carbon, will store up the carbon from the atmosphere and offset what the smokestacks spew.
Blake Sullivan, of the Macon-based Carbon Tree Bank, has 26,000 acres of forest in the state under contract for carbon banking.

“Georgia has an abundance of forests right here, and trees are like the lungs of the Earth,” he said. “They inhale carbon and exhale oxygen. We can be part of the solution right here in our own backyard.”

Why is this suddenly a business? Continue reading →

“So, why should you care?” –Erin Hurley

The VDT isn’t the only newspaper in town. This LTE appeared in the VSU newspaper, the Spectator, yesterday, 3 March 2011. And the Spectator even puts LTEs online. -jsq
SAVE says Biomass spells bad news for Valdosta and VSU

By: Erin Hurley

How many of y’all have heard of the Biomass Plant that has been proposed for Valdosta? Many of ya’ll probably don’t know what Biomass is; I know I didn’t until about two years ago when this project first started. The Biomass plant is an incinerator that will burn sewage, sludge and tree “debris” in order to create energy. What’s the big deal, right?

Continue reading →

“the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state.” –Julian Assange

Some people compare LAKE to Wikileaks, so let’s go there. Julian Assange, like Wendell Berry, links the civil rights movement and the environmental movement. He then says:
“For the Internet generation this is our challenge and this is our time. We support a cause that is no more radical a proposition than that the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state. The state has asserted its authority by surveilling, monitoring and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness. Surely it was only a matter of time before citizens pushed back and we asserted our rights.”

LAKE’s motto is:

Citizen dialog for transparent process
That makes Assange’s proposition
“the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state”
sound very familiar to us.

Locally it’s more a matter of elected and appointed bodies ignoring their chartered responsibilities to the public good and the general welfare. Well, many people are also tired of the permit inspection brigade, but that’s another story.

Assange also adds: Continue reading →

GA SB16: Lowndes County Commission Expansion

Georgia Senate Bill 16 Lowndes County; provide for a board of commissioners; powers and composition has passed the House on Feb 10th and the Senate on Feb 28th and is now waiting for the governor to sign it. Here’s the summary:
A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend and supersede the laws pertaining to the governing authority of Lowndes County; to provide for a Board of Commissioners of Lowndes County; to provide for the powers and composition of the board of commissioners; to provide for election districts, qualifications, terms of office, and filling of vacancies of commissioners; to provide for meetings and quorum; to provide for the responsibilities of the chairperson; to provide for a vice chairperson and the vice chairperson’s responsibilities; to provide for submission pursuant to Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended; to provide for severability and effective dates; to provide for the repeal of existing enabling legislation; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
The actual bill still has to be approved by U.S. DoJ “pursuant to Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended”: Continue reading →

VLCIA Bonds: $15M becomes $23.5M?

How much are those bonds VLCIA has committed we the taxpayers to?

According to VLCIA’s FYE 2011 Annual Financial Report it looks like the bonds started out as about $15,000,000, and are

If I’m reading that right (I am not a CPA), VLCIA took out about $15M in bonds for which they will pay back a total of about $23.5M. Is that really $8.5M in debt service, or about 56% of the original principal? Is that a good deal VLCIA has made with we the taxpayers’ money?

Meanwhile, VLCIA has

That’s an interesting number to contemplate while other arms of local government are scraping to pay salaries and provide services. One of those other arms of local government is the Lowndes County Commission, which appears to be co-guarantor for those bonds.

-jsq

VLCIA “inter-governmental funding agreement” with Lowndes County

If Lowndes County funds VLCIA and helps secure its bonds, how can the Lowndes County Commission have no control over VLCIA?

In Note A: Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of VLCIA’s FYE 2011 Annual Financial Report:

Reporting Entity

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority is a political subdivision created by the State of Georgia Legislature to stimulate growth in the Valdosta-Lowndes County area. The Authority’s revenues are derived primarily from contributions by local governnments and by the sale of land in the industrial development parks owned by the Authority.

Well, the VLCIA’s charter is available on the web and it doesn’t just say “growth”; it also says “the public good” and “the general welfare” of the community.

The financial report continues:

The members of the Industrial Authority are appointed by both the City Council of the City of Valdosta and the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners. Primary operating funding, as well as guarantees for certain bonds, comes from the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners and accordingly, the Authority is considered to be economically dependent on Lowndes County.
The first sentence is correct. If the second sentence is correct, how can the Lowndes County Commission say it has no control over or responsibility for the Industrial Authority?

Further, in Note F: Long Term Debt:

The bonds are secured by an “inter-governmental” funding agreement between the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority and Lowndes County, Georgia.
If the Lowndes County government is co-guarantor of VLCIA’s bonds, how can the Lowndes County Commission say it has no responsibility or control over what VLCIA does? I am not a CPA, but the term “fiduciary responsibility” comes to mind. These bonds are, after all, being paid for by our tax dollars, and the Board of Commissioners are our elected representatives for the county.

How big are those bonds, anyway? See the next post.

-jsq

VLCIA Annual Financial Report FYE 30 June 2011

Where does that $3 million a year in VLCIA tax revenue go?

In the Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2011, for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), there are some interesting assertions, and some really interesting dollar figures. These documents were obtained by open records request February 2011 and given to LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

See the following posts about the “inter-governmental agreement” between VLCIA and Lowndes County and about the size of the bonds and debt servicing VLCIA has committed to. And of course read the report for yourself and see what you think.

-jsq

DHS grant for emergency vehicle, LCC work session, 21 Feb 2011

Here’s video of the explanation by county staff the proposed DHS grant application for an emergency vehicle. It includes questions and statements from commissioners, and goes on for almost 11 minutes. This was at the work session of 21 Feb 2011.

The sound would be better if the county used their own equipment, which is already purchased and in place in that same room, to record their own sessions and make them available over the web.

Here is the LAKE video. Maybe somebody would like to make a transcription.


Work session, Lowndes County Commission, 21 February 2011.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Video of this topic at the regular session of the next day will follow. This is one of the grants Ken Klanicki referred to in his LTE in the VDT the other day about a steep learning curve.

-jsq

Still no suppliers or buyers for Wiregrass Power LLC –VLCIA

According to an open records request of 17 February 2011, the Industrial Authority says Wiregrass Power LLC still
“has not yet identified or completed a comprehensive list of potential suppliers of raw materials, goods and services required to construct and operate the biomass electric generating plant.”
This is on a sheet entitled “Owners/Investors/Suppliers/Contracts”, which also says:
“Site preparation and construction is not scheduled to begin until June 1, 2011.”
Hm, what happened to breaking ground in January 2011? The document also said a “Project Critical Path time-line is attached” but it wasn’t.

Regarding buyers for the plant’s power: Continue reading →

VLCIA operating budget

Apparently VLCIA collects $3 million in tax revenues annually and pays about $368,000 in staff salaries and benefits, plus $125,000 in legal and accounting costs, as well as other items in general operations. This is according to VLCIA’s Operating Budget (FYE 30 June 2011), obtained by open records request in February 2011, and given to LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange. Look for yourself; here it is in PDF and two different single-page forms.

-jsq