Tag Archives: Allan Ricketts

Industrial Authority board meets tonight

The Board of Directors of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) meets tonight, 5:30 PM 15 March 2011 in the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia. I hear they’re having a personnel change.

Maybe with new staff they can finally get agendas and minutes on their website, and maybe a picture of Tom Call. The picture of Call below was found elsewhere by LAKE.

-jsq

Roy Copeland
Roy Copeland 		Tom Call
Tom Call 		Mary B. Gooding
Mary Gooding 		Norman Bennett
Norman Bennett 		Jerry Jennett
Jerry Jennett,
Chairman

“We welcome solar power to the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County”

After all the protesters, police, and press, representatives of VLCIA, Sterling Planet, Hannah Solar, Georgia Power, and the City of Valdosta did finally break ground for the Wiregrass Solar power plant. I asked Col. Ricketts for a shovel, but he just snorted. Here’s the groundbreaking video:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Continue reading →

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
Everyone 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:

Continue reading →

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:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
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:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
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:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
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:
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’?
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.

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.


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
According to the VDT CEO Marte later said:
“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.


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
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.


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
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