The big news is that
Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport is leaving his position at the county for another opportunity.
GLPC welcomed its new member, Calvin Graham, Sr., who only said “Thank you,” to replace Celine Gladwin, who declined to be reappointed. See previous post for some background.
The one case, CU-2018-05 LifeSouth3. Community Blood Centers – 301 Woodrow Wilson, was presented by City Planner Matt Martin, and after three times addressing one question, Continue reading
Since Celine Gladwin declined to be reappointed, GLPC has a new member, Calvin Graham, Sr., who ran for Valdosta City Council District 2 in 2013, when he said he was an Army veteran who subsequently worked for the Department of Defense. Sandra Tooley won, and is still on the Valdosta City Council.
That leaves the Planning Commission with no female members and no architect.
There’s only one case on the agenda for this evening: Continue reading
Southern Company solar farms at military bases are not just for Georgia anymore; SO subsidiary Gulf Power is building more and bigger ones in Florida.
Gulf Power,
Solar Energy Farms,
Gulf Power is partnering with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force to build solar energy farms at three different facilities across Northwest Florida. The projects could be in service as early as December 2016.
“This is an important collaboration between Gulf Power, the Navy and the Air Force,” said Stan Connally, Gulf Power president and CEO. “As military installations seek solutions to promote renewable energy generation, we have worked alongside our military customers to help provide cost-effective solutions — and all our customers will reap the benefit.”
HelioSage and Gulf Power, PRNewsWire, 22 January 2015, HelioSage & Gulf Power Announce 120 Megawatts of Solar in Florida: Landmark projects will span three sites through partnership with Navy and Air Force, Continue reading
Yet another reason Atlanta doesn’t understand south Georgia:
military enlistment is 1 in 100 people in south Georgia from
Columbus to Valdosta, and less than a third of that in the Atlanta Metro area.
Enlistment is probably related to two other major features
of south Georgia that Atlanta doesn’t understand:
it’s agricultural (traditionally a bastion of military supporters),
and it’s poor (and enlisting is one way to a career).
A certain pipeline company may not have taken this factor
into account, either. Continue reading
An additional 90 megawatts of solar power by Georgia Power, beyond what the GA PSC required last summer? With whose Army?
Kristi E. Swartz wrote for EnergyWire 16 May 2014, Georgia Power plan would install solar arrays on 3 Army bases,
Georgia Power and the Army jointly released plans to install large solar arrays at three military bases yesterday in what officials say could be a model for other states.
The three solar arrays are scheduled to start producing power in 2015 and will lead to the Army getting 18 percent of its electricity in Georgia from renewable fuels that are on-site.
The 90 total megawatts of solar electricity also will move the Army 9 percent closer to meeting federal goals for renewable energy.
Adding three 30 MW arrays would continue to boost Georgia’s rapidly growing solar output and would help the military meet its renewable energy goals to become sustainable and more secure.
The move also alleviates mounting political and public pressure on Georgia Power to remove roadblocks that some say have made it difficult for the military to meet its federal renewable energy goals.
OK, that’s all good stuff. However, I’m missing the part about SO is going beyond what GA PSC required Georgia Power to do:
“From the commission standpoint, it’s a joint venture between the Georgia Public Service Commission and the Georgia Power Co. It is a partnership,” PSC member Lauren “Bubba” McDonald said in an interview with EnergyWire. “Georgia will be the model state.”
At least a couple of state utility regulators have been working with Georgia Power for months on a program specifically to install solar at military bases. The utility will use a 90 MW self-build project that the Georgia Public Service Commission approved in 2007 to implement its plans.
So if that 90 MW was approved by GA PSC in 2007, how is it
beyond
the 525 MW GA PSC required of Georgia Power last summer?
Maybe Georgia Power and GA PSC won’t count that 90MW within the 525 MW.
This could confirm that interpretation:
McDonald said this program is an extension of his efforts last summer when he shepherded a proposal to have Georgia Power add 525 MW of solar to the grid as part of the utility’s long-term energy plan.
OK, that’s good. It’s still not enough: Georgia Power should be doubling its solar generation every year, not just adding 17% above what it’s required. But it’s some sort of acknowledgement that something needs to be done, and it is something Georgia Power is actually doing.
-jsq
Heard choppers lately? You’re about to hear more: it’s spring Moody Air Force Base exercises!
PR carried by the Chamber of Commerce 16 April 2013,
JOINT ARMY AND AIR FORCE EXERCISE, April 21-26,
Continue readingMOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. — A joint military exercise will be conducted from April 21 to April 26 on military training areas at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., and in the vicinity of the surrounding communities.
The 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Fort Benning, Ga. is conducting the exercise along with units from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment from Fort Campbell, Ky., 820th Base Defense Group at Moody AFB, and Air Force Special Operations Command from Hurlburt Field, Fla.
Soldiers and Airmen will use
No questions and no mention of Moody AFB at the Legislative Luncheon at
the
Legislative Luncheon at Wiregrass Technical College Wednesday by
the Chamber of Commerce and the three
Rotary Clubs.
State Sen. Tim Golden R-08,
and
State Rep. Ellis Black R-174
plus
incoming
State Rep. Dexter Sharper D-177 spoke
(Reps. Amy Carter R-175 and Jason Shaw R-176 were not present).
But they didn’t answer any questions.
The organizers didn’t even
take questions on cards from the 75 or so people in the room.
It’s nice they’re going around to all the organizations and talking to them,
but it might be more helpful if they listened to the concerns of their
constituents all at once.
Lowndes County Commissioners Joyce Evans and Richard Raines were there,
but they did not speak,
and none of the state legislative delegation said anything
about Moody Air Force Base encroachment,
unlike
Houston County where their state rep. helped organize
“$7.5 million to
help resolve the encroachment issue affecting Robins Air Force Base.”
Ron Borders
on behalf of the Chamber’s
Governmental Affairs Council (GAC) did
invite people to a
Members to the Heard session
Monday 7 January 2012 at Valdosta City Hall Annex Multi-Purpose Room.
Waiting a month to provide feedback to legislators through the Chamber
does seem a tad indirect.
Overall, it would be nice if the legislators would at least actually listen to
(even if they don’t want to answer) questions and concerns from citizens without
those citizens having go go through some filtering system (ie chamber legislative affairs
or county commissioner).
With a room full of 75 or more people, wouldn’t it be refreshing for
elected officials to say “We can’t necessarily answer all your questions
today, but we would like to know what they are. Please come to the
microphone and ask your question or state your concern”.
Citizens Wishing to be Heard in the County Commission meetings
is not really the same as having a session dedicated to listening to citizens’ concerns.
The Chamber’s pre-announcment of this meeting said:
The Chamber’s Government Affairs Council will present its top business issues to elected officials.
Yet though the GAC the previous day in a contentious meeting voted to oppose encroachment on Moody Air Force Base, he said not a word about that at the Legislative Luncheon.
In his keynote,
Sen. Tim Golden said
Continue reading
“When did our Marines become Birkenstock-wearing tree huggers?”This was after some Marines asked for solar power so they wouldn’t have to haul fuel in long convoys, which were among the most dangerous missions. Most of that fuel was going into very inefficient generators to run very inefficient air conditioners in tents in the desert. Dealing with that got the military thinking about energy security: assured access to mission-critical energy.
Looking up, he asked:
He identified America’s strategic center of gravity as its economy. It’s very resilient but has vulnerabilities open to attack. So how do we secure those vulnerabilities?“What is it we as a nation need to understand about our own energy security?”
The main vulnerabilities are: Continue reading