Tag Archives: landfill

VDT should dig deeper into county trash



The VDT should dig deeper into the finances of Lowndes County trash collection.
Nobody has ever seen an accounting of where where the money went for
the county’s former waste collection sites, so nobody knows whether
the county was really losing money or how much, and the county’s
version of how those sites had to be paid for doesn’t match state law..
Sure, Bill Slaughter defending a decision made when Ashley Paulk was chair
is amusing, but instead of transcribing what county officials tell it,
the VDT could find lots more under the county’s garbage with a little digging.

Jason Schaefer write for the VDT Thursday,

Concerns continue over garbage agreement:
Business owner argues case against County



The County is not required under Georgia law to issue RFPs to any
company for waste disposal services, according to Slaughter. That
decision was made in a good-faith effort to find the lowest possible
rate for garbage service for the citizens of Lowndes County, he said
Tuesday.

Is that the point of county government, to act like Wal-Mart?
Is money the only value the county government can name?


Everyone I talked to about the trash issue in 2012 who already
had a waste collection card said they’d be willing to pay more
to keep the sites open.
Maybe if the county had held public hearings they would have learned that.

And does anyone believe ADS’s rates are going to stay that low?
Look at

Wakulla, Florida, where it’s $196/year.
But the bigger question is why did the county privatize trash collection
anyway?

Continue reading →

Renewable Portfolio Standards: GA, NC, and ALEC

Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (RPS) are being proposed
in Georgia and ALEC is trying to do away with them in North Carolina.
If ALEC doesn’t like them, there must be something good about RPS.
Let’s get on with real renewable energy in Georgia.



In Georgia,

HB 503,
sponsored by Karla Drenner, Carol Fullerton, Debbie Buckner, Scott
Holcomb, Spencer Frye, and Earnest Smith,
would create a Renewable Energy Credits Trading program as part of
renewable portfolio standards,
as Kyle wrote for Spencer Frye’s blog 10 March 2013,

Let the Sunshine In.
Unfortunately, HB 503 includes biomass as a renewable energy source.
Maybe they just mean landfill gas, which I consider a special case
since it’s being produced anyway, and since methane is worse as
a greenhouse gas than CO2, burning landfill gas makes some sense.
Nope, in

the actual bill, 46-3-71 (1):

‘Biomass material’ means organic matter, excluding fossil fuels and black liquor,
including agricultural crops, plants, trees, wood, wood wastes and residues, sawmill
waste, sawdust, wood chips, bark chips, and forest thinning, harvesting, or clearing
residues; wood waste from pallets or other wood demolition debris; peanut shells; cotton
plants; corn stalks; and plant matter, including aquatic plants, grasses, stalks, vegetation,
and residues, including hulls, shells, or cellulose containing fibers

The barn door in there is “harvesting”, which can mean whole trees,
but the rest isn’t much better.
We don’t need to be burning things that increase atmospheric CO2
and end up stripping our forests.
In

North Carolina they staretd with just tops and limbs and then tried to escalate
to whole trees.
We already
fought off the biomass boondoggle here in south Georgia;
let’s not have it encouraged statewide.
Especially when we have better solutions: solar and wind power.
HB 503 isn’t going to get passed this year, since it didn’t make
crossover day, so maybe its sponsors can clean up that biomass mess
before they submit it again.

Speaking of North Carolina,

Continue reading →

Videos @ LCC 2012 04 10

Your county commission might have a problem with transparency when no item in a voting session takes more than a few seconds longer than the invocation and pledge. Or perhaps a public hearing in which the public is not invited to speak.

Another five minute meeting, like the previous morning’s four (Chairman’s count) or five (VDT’s count) minute work session. They did not spend even one minute on any item of the agenda.

We did get to learn that the cryptic

7.a. Seminole Circle Property

is owned by the county which wants to sell it off. Commissioner Richard Raines even read from Georgia Code the reason why the county could do that without putting it up for bids. If you did have any objection, or maybe you wanted to buy it, you’re too late, because a few seconds after we learned what it was, they sold it off. That was the longest item, at 1 minute and 20 seconds.

They didn’t mention that the subject property is apparently a splinter of a much larger 538.31 acre parcel, 0172 119, which is presumably the “land application site” they referred to. According to the 8 December 2009 minutes they use it as a hay field. After land application of what?

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Fresh Kills Landfill Solar Farm

New York City’s new wind and solar farm will be a dump.

Mathias wrote for Cleantechnica 22 March 2012, NYC to Build Wind and Solar Farm on Old Dump Site,

Who would know that an old garbage dump at Staten Island in New York City would house 20 MW of renewable power? If they succeed with their plans, “Fresh Kills landfill” will be transformed into a combined solar and wind farm that could generate enough electricity to power 6,000 average American households!

The old landfill has serviced the city for 53 years, and taken care of a whopping two billion tons of thrash, before closing early in 2011.

Sounding like a mayor from Texas with a vision,

Continue reading →

Where could we put utility solar in south Georgia?

Where could we find

380 acres for a 30 Megawatt solar plant in south Georgia?
Here’s a clue from Texas.

Citizen Carol wrote for Texas Vox 6 January 2012,

Austin Energy drought proofs its energy with new Webberville Solar Project



A number of years ago, the City of Austin purchased this land
planning to install a new coal-fired power plant. When those plans
fell through, a landfill was proposed for the site that now boasts
280 acres of solar panels with a view of downtown Austin along its
horizon.

How about
on the proposed coal plant site in Ben Hill County?

Of course, it doesn’t have to be that big, or all in one place.
How about on top of a landfill?
How about on the cotton fields
next to Valdosta’s Sallas Mahone Elementary School?
Energy to air condition the school instead of drifting pesticides,
and profit to the landowner!
How about at the airport?
At the mall parking lot?
On top of the new county palace?
On the warehouses in Hahira?

-jsq

Using sludge to build better communities –Matt Flumerfelt

This LTE appeared in the VDT 18 Jan 2011. -jsq



I was recently reading “Masterpieces of Eloquence,” which includes a
speech delivered by the fourth Earl of Chesterfield to the House of Lords in
Feb., 1743. “The bill now under our consideration appears to me to deserve a
much closer regard than seems to have been paid to it in the other House,
through which it was hurried with the utmost precipitation, and where it
passed almost without the formality of a debate. Nor can I think that
earnestness with which some lords seem inclined to press it forward here
consistent with the importance of the consequences which may with great
reason be expected from it.” He goes on to say, “surely it never before was
conceived, by any man entrusted with the administration of public affairs,
to raise taxes by the destruction of the people.”

I find this quote applies exactly, mutatis mutandis, to the present
situation. The effects of these toxic chemicals are far more devastating to
my mind than the effects of gin. The science panel assembled by Michael is
more credible than the assurances of the industrial authority expert. In
fact, the emissions from the plant are so close to the permit threshold that
they could easily exceed that threshhold on occasion. Would the IA expert
then continue to hold the position that there is “No health hazard to the
public?” I don’t think anyone who favors the proposal is aware of the
enormity that could result if the plant goes into operation. They have left
the public health out of their equation. They have just enough science, they
think, to push the deal through over the objections of an easily deceived
public.

Matt Flumerfelt

Valdosta

Democracy in action v. unelected officials –Matthew Richard

This LTE appeared in the VDT 18 Jan 2011. -jsq



The

recent biomass meeting
was a great example of democracy in
action. Concerned citizens gave up an evening to educate themselves
and it was heartening to see many in the audience participate. I’m
no political scientist, but this must be what the founders of the
constitution had in mind in conceiving that document.

The evening was not without controversy. Several speakers spoke
passionately, even vehemently, prompting someone to question the tone
of some on the anti-biomass side. One wonders how closely he follows
events in the area?

Valdostans are frustrated at the blatantly anti-democratic tactics
employed by local government that result in our getting things rammed
down our throats. Biomass is just the latest example.

Continue reading →

Videos of pro and con biomass speakers at VBOE

Karen Noll took these videos at the

29 September 2010
meeting of the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE).
Much more about that meeting here.

-jsq
Dr. Gretchen Bielmyer speaking against the biomass plant.


Dr. Brad Bergstrom speaking against the biomass plant.

Brad Lofton and Allan Ricketts
speaking for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) and the biomass plant.

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 →

Biomass Rezoning Minutes, County Commission, 9 June 2009

In the

message from Prof. Manning,
he says

I did address the county commission on this topic over a year ago – in a public forum at a scheduled meeting.

He provided no date nor link, but since
this is the only Commission meeting minutes for which I can find
his name,
I’m guessing this is the one he meant.
I’ve quoted here the relevant item, and I’ve added paragraph breaks
to it to make finding individual speakers’ names easier.
See also the VDT writeup.
I would like to ask people, especially academics,
who want to cite sources to actually cite them,
not allude to them by some vague description.

-jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

MINUTES

Regular Session

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

COMMISSIONERS PRESENT

Chairman Ashley Paulk

Vice Chairperson Joyce E. Evans

Commissioner Richard C. Lee

Commissioner G. Robert Carter

Chairman Paulk called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

[…]

REZ-2009-05 Wiregrass Power, LLC, 2637 Old Statenville Hwy, 0164 025. 22.1 ac.,
E-A to I-S,

County Planner, Jason Davenport, presented the item, stating that both the
Planning Commission and TRC recommended approval with conditions.

Chairman
Paulk asked those in attendance to be patient with the Commission as the item was
considered, since it was an issue that many in attendance may want to speak.

Dr.
Michael Noll, 2305 Glynndale Drive, spoke against the request and presented the
Commission with a list of questions prepared by himself, Dr. Brad Bergstrom and Mr.
Seth Gunning.

Mr. Fred Deloach III, 1411 New Statenville Highway, addressed the
Commission requesting that tires and coal be added to the list of prohibited fuel items.

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