Continue readingUSDA Finalizes New Microloan Program
Microloans up to $35,000 aim to assist small farmers, veterans, and disadvantaged producers
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2013 — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a new microloan program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) designed to help small and family operations, beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers secure loans under $35,000. The new microloan program is aimed at bolstering the progress of producers through their start-up years by providing needed resources and helping to increase equity so that farmers may eventually graduate to commercial credit and expand their operations. The microloan program will also provide a less burdensome, more simplified application process in comparison to traditional farm loans.
“I have met several small and beginning farmers, returning veterans and disadvantaged producers interested in careers in farming who too often must rely on credit cards or personal loans with high interest rates to finance their start-up operations,” said Vilsack.“By further expanding access to credit to those just starting to put down roots in farming, USDA continues to help grow a new generation of farmers, while ensuring the strength of an American agriculture sector that drives our economy, creates jobs, and provides the most secure and affordable food supply in the world.”
The new microloans, said Vilsack, represent how USDA continues to make year-over-year gains in expanding credit opportunities for minority, socially-disadvantaged and young and beginning farmers and ranchers across the United States. The final rule establishing the microloan program will be published in the Jan. 17 issue of the Federal Register.
Administered through USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) Operating Loan Program,
Tag Archives: Economy
Mali: a French War for Uranium
Google for Mali War in French, and it seems nobody in France is fooled:
France is going to war in Mali for oil, gas, gold and… uranium just across the border in Niger.
Have you ever heard of a war for sunshine or wind?
Let’s get on with solar and wind for energy independence,
including from wars for fuels.
Even Le Monde politely asks the question, Pourquoi la France intervient-elle au Mali? Why is France intervening in Mali?
| matL : Quels sont les enjeux stratégiques majeurs que présente le Mali, non seulement pour la France mais pour la région entière ? | matL : What are the important policy challenges posed by Mali, not only for France but for the entire region? |
| Les enjeux sur les ressources extractives, à savoir notamment le pétrole et le gaz sur le site de Taoudenni qui se trouve à cheval sur trois pays, Mauritanie, Mali et Algérie. Ensuite, l’uranium puisqu’il en a été découvert dans l’Adar des Iforas. Mais ces trois ressources extractives ne sont pas encore en état d’exploitation. En revanche, le Mali est le troisième producteur d’or sur le continent africain. Ce sont là les enjeux géostragégiques. | Issues of extractive resources, notably including oil and gas on the site Taoudenni which straddles three countries, Mauritania, Mali and Algeria. Then, since uranium has been discovered in the Adrar des Iforas. But these three extractive resources are not yet ready to use. However, Mali is the third largest gold producer in Africa. These are the geostratigic issues. |
| S’il y avait implosion du Mali par la prise du pouvoir central par les groupes armés djihadistes, il y aurait nécessairement des conséquences négatives sur l’ensemble des pays de la sous-région. | If there was implosion of Mali by making the central government by armed groups jihadists, there would have negative consequences for all countries in the sub-region. |
| Visiteur : Bonjour, le gisement d’uranium exploité par Areva se trouve au Niger à quelques centaines de kilomètres à l’est de la zone de combats. Pensez-vous qu’il existe un lien entre l’intervention et la protection éventuelle de cette source d’énergie vitale pour la France ? | Caller: Hello, the uranium deposit is operated by Areva in Niger a few hundred kilometers east of the combat zone. Do you think there is a link between the intervention and the possible protection of this vital energy source for France? |
| En tout cas, l’hypothèse n’est pas du tout à écarter car il y aura des conséquences sur l’ensemble de la sous-région. | In any case, the hypothesis is not at all ruled out because there will be an impact on the entire sub-region. |
Stéphane Lhomme was more blunt in Le nouvel Observateur yesterday, Guerre au Mali : sécuriser notre approvisionnement en uranium, War in Mali: secure our provisions of uranium,
Continue readingRep. Austin Scott (R GA-08) @ VLCoC 2013-01-10
Ron Borders
introduced
Congressman Austin Scott (R GA-08) who
made some remarks
on the front porch at the Chamber of Commerce Thursday 10 January 2013.
Bookended by some formulaic remarks about debt (without mentioning that it’s already mostly solved), the Congressman noted he is on the Committee on Armed Services. He said there is no current BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Commission), although one has been asked for. He said a BRAC wouldn’t do anything for near-term debt, anyway (but he didn’t say anything about ending the war in Afghanistan or stopping funding for un-needed weapons systems as ways of saving money).
He said he is the chair of a House Agriculture Subcommitee (Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture). He said he was for research, for the agricultural extension, and for agricultural exports.
Here’s the WCTV news report, with responses by Gretchen Quarterman, Chair of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP).
Here’s a video playlist:
Continue readingVideos: new website @ VLCIA 2013-01-15
Both
Meghan Duke (PR and Marketing)
and Andrea Schruijer (Executive Director)
invited comments and additional information for the new website.
They were speaking to their board at its meeting last night, but in the Industrial Authority’s
new conversational spirit,
maybe they’ll take suggestions from the rest of the community, as well.
Both Allan Ricketts (Project Manager)
and
J. Stephen Gupton (Attorney)
said the Hahira well site work was going well.
They’ve got a new intern,
and I reminded them about
the need for fast Internet access.
It was a long meeting by County Commission standards,
yet short for Industrial Authority
meeting: about half an hour.
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos, and a few notes.
-jsq
Continue readingFailed concrete: the bane of nuclear reactors
Let’s not forget the failed concrete on which Plant Vogtle’s unprotected stranded reactor vessel is supposed to sit.
A week before the reactor vessel train wreck, news stories said concrete pouring was delayed due to “noncompliant rebar”. Thomas Clements elaborated for the Aiken Leader 14 January 2013, Vogtle AP1000 Nuclear Reactor Vessel Discovered Unprotected, Stranded in Savannah Port since December 15 Shipment Failure,
Due to chronic delays in the pouring of “nuclear concrete” for the basemat of the AP1000 units at Vogtle and VC Summer, it remains unknown when or if any reactor vessels can actually be placed into the excavated holes at the sites. A January 10 meeting of the NRC confirmed that another basemat-related “license amendment request” (LAR) was soon to be filed by SCE&G for its AP1000 project and that the target date for granting of the LAR was March 18. It appears that the Vogtle project has fallen behind the V.C. Summer project and no strategy for the filing of a similar and necessary LAR by Southern Company is known.
Concrete, the long-time bane of
Seabrook Station
and also what’s keeping
Crystal River shut down because nobody wants to pay the
billions of dollars it would take to fix it.
What say we call the whole thing off, like
Dominion Power did with its existing
Kewaunee nuke,
and
TEPCO and NRG did
with their plans for new South Texas nukes.
Maybe it’s a sign that meanwhile
Google has invested a billion dollars in wind and solar and gotten
2 gigawatts of power, almost as much as the 2.2 GW the two new Vogtle nukes
were supposed to produce, except Google’s solar and wind projects
are online on time, and for less than just the cost overruns at Vogtle.
The Georgia legislature is in session. You can contact your legislator or the PSC today about toppling Southern Company’s three-legged nuclear regulatory-capture stool and fixing that 1973 Territoriality Law so we can get on with solar and wind in Georgia, for jobs and energy independence, and oh by the way clean air and plenty of clean water.
-jsq
Centralized Nuclear Bad Investment?
A writer for Forbes spells out the question of nuclear investment: how can something that expensive, over-budget, late, and phenomenally risky be a good investment, especially when cheaper and faster energy sources are readily available?
Peter Kelly-Detwiler wrote for Forbes today, New Centralized Nuclear Plants: Still an Investment Worth Making?
Just a few years ago, the US nuclear renaissance seemed at hand. It probably shouldn’t have been. Cost overruns from Finland to France to the US were already becoming manifest, government guarantees were in doubt, and shale gas drillers were beginning to punch holes into the ground with abandon.
Then came Fukushima. The latter proved a somewhat astonishing reminder of forgotten lessons about nuclear power risks, unique to that technology: A failure of one power plant in an isolated
location can create a contagion in countries far away, and even where somewhat different variants of that technology are in use. Just as Three Mile Island put the kaibosh on nuclear power in the US for decades, Fukushima appears to have done the same for Japan and Germany, at a minimum. It certainly did not help public opinion, and at a minimum, the effect of Fukushima will likely be to increase permitting and associated regulatory costs.
He goes into detail: they take too long (while gas and solar got cheaper), they’re extremely expensive to build and run, and they’re all-or-nothing investments.
I was going to compile this list of recent nuclear financial failures, but he saves us all the trouble:
Continue readingForestry rebounds economically in Georgia
Found via
VLCIA’s blog,
PR from Office of the Governor 11 January 2013,
Forestry industry earns jobs, dollars for Georgia,
illustrated here with figures from
Economic Benefits of the Forest Industry in Georgia: 2011
by the Georgia Forestry Commission.
And let’s not forget that while paper pulp rules the roost
in Georgia at the moment, there are
far more jobs in reforestation than in nuclear,
even more than in wind or solar.
Continue readingGov. Nathan Deal today announced that a study by the Georgia Institute of Technology for the Georgia Forestry Commission shows that in 2011, economic activity generated by the forestry industry topped $25 billion in output and provided 118,459 jobs.
“I am proud to see our state retain its position as a national forestry leader,” said Deal. “Our 24 million acres of forests are one of Georgia’s most valuable natural resources, and the dedication of the men and women in the forestry community drive that success. I’m confident our sustainably grown forests will be providing both economic and environmental benefits for generations of Georgians to come.”
Highlights of the “Economic Benefits of the Forest Industry in Georgia: 2011” report include
Vogtle reactor vessel sitting unprotected at Savannah port
What happened to Plant Vogtle’s new reactor vessel after it was in a train wreck a week ago? It went back to Savannah port and sits there unprotected and unguarded.
Thomas Clements wrote for the Aiken Leader 14 January 2013, Vogtle AP1000 Nuclear Reactor Vessel Discovered Unprotected, Stranded in Savannah Port since December 15 Shipment Failure,
Tom Clements, Alliance for Nuclear AccountabilityThe reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for the chronically delayed Vogtle AP1000 reactor construction project near Waynesboro, Georgia sits stranded and seemingly unprotected in the port of Savannah. The special railroad car carrying the 300-ton vessel had unknown mechanical problems on December 15 on exiting the port. The NRC has said that the vessel only got one-quarter mile before a sound was heard and the car stopped. Plans by Westinghouse and Southern Company to move the vessel are unknown. It is also unknown if the railroad car can be repaired and used or if the railroad company which owns the line is concerned that the rail car might break down again on its line in an in accessible place. Meanwhile, the apparently unguarded reactor might be subject to sabotage and sits in apparent violation of NRC quality assurance and “administrative control” regulations.
The article includes links to several more pictures taken 13 January 2013 by Tom Clements of Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, such as this one with the bridge clearly visible:
Continue readingIndustrial Authority: new website, same old agenda tonight @ VLCIA 2013-01-15
The Industrial Authority has a spiffy new website under a new domain,
buildlowndes.com,
and with their new logo, formerly only on their
facebook page.
Their
meeting agenda for tonight, however,
is the same old recycled content-free placeholder.
I sure don’t miss the old hexagon menu, the new menu is up top and usable before they waste a bunch of space with stock photos. The Our Team page even links to the Linkedin profiles of Andrea Schruijer and Meghan Duke. While Allan Ricketts does have a Linkedin profile, it’s not very fleshed out and they don’t link to it.
The Recent Investments page is interesting, although it would be more so if Continue reading
Overwhelming majority of Americans want clean water and renewable energy –poll
A
new poll
says 94% want new energy balanced with clean air and water, 86% want to shift from coal and nuclear to wind and water power, and 79% are concerned about shale gas fracking affecting water quality.
A few excerpts from the PR Water is High Priority for Bipartisan Majority of Americans, 10 January 2013,
- 92 percent of Americans think “U.S. energy planning and decision making” should be based on “a comprehensive understanding of what our national water resources are” — a national water roadmap that Congress asked for, but which was never produced. The national water roadmap attracts the support of 92 percent of Republicans, 89 percent of Independents, and 94 percent of Democrats.
- 86 percent of Americans want leadership on shifting from coal and nuclear energy to wind and solar. Support for this approach exists across party lines, including 72 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of Independents, and 97 percent of Democrats.
- 86 percent of Americans “support more studies of the health and environmental consequences of the chemicals” used in fracking. Supporters of this approach include 81 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of Independents, and 89 percent of Democrats.
- Three quarters of Americans have heard of fracking, with 51 percent saying they are very or somewhat familiar with it. 79 percent of Americans are concerned about fracking “as it relates to water quality.”
What is to be done?
Continue reading