Tag Archives: Lowndes County

WCTV on Biomass

A couple of biomass plant stories from WCTV.

On April 28 Deneige Broom wrote, Proposed Plant Raises Air Quality Questions:

A Biomass plant could bring business and money to the area. But some want to be assured their health won’t suffer in the name of progress.
Some good quotes in there:
Dr. Brad Bergstrom attended the hearing wants concrete answers.

“There’s not going to be anything in the permit that will say, you can only burn this much sewage sludge,” said Bergstrom. “The company plans to only burn a small percentage but once they get their permit, that could change.”

Continue reading →

Biomass Plant Hearing Today

You can ask questions and expect answers.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Air Protection Branch issued a Press Release on April 12, 2010 announcing a meeting:

EPD will hold a question and-answer (Q&A) session and a public hearing on Tuesday, April 27, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room in the Valdosta City Hall Annex. The city hall annex is located at 300 N. Lee Street.
The subject is “on Proposed Biomass-Fired Power Plant Application Submitted by WireGrass Power, LLC”

You can also submit questions and comments in writing: Continue reading →

Media to Attract Local Industry?

In addition to those previously blogged, some other projects are also mentioned in Sunday’s VDT article about the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority. Malynda Fulton’s writeup of the February Industrial Authority meeting mentions a couple more projects, Project Butter, and Project Loaves, both about baking, that don’t appear in either the January or April articles. This leads to the question: what are the current projects, and what is their status?

Apparently the media campaign discussed in the January article didn’t happen, since it’s not mentioned in either of the later articles.

The February writeup does brag about the Industrial Authority’s “newly-designed Web site”. Well, it’s fancy, all right. Continue reading →

Industrial Authority Projects

Kara Ramos writes in the VDT today about Building industry: A look at current Industrial Authority projects. The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority has quite a few interesting projects projected. It will be interesting to see which of them pan out.
Members were in agreement that while there are many students graduating from area colleges, they are moving to other cities to find higher paying jobs. Some board members agreed the local workforce needs improvement to enhance the work of current employees, improve the skills of unemployed individuals, and create more job openings.
Can’t argue with that.

The controversial aspects of the Wiregrass Power, LLC biomass project are not discussed in the article. Instead, the tiny accompanying solar plant gets some press: Continue reading →

Oldest Building in Valdosta Renovated by Client Tell

Pat Sullivan, CEO of Client Tell, shows John S. Quarterman and Gretchen Quarterman his renovation of the oldest building in Valdosta.

Pat Sullivan and the Courthouse.

No, not the courthouse. Older than that. 119 North Patterson Street. Here Pat explains the hidden windows they found: Continue reading →

Third Thursday, Hahira, GA

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How many people can fit in a horse cart?

Don’t forget the children:

One more

Let’s try to count them as they get out:

Cast: Walter Bird (driving), Sam (the horse), Nancy Evans Parr, Winfrey Murray Hendley, Wayne Bullard, Beverly Brown Underwood, Barbara Stratton, several children, and watching on the sidewalk, John S. Quarterman.

Third Thursday, 15 April 2010, Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia.

Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman.

Got Junk? Got Code Enforcement?

For entertainment, I read daily the Rant and Rave in the local newspaper. Now, I know some people here think that what’s written there is so horrible that they can’t stand it. Others think it is just for those too afraid to say something in public. Nonetheless, I read it nearly daily as I find it an interesting window into our area.

Lately, there have been several people writing in about the advertising signs posted around both Valdosta and the county. They note that the messaging on these signs is in direct conflict with Valdosta’s new litter campaign slogan. I can only assume they mean the yellow “Got Junk?” signs.

For example Continue reading →

Biomass Air Quality Hearing Set

This appears to be the date and location for the Georgia EPD air quality hearing for the Wiregrass Biomass plant proposed for Valdosta:
6:30 PM, 27 April 2010
Multipurpose Room
Valdosta City Hall Annex
300 North Lee Street
Valdosta, Georgia
We’ve been waiting on this date for a while. EPD is going to send a press release to the VDT a few weeks in advance and post it on its own website, www.georgiaair.org. Assuming, of course, that the date and place don’t change again.

Why should you care? This plant proposes to burn sewage sludge, which can release numerous hazardous chemicals into the air. Here is Seth’s letter to the editor of the VDT of 21 Feb 2010: Continue reading →

Lowndes County Not Recession-Proof

Sea Island Co. had a reputation for immunity to economic whims while over-borrowing and over-expansion? Hm, they’re not the only ones. As recently as 28 April 2008 the VDT published a story “Analyst: Valdosta ‘recession-proof'”:
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, business consultant and president of JobBait.com Mark Hovind ranked every metropolitan statistical area across the country, highlighting those he deemed to be “recession-proof.” The city of Valdosta was the only Georgia city to make the list.
Continue reading →

Aaron Kostyu Awarded by Deb Cox, Board of Elections

I’m told that Lowndes County is the only county in Georgia that has real time election results. Someone noticed:
“Elections Supervisor Deb Cox awarded Lowndes County IT Director Aaron Kostyu with a plaque and thanked him and the IT staff for helping the Board of Elections become recognized as one of the five best elections offices in the state.”
— Malynda Fulton, VDT, 26 Jan 2010
Deb Cox congratulates Aaron Kostyu

The plaque reads:

Thanks to Aaron Kostyu IT Director
and Staff
For service far above and beyond
Your necessary duties. We wouldn’t be the best
without you on the elections team!
JANUARY 2010

Aaron seems to be in the newspaper a lot lately. Here’s a writeup about him from December.