Previously I promised to come back to the subject of whole trees.
Allan Ricketts asserted in the VLCIA meeting with concerned citizens
on 10 June 2010
that the biomass plant Wiregrass LLC proposed for Valdosta will never
burn whole trees because it would be economically unfeasible for it to do so.
While I have no doubt that Col. Ricketts is acting on the best information
given to him, there are reasons to be sceptical about what will happen
in the future.
Continue reading →
Natasha Fast (SAVE), Pastor Angela Manning (New Life Ministries), Allan Ricketts (Project Manager), Geraldine Fairell, Ken Klanicki, Brad Lofton (Executive Director), picture by John S. Quarterman (LAKE)
Pictured is a group of concerned citizens meeting about the
proposed biomass plant with Valdosta-Lowndes County
Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
Project Manager Allan Ricketts
and Executive Director Brad Lofton.
Ricketts and Lofton gave a two-hour presentation,
took some action items, and have provided a schedule
on which they will fulfill them.
I thank them for that and look forward to the further materials.
Lying in the center of the table in the picture is this document:
The copy on the table is dated April 7, 2010; the online version
is dated May 2010.
It’s a powerpoint presentation that makes many good points,
among them that coal doesn’t grow back, while trees do.
So in theory it would be possible, by organizing harvesting of biomass
over a region to make burning biomass for electricity carbon neutral.
The document comes right out and says:
At point of combustion, CO2 emissions per unit of energy produced
are generally higher for biomass fuels than for fossil fuels.
I just got a call from the county saying Monday’s morning work session of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners is cancelled
due to lack of items. This happened a month ago, as well.
The regular public meeting is still on for Tuesday 22 June at 5:30 PM at 325 W. Savannah Ave. (under the water tower). The agenda does seem a mite slim: no rezoning cases, no ULDC changes. Still, there’s Citizens Wishing to be Heard. I’ll be there.
This is about exclusion zones around wells, and maybe about
restrictions on putting new wells next to pollution sources such
as cotton fields.
At their 8 June 2010 regular meeting, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners,
at the recommendation of County Planner Jason Davenport,
tabled revisions to the Uniform Land Development Code (ULDC) about
wellhead protection.
Such protections are a new requirment by the Georgia EPD,
and it’s taking a while to figure out what is appropriate for the
ten wells operated by the county and the 140 private community wells,
many of which have trust indentures with the county that require the
county to take them over if their current operators do not supply
enough water, or of good enough quality.
Picture by John S.Quarterman, video by Gretchen K. Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, 8 June 2010.
Previously, the Valdosta City Council appointed City Council member
Robert Yost to the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks & Recreation Authority (VLPRA).
The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners debated appointing a Commissioner
to the VLPRA at their June 8 meeting:
They decided to appoint their chairman, Ashley Paulk, to the VLPRA.
Chairman Paulk said he would serve, but as a private citizen.
I wonder then what the point was of appointing him, rather than
someone else.
In April 2009, the City of Valdosta was awarded a Georgia Historic Preservation Fund grant by the Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, to produce a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-enabled web site to be used by family members, historians, genealogists, and anyone interested in learning about the generations of Valdostans laid to rest at the city-owned Sunset Hill Cemetery.
You can search for people by name, and it will show you birth date, death date, lot number, and pan to the correct location on a map. Quite a difference from when aunt Jane and I used to have to try to guess
when the caretaker would be in to look up who was buried where, or just
stomp around until we found the marker.
In the regular meeting, Hahira City Council, June 3,
Mr. Benjamin speaks up in Citizens Wishing to be Heard:
As you can see by the pan around the room, the meeting was pretty well attended.
The average local government session around here gets maybe a couple of
people who aren’t elected or staff. This one had probably half a dozen.
Most of the county budget goes to law enforcement.
This does not include the larger budget of the Lowndes County School Board.
I also don’t think it includes dedicated millage such as the one mil
that goes to the Industrial Authority.
Previously I promised to come back to the subject of whole trees.
Allan Ricketts asserted in the VLCIA meeting with concerned citizens
on 10 June 2010
that the biomass plant Wiregrass LLC proposed for Valdosta will never
burn whole trees because it would be economically unfeasible for it to do so.
While I have no doubt that Col. Ricketts is acting on the best information
given to him, there are reasons to be sceptical about what will happen
in the future.
Continue reading 
