Tag Archives: Jade Bulecza

WALB links corporate greed to school consolidation @ Occupy Valdosta

Jade Bulecza reported for WALB yesterday,



Occupy Valdosta protests issues,

The occupy wall street movement that’s spreading around the country
arrived in south Georgia.

That’s her with the big camera in front of the palm tree,
come to see what democracy looks like.

More than 100 demonstrators marched through the streets


of Valdosta Friday.

They’re protesting issues from corporate greed to unemployment all the
way down to local issues including school consolidation.

There you have it: WALB links school consolidation to corporate greed.

How’s this for an ad linked to Martin Luther King Jr.?





Sam Allen says Vote No School Consolidation at the Martin Luther King Monument

Videos and pictures of Occupy Valdosta by John S. Quarterman

for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

Back to Jade Bulecza:

Continue reading →

“We welcome solar power to the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County”



After all the

protesters, police, and press,
representatives of

VLCIA,

Sterling Planet,

Hannah Solar,

Georgia Power,
and the

City of Valdosta
did finally break ground for

the Wiregrass Solar power plant.
I asked Col. Ricketts for a shovel, but he just snorted.
Here’s the

groundbreaking video:





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Continue reading →

Biomass no, solar yes –Kathryn Grant




Kathryn Grant at the
groundbreaking for the

Wiregrass Solar LLC plant:

We’re here to oppose the biomass plant….
We want people to know we support solar energy
in hopes that that could be incorporated throughout the state.

Here’s

the video:





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

“Go solar! But no to biomass” –Dr. Michael Noll




Dr. Michael Noll at the
groundbreaking for the

Wiregrass Solar LLC plant:

We’re all for solar, go solar!
But no to biomass.

Here’s

the video:





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

More
Noll here.

-jsq

Georgia Power at Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011



It was good to see

Georgia Power assisting at the groundbreaking of the

Wiregrass Solar LLC plant, instead of just studying and demonstrating.
The speaker equated solar, biomass, and nuclear.
Hm, what’s that over their heads?
Why, biomass doesn’t seem to be as popular as solar!
I didn’t catch the speaker’s name, but he also recognized
Robbie Hastings, detail manager in Valdosta.
Here’s
the video:





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Georgia Power had several pages in the business section of the
Valdosta Daily Times (VDT) the previous Sunday, written up
on Monday as

Harnessing the sun’s rays:
Georgia Power kicks off 18-month solar power study,
by Karah-Leigh Hancock, about what Gapower is doing instead of actually deploying solar:

Continue reading →

“Olive branch or smokescreen?” –Patrick Davis

Patrick Davis

wonders from Macon:



Is this Brad Lofton-led ‘solar’ groundbreaking event by the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority an olive branch or
a smokescreen.for the community Or an example of ‘compassionate
consevratism’?

The solar plant has been part of the plan from the beginning,
which of course doesn’t quite answer Patrick Davis’ question.
VLCIA knows it can increase the size of the solar plant,
and they seem to think that could be a good idea.
They could also choose to forget the biomass plant,
but they refuse to do that.
Much more about Wiregrass Solar Power LLC.

Also please note that this blog is

On the LAKE Front,
where
LAKE is an acronym for the


Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange,
which is about

citizen dialog for transparent process
for all of Lowndes County and the general area, not just Valdosta.

-jsq

Hannah Solar at Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011


Actually installing the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant is

Hannah Solar.


Speaking

here is
Patrick T. O’Donnell, Managing Partner,
who talks about two other Hannah Solar people standing there,
Project Manager Dave Fisher,
and CEO Pete Marte.
Here’s the video.





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.



According to the VDT CEO Marte later said:

“Solar energy is definitely part of the solution for water issues
in Georgia, and it’s not being talked about. When the president of
Georgia Power is the chairman of the water commission and 52 percent of
water is being used for power generation, you’ve got the fox in the
henhouse,” said Pete Marte, chief executive officer of Hannah Solar.

According to VDT commenter Solar All The Way:

Continue reading →

Sonny Murphy talks at Solar Groundbreaking



The biggest dignitary among the bunch at the

Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking
was

Therrell “Sonny” Murphy,
Chairman of the Board, Sterling Planet, the parent company
of Wiregrass Solar LLC.
Nice fellow; I talked to him at length before most people showed up.
To his credit, he didn’t shy away from directly talking about
the proposed neighboring biomass plant (Sterling Planet owns
Wiregrass Power LLC, too).
He also mentioned geothermal and “efficiency itself”,
which shows he has a broader grasp of the potential energy sources
than some participants.





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.





I congratulate Chairman Murpny and Sterling Planet on the solar groundbreaking.
I offered to introduce him to the biomass protesters.
He said he didn’t want to get into a debate.
Hm, that
reminds me of something.

-jsq

Mayor Fretti at Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking




Valdosta Mayor John Fretti remarked
at the Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking 21 Feb 2011:

“…solar is an important component of our electricity needs
and our power energy needs, and that it will continue to be.
We need to take into consideration all renewable energy resources
such as solar, and wind, and bio, and bring those together
to eventually make them more efficient and effective to supply
our grid with energy sources.”

He also talked about eventual lower rates to the customers.
And he bragged about how big it is:

“I think currently the largest array… in Georgia”

Um, no,

Dalton, Georgia already has a 365kW solar array installed and in use,
although

that information never seems to get through the VLCIA filter.





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Still, it’s a start, and I congratulate VLCIA on doing it.

-jsq

VLCIA Speeches at Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking



I’m in favor of solar plants, and it was good to see the participants
helping out at the groundbreaking for the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant

at the Valdosta Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant yesterday.


But wait! What’s that behind them?
Seems like even solar supporters aren’t all in favor of the
proposed neighboring biomass plant.

In this post are videos of the speeches by VLCIA personnel;
speeches by other dignitaries will follow.

Brad Lofton,
Executive Director of the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
said they’ll have a commissioning reception in a few months
(currently scheduled for
Wednesday 16th April 2011)


to which they’ll invite “the entire City Council
and the County Commission.”
Interestingly, there was nobody from the County Commission
at this groundbreaking ceremony.
They’ve said they’re in favor of biomass;
are they not in favor of solar?
Lofton says they’ll also invite

“…the governor of Georgia who has about half a million
dollars invested in this project.”





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Lofton also said:

“We’ll go around and if anybody has any comments,
I’d like you to make them.”

Hm, they never seemed to get around to me.


Brad Lofton explained that the property for the solar plant
is owned by the City of Valdosta and leased to VLCIA and
then subleased

Continue reading →