Tag Archives: Michael G. Noll

Valdosta Passes Resolution Against Sabal Trail Pipeline: not in this city, this county, or this state @ VCC 2014-12-11


Go away, Sabal Trail:



NOW THEREFORE,
be it resolved that the City of Valdosta supports the
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners in their opposition to the
construction of the Sabal Trail pipeline in any portion of Lowndes
County. The City’s support includes concerns with fundamental
property rights, the manner in which eminent domain might be
utilized, and the lack of demonstrated benefit to the City and
County. Furthermore, the City of Valdosta supports the Lowndes
County Commission in their formal request to the Federal Energy
Regulation Commission (FERC), and to State and Federal Legislators
in the effort to have Lowndes County and the State of Georgia
bypassed in the construction of the proposed pipeline.

Here is Continue reading →

Resolution against Sabal Trail pipeline + 3-1 ordinances @ VCC 2014-12-11



The resolution against the Sabal Trail pipeline, including to be filed with FERC, was

passed 6 to 1 by the Valdosta City Council Thursday 11 December 2014,
supporting

the resolution the Lowndes County Commission passed unanimously Tuesday,
plus

a clause about protecting our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer; see
separate post.
John Robinson

thanked the city for a VSEB contract.
The

personal care home rezoning passed.
The

taxicab ordinance was deferred (not all cab company owners had been consulted yet), while two others passed.
Also

some bids rejected
while

others

were

approved,
a reappointment of

Tom Kurrie to the Valdosta Housing Authority,
and
recognized

employee of the month Terrial Small.

Here’s

the agenda.
For background, see the

videos of the Tuesday Work Session,
including

a bomb report by Police Chief Childress.
The videos from the Thursday Regular Session are linked below,
followed by a video playlist.

Continue reading →

Sabal Trail disappointed in GWC Dirty Dozen; locals disappointed in Sabal Trail –WCTV

Spectra’s Andrea Grover is “disappointed” in Sabal Trail being on the
Georgia Water Coalition Dirty Dozen;
does she also find it “hard to believe” like Sabal Trail’s well-documented
eminent domain threats?


300x166 Harm --Chris Manganiello, in GWC Dirty Dozen Sabal Trail on WCTV, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 26 November 2014
Winnie Wright, WCTV, 26 November 2014,

Sabal Trail Pipeline Environmental Concerns Cited In Annual ‘Dirty Dozen’ Report,

Recently, The Georgia Water Coalition put

the Sabal Trail Pipeline
on their Dirty Dozen Report for 2014.


300x167 Winnie Wright of WCTV, in GWC Dirty Dozen Sabal Trail on WCTV, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 26 November 2014
You can see Cherry Creek sinkhole behind her as she reported.
She was navigated there by VSU professor Can Denizman.

She also interviewed several locals, including me
at the Withlacoochee River.

Continue reading →

Pipeline, road repair, Bailey, water, and Commercial Tax Schedules @ LCC 2014-10-28



They finally made a decision onG

the Bailey rezoning:
the one the applicant liked least.
They accepted

the Creekwood Subdivision detention ponds;
and the

Glen Laurel infrastructure;
will all that be maintained any better than the one at Hamilton Circle?
Dr. Michael Noll

spoke for WACE against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.

Agenda item

6.i. is changed in the county’s

online agenda from Rural to Commercial without the agenda being
marked as amended.

See
agenda,
the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session,
and

the board packet obtained via open records request by LAKE and scanned and posted on the LAKE website.
Here are videos of events as they transpired, followed by a video playlist.

Continue reading →

Protest at Valdosta Sabal Trail office 2014-10-21

Joe Adgie wrote for the VDT 22 October 2014,

Residents protests Sabal Trail,



VALDOSTA — A group of around 40 Valdosta and Lowndes County
residents went to the Sabal Trail’s Valdosta office on Tuesday
afternoon in protest of the group’s proposed pipeline.

The group, many of which carried signs displaying their opposition
to the pipeline, discussed the impact of a pipeline on the area.

Dr. Michael Noll, president of Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy,
discussed wanting to educate the community about the dangers of a
natural gas pipeline.

“We also want to Continue reading →

Videos: GP Investments, Hahira, Pipeline, Alapaha Water Trail @ LCC 2014-09-09



Five
citizens spoke, on topics including

the “horrible wretched smell” from ADS,
the
Sabal Trail pipeline,

the proposed local charter school,
and

the board packet and the Alapaha River Water Trail.
Chairman Bill Slaughter asserted there had been nineteen applicants
for the

Planning Commission appointment and seemed to think the public
should be happy about that, having learned it presumably by telepathy.
He didn’t divulge who those applicants were, and the only one
in the board packet (charming young white guy Brad Folsom)

300x450 2014-09-09-uldc-map-001, in wndes County Zoning Map, by Lowndes County Planning and Zoning, 9 September 2014
was appointed after somebody reminded
the Chairman to at least get a motion first.
They also appointed Commissioner Joyce Evans to the

Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
On the

GP Investments water rezoning,
County Planner Jason Davenport didn’t know whether there had been
a dump site there or where the well would go, but they approved it anyway.

They also approved the bookkeeping

ULDC updates for Special Events, Zoning Map, Fees
and they have since put the new zoning map online!

They approved unanimously the

annual prisoner work detail contract without even mentioning the cost.
And unanimously with no discussion they approved the

Hahira extratorial request.

Here’s
the agenda with links
to the videos and some notes.
See also the

board packet, obtained for you by LAKE through an open records request,
and

the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session,
which have quite a bit more information, including applicants
for appointment speaking.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Candidates, Landowners, Methane and Solar Power @ SpectraBusters 2014-03-29


Candidates for Lowndes County Commission
went on the record (
Mark Wisenbaker
and

Tom Hochschild both running for District 3,
and

Norman Bennett
and

Gretchen Quarterman both running for District 5),
plus

a statement by County Chairman Bill Slaughter,
in addition to essential background information from
directly affected landowners in the audience and from the panelists
on why the proposed
Sabal Trail methane pipeline
is

bad for property values,
is

hazardous here and elsewhere,
and

will be obsolete in a few decades,
all at

a SpectraBusters panel on the Sabal Trail pipeline at VSU,
Saturday 29 March 2014.

The panelists were Continue reading →

Water issues under Moody Family Housing –Dr. Michael Noll @ LCC 2014-03-11

Water issues still need to be investigated and resolved under
the proposed Moody Family Housing,
said Dr. Michael Noll,
presenting a public comment by him and two other VSU professors about the recent

evironmental assessment
to the

11 March 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Here’s

the video:



Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC)

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 March 2014.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

Appended is the text of the VSU professors’ letter,
and here it is in
PDF.

Continue reading →

Corporate power comes home –Jim Parker

Letter to the Editor in the Valdosta Daily Times yesterday.
-jsq



How is it that one foreign corporation,
that has just come into existence to do this project,
can have greater power than all of the thousands of citizens affected,
and their elected governments?

No, I’m not talking about the Keystone XL pipeline, but he issues are the same.
This one wants to run a 36-inch gas pipeline through a number of states and counties,
including Lowndes, affecting thousands of landowners.
It’s known as Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC, and is the
unholy offspring of Spectra Energy Corp. and NextEra Energy.



How can one foreign corporation (they’re from out of state),
have so much power vis-avis the thousands of landowners and
citizens of Lowndes County, that the citizens must give up a hundred-foot-wide
swath of their land, along with the depreciation of their
property values, not to mention their personal safety, and allow
this pipeline to come through?
The gas is not even for use in Lowndes County, or even the State
of Georgia.

However, the general feeling is we have to give in to the
corporation’s demands.
County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter is quoted as saying,

“There’s nothing we can do.”



Does anyone else see the problem here? Continue reading →

Frack Off Spectra, We Want Solar @ LCC 2013-12-09

Some citizens spoke up before the

Lowndes County Commission meeting, even if the Commission didn’t want to hear from them during.


 Continue reading →