Tag Archives: CIE

The missing Lowndes County public hearing for Comprehensive Plan Updates

Four local governments followed the rules, one appears to have left
citizens out of the process.

According to their letters of transmission to the

Department of Community Affairs (DCA)

Valdosta,

Hahira,
Remerton,
and

Lake Park
all held public hearings on the
Short Term Work Programs and Report of Accomplishment documents.

Here is
video
of the Valdosta Public Hearing.



The

Lowndes County resolution
does not say that a public hearing was held.
That’s because no public hearing was held, as you can see in the video below.

A public hearing was listed in the

agenda
of the 11 October 2011 Regular Session of the
Lowndes County Commission.

7. Public Hearing

a. REZ-2011-13, Fred’s Dept. Store, 4401 Bemiss Rd., 145c-90a, 2.0 ac.,
water/sewer, C-H(c) & C- G(c) to C-G

b. Greater Lowndes 2030 Comprehensive Plan Updates – Lowndes County Report of
Accomplishments (ROA) and Short Term Work Program (STWP)

However, citizens were not invited to speak for or against the document.
In fact, the document was not provided to the citizens for comment and an
open records request for the document has not been satisfied by the county.
Here is

video of items 7a and 7b.

The

County’s Resolution to Transmit says in part:

Continue reading →

Center of Innovation – Energy

Where’s Waldo?
And where’s the

state renewable energy strategy for Georgia, or for the southeast, or for just south Georgia?
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
Project Manager Allan Ricketts

found another candidate.

“Forests Dominate Georgia’s Land Use”



That’s the title of slide 10 of 21 in

Center of Innovation – Energy (CIE)
by Jill Stuckey, Director.
Actually, massively pesticided planted pines dominate south Georgia’s land use;
not the same as actual forests with species diversity and diverse ages of trees.
The same CIE slide equates

Georgia Forestry = Biomass Energy

That is what the state government seems to want it to be.

Back on slide 9, solar is defined as a southwestern regional energy
source; nevermind that the solar map on that page shows Georgia
with the same insolation as most of Texas (more on that later).
And wind is defined as a central U.S. regional strength,
nevermind that even Georgia Power has started exploring the
possibility of wind off the Georgia coast.

I get it that Georgia has trees and forestry is a big industry in Georgia.
I’m a tree farmer myself.
I’d love to be convinced that biomass from trees is one good way to go.
But at what costs?
And compared to what?

Continue reading →