Tag Archives: Elections

Softbank’s Son to install solar in Japan: watch out, Georgia Power!

The same Masayoshi Son who shook up Japan’s Internet market and is about to do the same in the U.S. is moving to modify Japan’s power market from nuclear to solar. Watch out, Georgia Power and Southern Company! If you don’t get a move on, Son-san will eat your lunch, too.

Mariko Yasu wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek 23 June 2011, Softbank’s CEO Wants a Solar-Powered Japan,

Masayoshi Son Billionaire Masayoshi Son made a fortune taking on Japan’s phone monopoly. Now he aims to shake up its power utilities after the worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. The 53-year-old chief executive officer of Softbank says he will build solar farms to generate electricity, with support from at least 33 of Japan’s 47 prefectures. He’s asking for access to transmission networks owned by the 10 regional utilities and an agreement that they buy his electricity. No other company has secured unlimited access to the those transmission networks. The utilities would not comment. Japan’s main business organization, the Keidanren, called for “careful analysis” before any drastic change in the power system took place.

If Japan ever felt ready to back Son’s ambitious plan, this is the moment. Radiation has spread across at least 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) in the northeast since the Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami led to meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. Outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in May he will rethink a plan to increase atomic power to 50 percent of the nation’s energy output from 30 percent. Renewable energy already accounts for 10 percent, according to Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. Son wants to see that tripled by 2020. “The question is how this nation is going to survive after cutting nuclear power,” he said at a government panel meeting on June 12.

Complacent Georgia Power and SO, you maybe don’t think he can do it? NTT probably thought that, too:

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Quitman 10+2 trial set for December

George Boston Rhynes notes a trial date of 10 December 2012 has finally been set for the Quitman 10+2. They were arrested back in 2010 for alleged voter fraud. Their “speedy trial” has taken so long that one of them has died.

The governor did convene a committee that ejected them from the school board in January. After repeatedly going to Atlanta, after Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO) held its general meeting in Quitman, after Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp came to Quitman to hear complaints about the handling of the Quitman 10+2 case and recent irregularities involving the Brooks County Board of Elections, members of the Quitman 10+2 were finally reinstated on the school board 9 October 2012. Yet their “speedy trial” has been delayed for two full years, all the way until after this year’s election.

Here’s the video:

Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

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South Georgia Statehouse Districts for 2012 Elections

Having trouble figuring out where the redistricted Georgia House and Senate districts are? If you just want to find out which districts you are in, My Voter Page by Georgia Secretary of State is the fastest way to find out. Here also are maps from GeorgiaInfo. Your Vote Counts Remember, you can vote today, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, or on the great election day, November 6th 2012.

Georgia House

Georgia House districts in south Georgia, 2012 elections

Georgia Senate

Georgia Senate districts in south Georgia, 2012 elections

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Candidates again tonight @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Will any of our incumbent state legislators show up this time? Their challengers have spoken every time. AAUW logo 7PM tonight is the last time to see all the local candidates in one place: Wednesday 24 October 2012, Performing Arts Center, Valdosta High School, 3101 North Forrest Street, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, AAUW presents a Political Forum. This one, unlike some previous ones, is advertised on the sponsoring organization’s website (although oddly not on its facebook page) and in the VDT calendar.

So far, Ellis Black (R 174) 0 of 3, Amy Carter (R 175), 1 of 3, and Tim Golden (R Sen-8) 1 of 3. Challengers Teresa Lawrence (D 174), JC Cunningham (D 175), and Bikram Mohanty (D Sen-8) all spoke at 3 of 3. Videos of the previous forums:

Candidates at 30 Club forum at Serenity Church
Candidates at Homebuilders Association Forum at Rainwater Conference Center
Meet the Candidates by Chamber of Commerce at VSU

vote Don’t forget to vote, today, tomorrow, Saturday, or on that great election day, November 6th 2012.

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Videos @ 30Club 2012-10-22

Here's a video playlist of the Candidate Forum last night organized by the 30 Club at Serenity Church. Probably more commentary later; for now, in the interests of speed, just the raw videos.

Candidates Forum, 30 Club, J.D. Rice, President
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.

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Solar yes, nuclear expansion no —David Staples for GA PSC

After he spoke at last Thursday’s Political Forum, David Staples said something interesting out in the hall and I asked him to repeat it for the video camera.

Here’s the video, followed by a transcript.

Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 October 2012.

Here’s the transcript:

I think right now we need to look at solar. The two new nuclear reactors probably shouldn’t be built right now. You look at the wholesale power rate curves, and where it’s most expensive, and it’s during peak hours. Wholesale power is 50 cents a kilowatt-hour, and the electric companies are buying at wholesale rates, What do we need to offset that with? We’ve got something to do that with: solar. The cost has come so far down that that’s something we should be spending our money on rather than than building nuclear reactors right now.

Solar PV costs dropped 50% last year.

Southern Company’s new nukes continue to run farther over budget.

If Denmark can do it maybe Southern Company and Georgia Power should stop manufacturing buggy whips and help get Georgia on the solar train.

Staples is on record for solar and as he says ethics matter: all the incumbent GA PSC members have taken campaign donations from people closely associated with the industries they regulate, (including Stan Wise) and Staples has apparently only accepted donations from clean sources.

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TV ad by Steve Oppenheimer for GA PSC

According to Ted Terry,

We are the first PSC campaign in over a decade to go up on the broadcast airwaves!

Here’s the video:

About those rate hikes: Georgia Power hikes prices for gas and nuclear, then complains about solar and We can charge you even if it’s cancelled! —CWIPped Georgia Power

About the GA PSC incumbents all accepting campaign contributions from people closely associated with the industries they regulate.

Steve Oppenheimer is on the record as wanting more energy efficiency and renewable energy (including solar energy).

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We can charge you even if it’s cancelled! —CWIPped Georgia Power

Steve Willis An excellent article about the problems with Georgia Power’s new nukes on the Savannah River gets at something you may not know: they can charge you for them even if they’re cancelled!

Steve Willis wrote for the Georgia Sierran Oct./Nov./Dec. 2012 page 5, Overruns, Uncertainty Plague Vogtle Expansion,

If Southern Company abandons this project, the CWIP law not only allows Southern Company to keep all of the CWIP payments legally extorted from customers, but allows them to keep CWIP fees in place or even increase them until all their costs and profits have been fully recovered. Due to the run-away cost overruns, the CWIP charge on your monthly bill is already more than three times what Southern Company confidently claimed it would be at this time when they presented their case to “your” Georgia legislature in 2009.

And that 2009 legislature rubberstamped CWIP so it appears on your Georgia Power bill as Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery Rider. Willis reminds us that the 2 nukes already at Plant Vogtle were projected to be four nukes for $600 million and ended up being two for $9 billion.

Everyone has heard the saying “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” If the Vogtle expansion costs balloon, as many analysts expect, it will cost

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County clarifies library and parks division in SPLOST VII

SPLOST VII’s $22 million for a new library and parks and rec goes about 2/3 for the library and 1/3 for parks and rec, and the latter doesn’t all go to parks and rec at Five Points, according to a mysterious red-letter note that has sprung up on the Lowndes County website.

The front page of lowndescounty.com has sprouted this undated and unsigned clarification under the SPLOST VII heading:

Exhibit A (Please note that the $22 million proposed by Lowndes County for the Library and Parks & Recreation, represents a division of approximately $14.5 million for the Library and approximately $7.5 million for Parks & Recreation. In addition, the $7.5 million proposed for Parks & Recreation is not allocated for parks and improvements at the 5-Points site. Parks & Recreation will use these funds for improvements in other areas of the county.)

Exhibit A is the list of projects and estimated costs that includes this item:

  • payment of bond debt for acquisition and construction of and equipping a new library facility and parks and recreation facilities
 
$ 22,000,000

Can somebody explain why the new library and Parks and Rec were lumped together in the first place? At least the county is sort of trying to explain the difference now.

They didn’t include the pie chart with their clarification.

Revised SPLOST VII Pie

I made the pie chart; took about Continue reading →

Another $3.5 billion nuclear cost overruns coming —David Staples @ HBA 2012-10-18

David A. Staples running for the Georgia Public Service Commission for District 5, talked about the ethical conflicts of the incumbents who take almost all of their campaign contributions from people associated with the utilities they regulate. Then he mentioned that the new nuclear reactors Georgia Power is building for Southern Company at Plant Vogtle have another $3.5 billion in cost overruns coming.

This is after the PSC incumbents just rubberstamped the Vogtle budget in August, and on top of the $900 million in cost overruns we already knew about. That $900 million was already more than 6% of the originally-projected $14 billion total cost. If it’s now $3.5 + $0.9 = $4.4 billion, that’s more than 31% over the original total. Maybe we should vote in some PSC members and legislators who will stop this nonsense.

Here’s the video:

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