Tag Archives: health

Phyllis Stallworth: “I am gravely concerned and disappointed”

I received this on 7 Oct for posting.

-jsq

Valdosta is an innovative city with expanding opportunities for
our growing community. Valdosta has recently celebrated 150 years of
progress. As a citizen, I have spent most of my adult life experiencing
this progress. I’ve seen economic developments through recruitment,
retention and expansions that benefit our city, with tremendous support
from our communities. I’ve seen job opportunities that improve the
livelihood of our citizens, through the recruitment of national companies
who have established their businesses in our great city.

Our school systems are innovative, and they serve as models for
other school systems in our state, with great parental involvement and
encouragement toward improvements. Our University and College systems are
some of the best in the state, with phenomenal enrollment and retention
of traditional and non-traditional students in our city and abroad.

Our religious establishments are growing from leaps and bounds with more
and more people becoming citizens of our great city, who are leaving
larger unsafe, polluted, and unproductive cities, for a safer, less
polluted and productive small town lifestyle, such as our wonderful
city provides.

The development of small businesses, through our downtown projects, have
been a great success story for our city. The innovative improvements
make our city one of the most visited in our state. We pride ourselves
as a Titletown community, through continuous progress over 150 years.

When I contemplate our shared 150 years of progress, I find it disturbing
that our Industrial Authority would make such a bad decision as to bring
a Biomass incinerator into our community. As an advocate for the welfare
of children, women, and families I am gravely concerned and disappointed
that such a project has been endorsed by leaders who were elected to
carry out the wishes of the community for the betterment of all citizens.

Continue reading →

Michael Noll: “enough is enough”

Here is a followup to
the VDT story in the previous post.

-jsq

Dear Lowndes County Commissioners.

My sincere thanks for letting me present my concerns at yesterday’s
meeting. It is very much appreciated.

Please understand that what I presented is based on facts. I have
worked for ten years at VSU as an educator, and my students and
colleagues know me as a straightforward person. I may ruffle some
feathers at times, but I clearly was brought up in a no-nonsense
household.

If Mr. Lofton would not continue to ignore our concerns (as he again
did at the BOE meeting), to misrepresent organizations such as the
Sierra Club (an organization I happen to support), or to keep
bringing up names of those who endorse the biomass plant (yet
conveniently overlooks a conflict of interest), I  probably would
have never brought this up. However, during these past couple weeks,
and particularly with his behavior at the BOE meeting, Mr. Lofton
has added insult to injury, and enough is enough.

To substantiate the comments I made yesterday,

Continue reading →

Pastor Angela Manning: “totally against the building of the bio mass plant”

Pastor Angela Manning sent this message to Brad Lofton Monday 4 October
and asked that it be posted here.

-jsq



Mr. Lofton,

I just want you and every one at the Industrial Authority to know that my
congregation and I are totally against the building of the bio mass plant.
There are people in my church who suffer from asthma and COPD. This plant
would only make those who already have existing breathing problems worse. We
have a number of children and babies too. According to the American Lung
Association this plant would be harmful to the health of healty human beings
let alone those who have problems. I stand with the NAACP, the SCLC, the
American Lung Association, and any other group fighting against the bio mass
plant.


Taking a Stand in the Community,

Dr. Angela Manning

Bergstrom, Noll, and Gunning biomass questions from June 2009

These are the questions Dr. Michael Noll submitted to the
LCC at its 9 June 2009 meeting.
I invite anyone else who submitted written comments to that meeting
to send them here and I’ll be happy to post them.

-jsq

TO: Lowndes Co. Commission

RE: Wiregrass LLC Biomass Electricity Plant

Date: June 9, 2009

Dear Lowndes County Commissioners.

As the county is currently considering the development of a biomass electricity plant, we wish to share some important concerns and questions with you, which we believe need to be addressed before any further action is taken.

First, the proposed biomass plant is being touted as a “Green Energy” project because it produces electricity from renewable materials. However, this wood waste and yard waste could have other uses—such as compost, landscaping mulch and forest soil amendments, which are much “greener” still and produce no pollution at all. The fact that these materials are labeled “waste” tells you something, and Reducing, Re-using, and Recycling waste should come higher on the list of green processing than incinerating it.

Continue reading →

Karen Noll thanks biomass opponents who spoke at VBOE

Karen Noll sent this letter to the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE)
and asked that it be posted here:

Dear Valdosta City Board of Education,

I just wanted to thank you for responding to my concerns about the
proposed biomass incinerator by seeking further information. I also
want to thank Dr. Brad Bergstom and Dr. Gretchen Bielmyer for coming
and speaking before the board. Their expertise in the area of ecology
and toxicology provided valuable information to the discussion. At
the same time, I greatly appreciate that these two professors’
comments were succinct and to the point.

I am deeply disappointed that the Industrial authority chose to
consume the board’s time with a 45 minute presentation that never
answered the question: Is this plant safe for our students?
Never did Brad Lofton or Allen Pickett come close to discussing the
air pollution emissions and their effects on the health of our
children. Anecdotal information from hand-picked people in Cadillac,
Michigan does not convince me as to the safety of this proposed plant
for my children.

Meanwhile, the American Lung Association, a group that I trust,
has
spoken out against biomass and its emissions in regard to children’s
health:


http://www.lungusa.org/get-involved/advocate/advocacy-documents/Letter-to-Reps-Henry-Waxman-and-Edward-Markey-re-American-Clean-Energy-and-Security-Act.pdf

The American Heart Association collected many specialist to look at
the relationship between Particulate matter and our health and their
findings are frightening:

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/121/21/2331?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=particulate+matter&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

The American Cancer Society finds that extended exposure to air
pollution increases risks of cancer:

http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/news/News/epa-estimates-cancer-risk-associated-with-air-pollution

Lastly, the world Health Organization presents air quality guidelines
to prevent health risks, which pertain to most of the emissions from
the plant:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/index.html:

I am appalled at the disrespectful tone that Brad Lofton took when
addressing concerned citizens of this community. I am ashamed that
the Industrial Authority would be so callous as to waste the Valdosta
City Board of Education’s time with an endless sales pitch.

I truly appreciate the board’s effort to become informed about the
issue and hope that we can get to the bottom of the paramount
question: is the proposed biomass plant safe for our students?

Sincerely,

Karen R. Noll

Let’s Think About This!

Michael Noll has offered this letter to anyone who wants to publish it:

This is an open letter with a few questions for the Industrial Authority on the proposed biomass incinerator. Simple answers will do, as we have heard enough confusing verbiage by now:

1. Isn’t it correct that annually the proposed biomass incinerator will emit 247 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), 247 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx), 247 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), 135 tons of particulate matter (PM), 113 tons of PM10, 87 tons of PM2.5, 60 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and 14 tons of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)?

2. Isn’t it true that the American Lung Association states that pollutants such as NOx, SO2, and PM can have “severe impacts on the health of children, older adults, and people with lung disease”?

3. Isn’t it correct that the “baghouse filtration technology” in connection with the proposed incinerator cannot capture PM10 (particulate matter smaller than 10 microns) much less PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns)?

Continue reading →

Perspectives on Biomass Permit

This is Karen Noll’s LTE to the VDT as sent on 12 Aug 2010.
It doesn’t seem to have ever turned up in the online version of the VDT,
but here it is:


While certain entities see no negative environmental impact of the proposed biomass plant, the information and data that I have does not indicate that incineration of wood is efficient, environmentally sound, or safe for our citizens. Yet others see this as a win-win scenario claiming a vastly different perspective on the situation; economically, environmentally and in regard to the health of our citizens. Why is that?

Continue reading →

Video of Biomass Air Quality Hearing, Valdosta, 27 April 2010



A video of
a hearing about the biomass plant Wiregrass Power LLC proposes
to build in Lowndes County just outside of Valdosta was held

in Valdosta on 27 April 2010
by the Air Protection Branch (APD)
of the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia
Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Eric Cornwell of APD explains location,
process flow, and specific items
covered by the permit (soot, SO2, NOX, CO, VOC, HCL, etc., but not
CO2).
He remarks that Wiregrass Power LLC is building a small plant with a
“lower emission limit in order to avoid some of the red tape”
by getting a minor permit instead of a major permit.
The first half hour concludes with Bob Turner, the plant manager,
presenting similar material, ending with:

“No new carbon is added to the atmosphere when burning woody byproducts.”

I beg to differ on that:
in the time it takes trees to grow back,
there is indeed new carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere.
More from

Dr. William Sammons on that.

Back to the video of the hearing.

Questions start at 00:29:44.
Here are some time markers and very brief summaries
of Q and A; see the video for the full questions and answers.

Continue reading →

Biomass plant air quality permit approved, but is that final?



Georgia EPD approved the air quality permit for the Wiregrass Power LLC
biomass plant on Perimeter Road just outside Valdosta in Lowndes County,
with an effective date of July 19, 2010 (PDF, Word).
Somebody may want to do the exercise of comparing the approved permit
with the application to see if the process was entirely
rubberstamp or whether any changes at all were made after

the many questions
people asked at the

public hearing.

Meanwhile, is that it?
Will the plant be built?
Not necessarily:

Continue reading →

Local Food for Economic Benefit in Georgia



The UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development has
quantified the economic effects of eating local food in Georgia,
in this report:

The Local Food Impact: What if Georgians Ate Georgia Produce?
Prepared by: Sharon P. Kane, Kent Wolfe, Marcia Jones, and John McKissick Center Report: CR-10-03 May 2010

If Georgians produced all of the fruits and vegetables that they consumed,
it could provide a way to close this utilization gap (the difference
between state-wide production and consumption) of over $780 million
per year. Even if this level can’t be achieved, simply closing the gap
in one commodity­lettuce, for example­could mean an additional $83.6
million of direct revenue to local producers.

What is the lettuce gap?
The

Cordele Dispatch explains it:

Continue reading →