Tag Archives: Perimeter Road

LTE: Biomass is Environmental Racism

This is a letter to the editor that appeared in the VDT on about 17 August 2010.

-jsq

When Wiregrass Power chose the site for their Biomass plant, they put it near one of Valdosta’s most affluent black communities. There are at least six black churches:  New Life Ministries, Morning Star, Evangel Temple, Southside Church of Christ, Church of Prophecy, Church at Pine Hill. Two predominantly black elementary schools are in the area: Southeast and Moulton Branch. A large senior citizen assisted living community, Sands Horizon, is located in the affected area and serves over 60 families. Scott Park, where the Sands Horizon residents enjoy outings and the local children enjoy baseball games, is located nearby. Huge apartment complexes with several buildings, Park Chase and Brittany Woods, whose residents are primarily people of color, are located near the proposed site.
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Biomass plant air quality permit approved, but is that final?

Georgia EPD approved the air quality permit for the Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant on Perimeter Road just outside Valdosta in Lowndes County, with an effective date of July 19, 2010 (PDF, Word). Somebody may want to do the exercise of comparing the approved permit with the application to see if the process was entirely rubberstamp or whether any changes at all were made after the many questions people asked at the public hearing.

Meanwhile, is that it? Will the plant be built? Not necessarily: Continue reading →