Tag Archives: Law

Another $3.5 billion nuclear cost overruns coming —David Staples @ HBA 2012-10-18



David A. Staples
running for the Georgia Public Service Commission for District 5,
talked about the ethical conflicts of the incumbents who take
almost all of their campaign contributions from people associated
with the utilities they regulate.
Then he mentioned that the new nuclear reactors Georgia Power
is building for Southern Company at Plant Vogtle
have
another $3.5 billion in cost overruns coming.

This is after

the PSC incumbents just rubberstamped the Vogtle budget in August,
and on top of the

$900 million in cost overruns we already knew about.
That $900 million was already more than 6% of the originally-projected $14 billion
total cost.
If it’s now $3.5 + $0.9 = $4.4 billion, that’s more than 31% over
the original total.
Maybe we should vote in some PSC members and legislators who will stop this nonsense.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

4,460 have voted early in Lowndes County —Chris Beckham @ HBA 2012-10-18



Chris Beckham announced at the end of

last night’s political forum
that 4,460 people have voted in Lowndes County as of 5PM yesterday.
That’s up from
2,861 by end of Tuesday.

Here’s

the video:


4,460 have voted early in Lowndes County —Chris Beckham

Candidates Forum, The Home Builders Association of South Georgia (HBA),

Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 October 2012.

-jsq

Videos @ HBA 2012-10-18



Here are videos of last night’s

Political Forum.
The goal of this post is speed, so there’s no fancy format,
just

a video playlist
in which you can find candidates by video title or thumbnail picture.
We will probably come back later and use some of these videos in other posts.


Political Forum moderated by Chris Beckham of NewsTalk 105.9 WVGA

The Home Builders Association of South Georgia (HBA), Franklin Bailey President,

Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 October 2012.

-jsq

When Can You Vote?

Several recent local elections have been decided by less than 100 votes.
Your vote counts.
Here’s when and where you can vote.

According to

a Word file buried three levels deep in the Board of Elections website,
and also according to

GA Secretary of state Elections Division:

Early Voting:
Deb Cox, Elections Supervisor, Lowndes County, Georgia
Monday through Friday,

October 15-26, 2012, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

2808 N Oak St., Valdosta
Saturday Voting: October 27, 2012, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

2808 N Oak St., Valdosta
Extended Hours: Your Vote Counts
Monday through Friday,
October 29 – November 2, 2012, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.

2808 N Oak St., Valdosta
Vote by Mail: Get the form from the Board of Elections
Election Day:
precincts
Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Go to

your assigned precinct

Find your precinct through

My Voter Page
by the Georgia Secretary of State.

For a sample ballot,

Continue reading →

Record early voting in Lowndes County —WCTV


2,861 Total Votes through Oct 16, 2012
A record 2,861 total votes were cast
in Lowndes County by Tuesday 16 October 2012.

Greg Gullberg

reported for WCTV yesterday,

Early Voting In Lowndes County Sets New Record,


Jessica Cooke, first-time Lowndes Voter
Georgia state officials say the pace for early voting
is slower this year than for previous presidential elections,
but as Eyewitness News reporter Greg Gullberg shows us,
you’d never know it in Lowndes County….


Wave of voters
Jessica’s not alone.
In fact, she was joined by a wave of voters of all ages
here in the first week of early voting here in Georgia.
Now they’ve actually
already set an all-time record
here in Lowndes County
for the most votes in the
first two days of a presidential election, with almost three thousand.


Deb Cox, Supervisor,

Lowndes County Board of Elections, and Gregg Gullberg of WCTV:

Continue reading →

Candidates Forum today @ HBA 2012-10-18

Candidates Forum, 7-9PM today 18 October 2012, at the



Rainwater Conference Center,
1 Meeting Place, Valdosta, GA,
organized by the



Home Builders Association of South Georgia
and

NewsTalk105.9 WVGA,
moderated by Chris Beckham.

This thing is astonishingly poorly advertised,
unless you happen to follow one of the organizing organizations.
It’s not in the VDT calendar,
it’s not on

the conference center’s calendar,
and people keep asking when and where is it.
Now you know.




Here are

videos (from three different cameras) of all the candidate presentations
of the
2 October 2012 Meet the Candidates event at VSU.
Tonight, if I understand correctly from there being a moderator, they debate.
Presumably all the same candidates will be there:

Continue reading →

Denmark reaches 200 MW solar goal 8 years ahead of schedule

If tiny Denmark, farther north than Edmonton, Alberta, has already deployed
200 MW of solar capacity, why can't Georgia Power do it?
We know why:

Southern Company's three-legged nuclear regulatory-capture stool
is too profitable for SO and Georgia Power.



Molly Cotter wrote for Inhabitant 15 October 2012,

Denmark Hits 200 Megawatt Solar Capacity Goal 8 Years Ahead of Schedule,

Lets face it — its rare we see a government goal reached on
time, let alone early. Not too long ago, the Danish Government
announced an ambitious goal to reach 200 megawatts of solar capacity
by 2020, and as of last week, they have already met it! The country
is currently installing an average of 36 megawatts of solar panels
each month. At this rate, their resulting capacity by 2020 will be
over five times the original goal. Denmark's power is currently
20% supplied by renewable sources, and the nation has set a goal of
sourcing 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2050.


Solar Megawatts 2012-10-16
So Denmark has already deployed four times as much solar capacity
as GA PSC required of Georgia Power,
and almost as much solar capacity as Georgia Power has just asked GA PSC to approve.
While deploying more per month than Southern Company's largest solar farms anywhere.

Maybe it's time to

elect Georgia Public Service Commissioners to represent you.

-jsq

Elect Georgia Public Service Commissioners to represent you


GA PSC
The Georgia Public Service Commission decides how much you pay for energy.
If you’re tired of Georgia Power’s

three-legged nuclear regulatory-capture stool
and
Georgia lagging far behind other states in solar and wind energy,
or you just want

PSC members who will represent you
and who do not

accept massive campaign contributions from the utilities they regulate
or their employees or lawyers
like the incumbents do;
the incumbents who can’t even be bothered to show up for debates
or to answer questionnaires.


David Staples for GA PSC

Steve Oppenheimer for GA PSC
Here are two GA PSC challengers who did answer a questionnaire:

Democrat Steve Oppenheimer
and

Libertarian David Staples.
Early voting has already started:
you can vote for them today.


let the sun shine on Georgia
While you’re at it, you can

vote for statehouse legislators who will let the sun shine on Georgia.

-jsq

GA PSC questionnaire answers: Steve Oppenheimer


Steve Oppenheimer
The Georgia Sierra Club sent a questionnaire to all candidates for
Georgia Public Service Commission.
None of the incumbents answered.
The two challengers did.
Here’s the one from
Steve Oppenheimer
for District 3.
-jsq

  1. As a Candidate for Public Service Commission, what is your campaign strategy for achieving 50% +1 of the votes cast?

    [I’m omitting the answers to this question. -jsq]

  2. How should the Public Service Commission consider and
    weight the impacts to community health (asthma, cancer rates, etc.)
    and on Georgia’s environmental (water quantity, air quality etc.)
    when making decisions about a utility’s generation portfolio?

    The PSC has a major role shaping energy policy for Georgia. I would
    like to schedule PSC hearings on the relationship of power
    production and our air, water, morbidity and mortality and our
    general quality of life. My professional background in dentistry &
    health care provides a keen understanding of the relationship of
    power generation and health. Dr David Satcher, former US Surgeon
    General and Executive Director Satcher Health Leadership Institute
    at Morehouse University has become a friend and part of my
    professional network during the campaign. I would like to see PSC
    convene hearings on the topic. Georgians for a Healthy Future, a
    relatively new, broad based, organization would provide another
    forum for discussion of these issues. Membership in Georgians for a
    Healthy Future includes Georgia Legislators on both sides of the
    aisle. The PSC must be a leader on these issues—as the
    legislature as a body will likely not be progressive on these
    issues.

Continue reading →

GA PSC questionnaire: David Staples


David Staples
The Georgia Sierra Club sent a questionnaire to all candidates for
Georgia Public Service Commission.
None of the incumbents answered.
The two challengers did.
Here’s the one from
David A. Staples for District 5.
-jsq

  1. As a Candidate for Public Service Commission, what is your
    campaign strategy for achieving 50% +1 of the votes cast?

    [I’m omitting the answers to this question. -jsq]

  2. How should the Public Service Commission consider and weight the
    impacts to community
    health (asthma, cancer rates, etc.) and on Georgia’s environmental
    (water quantity, air quality
    etc.) when making decisions about a utility’s generation portfolio?

    Impacts to community health and the environment have to be considered
    very carefully. I know
    there are a number of different ways of viewing the situation but the
    explanation I’ve found
    that works best with Republicans in trying to get their support is that
    it comes down to a private
    property matter. The right to swing ones fist ends at the other
    person’s nose. Does anyone have
    the right to pollute the air that I breathe or the water that I drink?

    If I buy a piece of property for
    instance along the Savannah River or Ogeechee River, does someone
    upstream from me have
    the right to pollute the water that then flows onto my land, carrying
    those pollutants with it?

    Absolutely not.

Continue reading →