Tag Archives: heat

Videos: HEAT on Sheriff finances @ LCC 2016-09-13

Half the meeting (11 1/2 minutes) Tuesday was Commissioners grilling

Sheriff Chief Deputy Joe Crow
about
the cost of

High Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (Heat):

how less funding is provided the more successful the program is,
and federal funding may go away, leaving the county to foot the bill.
Chairman asked for monthly statistical updates.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall moved to approve continuation of the grant,
plus a statement in favor of the grant including a disclaimer that the county would “work to preserve” as much of the grant as possible if state funding goes away.

They approved

finally fixing the railroad bridge over Old Quitman Highway.
and

similar but less complicated (no railroad) for the Jumping Gulley Road bridge.
Nobody mentioned that the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline proposes to cross Jumping Gulley Road half a mile west of that bridge, and then to open cut through Jumping Gulley Creek just south of the state line.

Snake Nation Road is getting

an emergency $168,928 box culvert repair,
which isn’t fast enough for former Commissioner Richard Lee,

who Continue reading →

Videos: Justice, Trash, Telephones, Investment, DUI, Liquor @ LCC 2015-04-27

They vote tonight at 5:30 PM on what you can see them discussing yesterday morning in these videos.

They got a
Deep South Sanitation, LLC Application for Franchise
for trash collection, including use of the county’s collection facility at

345 Gil Harbin Industrial Blvd.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked what about recycling;
Chairman Bill Slaughter said there would be recycling at the collection centers.
Which means yes ADS’ price went up and service reduced since no curbside
recycling collection anymore.

County Manager Joe Pritchard asked County Engineer Mike Fletcher
to report and to be added to the Regular Session emergency

Nankin Road Repair due to a water-eroded box culvert.
And it’s a single-source no-bid, this time for Rountree Construction.

Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker had a few remarks about

the letter to support plans to

“renovate Arbor Trace II Apartments in Lake Park” by Investment Management Company of Valdosta, Inc.

The
body armor request from two weeks before got Continue reading →

Videos: Trash, Vallotton agriculture, animals, body armor, HEAT, water, and a canopy road @ LCC 2015-04-14

ADS trash collection price and performance
wasn’t on the agenda, but even

former Commissioner Richard Lee
stood up to speak about it two weeks ago at the April 14th 2015 Regular Session, along with two other citizens

David Eaton
and
me.
See also

VDT trash story.
The VDT didn’t pick up on

Ann Swayze’s smoot and soot concerns
also being related, because nobody stood up to complain about burning in
Foxborough before the collection centers closed.

Commissioners did the right thing and unanimously

rezoned Vallotton Farms back to Estate Agriculture,
like it was before county-wide rezoning happened.
It wasn’t like the County Planner said, “it has developed around it
in an urban way”.
The subject land and landowners didn’t do that:
other people have built subdivisions around it the the county’s
active promotion.
And for once agriculture won, after

landowner attorney Bill Langdale,
Commissioner

Demarcus Marshall,
and I spoke up for it.

They’re even going to

preserve the canopy on Boring Pond Road
and

I thanked the County Engineer for that.

The two Sheriff’s requests for Continue reading →

Justice, Trash, Telephones, Investment, DUI, Liquor @ LCC 2015-04-27

Finally on the agenda for the meeting right now this morning:
Deep South Sanitation, LLC Application for Franchise.
That’s some improvement in the ongoing county trash situation previous
versions of the County Commission caused.

If the Commission can

sign a letter to support plans to

“renovate Arbor Trace II Apartments in Lake Park” by Investment Management Company of Valdosta, Inc.,
maybe it can sign a letter of support for expanded
public transportation in Lowndes County.
Arbor Trace is low income housing.
Bus systems typically include many low-income riders.

Even the agenda item PDF doesn’t say, but
FY 2016 HEAT Grant
for the Sheriff’s Department
is about

Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic “to combat impaired and aggressive drivers,” with the purpose of reducing traffic fatalities.
And the Juvenile Court wants to continue with its
2015 Request for Proposal (RFP) Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant Program.

Also on the agenda is

saving money with an

AT&T telephone discount
and
a
Wine and Liquor License – VHS Corporation – 2418 Rocky Ford Road
liquor license.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 27,2015, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Vallotton agriculture, animals, body armor, HEAT, water, waste, and a canopy road @ LCC 2015-04-13

The County Planner said “I can’t tell you anything beyond that”
about why
Vallotton Farms
is requesting rezoning to Estate Agriculture,
which is mysterious, since he (and the County Chairman)
sat through the entire Planning Commission explanation
by attorney Bill Langdale, several Planning Commissioners,
and me: see the LAKE video
of that GLPC item.
The County Planner did say “we expect development” in that area.
They vote on their expectations tonight at 5:30 PM,
although they have to listen to citizens for and against first.

I’d like to commend County Engineer Mike Fletcher for preserving the canopy
in the plans for
Boring Pond Road Phase III.

The

Vickers rezoning item
was withdrawn by applicant,
and the County Planner yesterday morning
explained that was because they’d worked out a way for the property
to count as five acres so no rezoning was necessary.
The

~~Vickers~~ Jennings rezoning to commercial is still being considered.
Also discussed yesterday morning and to be voted on tonight at 5:30 PM are

three

water-related

items,
a
Georgia Department of Agriculture Spay/Neuter Grant Request,
two Sheriff’s requests (
body armor,
and
High Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) Team grant),
another paving items (Resurfacing of 3 County Roads (Howell Road, Whitewater Road and Ousley))
a
Fuel Island Upgrade.
The

Execution of the Resolution for the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund
is about reimbursement for

monitoring of the closed Clyattville landfill
about which

the county chooses to reveal very little.
Last I heard, the Sabal Trail methane pipeline was still proposed to go through
there with its hundred-foot right of way and 36-inch pipe.
I wonder how that would affect monitoring?

Here’s
the agenda and below are links to the videos, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Spay, Rezonings, Body Armor, HEAT, Water, Waste, Ponds, and Roads @ LCC 2015-04-13

Update 2015-04-13: videos.

The three rezonings from the Planning Commission are on

the agenda
for this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
One has been

withdrawn by applicant,
Vallotton Farms still wants to

rezone to Estate Agriculture,
and
another wants to

rezone to commercial.
Also to be considered this morning and voted on tomorrow evening are

three

water-related

items,
a
Georgia Department of Agriculture Spay/Neuter Grant Request,
two Sheriff’s requests (
body armor,
and
High Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) Team grant),
two paving items (Boring Pond Road Phase III
and
Resurfacing of 3 County Roads (Howell Road, Whitewater Road and Ousley))
a
Fuel Island Upgrade,
and what’s this about
Execution of the Resolution for the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund?
Ah, that’s about reimbursement for

monitoring of the closed Clyattville landfill
about which

the county chooses to reveal very little.
Last I heard, the Sabal Trail methane pipeline was still proposed to go through
there with its hundred-foot right of way and 36-inch pipe.
I wonder how that would affect monitoring?

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2015, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Climate change adversely affecting U.S. power grid

Yes, and moving away from baseload coal, nukes, and natural gas
and towards distributed solar and wind power will help with that,
both directly by making the grid more resilient, and indirectly
by slowing climate change.

Clare Foran wrote for NationalJournal 12 August 2013,
Climate Change Is Threatening the Power Grid:

So says the White House, in a new report that recommends strengthening the grid.

Just days away from the 10-year anniversary of the worst power
outage in U.S. history, the White House and the Energy Department
released a report on Monday evaluating the resiliency of the
nation’s electric grid and recommending steps to prevent future
blackouts.

The report called storms and severe weather “the leading cause of
power outages in the United States,” and warned against the steep
cost of weather-related damage to the electric grid. It put the
price tag for electrical failures caused by inclement weather at
between $18 billion and $33 billion annually, and noted that costs
have increased in recent years, jumping from a range of $14 billion
to $26 billion in 2003 to $27 billion to $52 billion in 2012. Storms
exceeding a billion dollars in damages (electrical and otherwise)
have also become more frequent in the past decade, as the chart
below shows.

Well,
Entergy’s Arkansas Nuclear 1 (ANO1) is still down

more than four months after a fatal accident
(hey,

look at that; Continue reading →

Millstone 3 nuke down since Friday, NRC tells us Monday

Friday a reactor tripped off, and NRC got around to telling us about it today:

Millstone 3, 3.2 miles WSW of New London, Connecticut,
about half way between Boston and New York.
I hear a few people live around there.
That’s its second downtime in six months.
Why is nuclear considered reliable baseload?
Distributed solar power wouldn’t all be down at once,
and wouldn’t risk irradiating millions of people.

Here’s
Event Number 49260: Continue reading →

Pilgrim nuke down because of cold, heat, leak: when does it ever run?

Down in

January, February, April,

May, running low March and June,
and now likely to go down because of summer heat,
under what conditions does Entergy’s Pilgrim nuke near Boston, MA like to run?
Entergy also couldn’t keep the power on during the Super Bowl
and

still has Arkansas Nuclear 1 down since a fatal accident in March.
To be fair,

many nukes can’t handle heat.
Remind me,

why are we building more of them?

Christine Legere wrote for Cape Cod Times 18 July 2013,

Seawater temps too high for Pilgrim cooling,

PLYMOUTH — The ongoing heat wave could force Pilgrim Nuclear
Power Station to shut down, as soaring temperatures continue to warm
the Cape Cod Bay waters that the plant relies on to cool key safety
systems.

Pilgrim’s license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires Continue reading →

French, German, and Spanish nukes unreliable in heat

Invest in nukes for

hot water in rivers damaging plants and animals
while there’s less water for agriculture and cities
and droughts and summer heat waves cause power shortages.
That’s Europe’s experience.

Or we could profit by their experience and get on with
reliable renewable solar and wind power.

The Guardian, 12 August 2003,

Heatwave hits French power production,

France has shut down the equivalent of four nuclear power stations
as the heatwave eats into the country’s electricity generating
capacities. With temperatures in French rivers hitting record highs,
some power plants relying on river water to cool their reactors have
been forced to scale back production.

Julio Godoy wrote for OneWorld.net 28 July 2006,

European Heat Wave Shows Limits of Nuclear Energy,

Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange