Tag Archives: Planning

South Ga. officials expecting sinkholes after rain while NYTimes plays down the risk



Sinkholes aren’t just
for Florida anymore: Albany’s got them.
Are sinkholes risky?
You may think so if one is under your house.
And here above the Floridan Aquifer you probably won’t know that
until your foundations starts cracking.
Maybe we should do something to prevent the problem,
and to help people who are affected by it.
Perhaps the Lowndes County government till pay attention when
somebody’s house falls into a sinkhole.

Jim Wallace wrote for WALB 9 March 2013,

Expect more sinkholes,

Some sinkholes have opened up in South Georgia since the recent
heavy rains.

And engineers and public works experts say they expect more
sinkholes to develop in the coming weeks. It’s just nature at work,
but it can really cause some problems.

Really?
Does “nature at work” include

sinkholes predictably forming after
massive water pumping to sprinkle strawberries during a cold snap?

The WALB story pooh-poohs the possibility of anything like that Sefner
sinkhole showing up in south Georgia, and then details two Albany sinkholes:

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$1.88 billion and more on Kemper Coal to be charged to Mississippi Power customers



Risks at

Southern Company’s Kemper Coal plant in Mississippi?
Push those costs onto the public, of course!
Southern Company and its subsidiary Mississippi Power
got the MS Public Service Commissioners to approve super-CWIP
(Construction Work in Progress)
for Kemper Coal: automatic rate increases for MS Power customers for years.
Just like Southern Company and its biggest subsidiary Georgia Power
got the Georgia legislature to approve Super-CWIP for the new nukes
at Plant Vogtle back in 2009.
And both CWIP projects are already over budget.
How about we cancel those boondoggles and build solar and wind instead?

AP reported 13 December 2012,

After spending $1.88 billion, Southern Co. still faces risks on plant in Kemper County,

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Suwannee County sinkholes —WCTV



Sinkholes in

Seffner, Fort Myers,
Tallahassee,
and now even closer.
Follow the Withlacoochee River south to the Suwannee River,
and two counties south of us in Suwannee County, Florida,
they’ve got dozens of sinkholes,

one of them massive, with another one this month,
including apparently a cavern under some yards.
This is in the same Floridan Aquifer that underlies Lowndes County,
where we had

a road drop into a sinkhole three years ago
and sinkholes were discovered under a man’s garage and yard last year.

Greg Gullberg 4 March 2013,

The Science Behind Sinkholes,

Mikell Cook says he and his neighbors have learned more about
Geology than they ever cared to since last summer when Tropical
Storm Debby swept through much of Florida leaving Live Oak and
surrounding areas peppered with sinkholes.

He and his neighbors live in the town of McAlpin, where

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Tallahassee sinkhole

Even closer than
Tampa Bay
or
Fort Myers,
Tallahassee has sinkhole problems in our same Floridan Aquifer
just across the state line.
Will the Lowndes County Commission do anything about our sinkhole
problems before people start losing their insurance and get sucked
into holes in the ground?

Andy Alcock wrote for WCTV Wednesday,

Tallahassee Woman Faces Sinkhole Problem,


Imagine living in a home you can’t insure, no one wants to buy and
it may not be safe.

A Tallahassee woman is currently facing that problem.

At first glance, her home in Tallahassee’s Mission Manor
neighborhood on the city’s northwest side doesn’t look much
different from any of the other homes in the neighborhood.

Then about two years ago, homeowner Vickie Gordon found a problem.

“I started noticing that the doors were getting stuck in the
bathroom, couldn’t open them,” said Gordon.

Then the issues became more noticeable.

Cracks started showing up all over the house.

After Gordon contacted her insurance company, investigators found
sinkhole activity at her home.

I wish this part was a joke:

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More Valdosta wastewater correspondence



Some interesting questions have come up in
Gabe Fisher's continuing correspondence with the City of Valdosta
about

sewage in his back yard
and

under his house,
while

City Council Tim Carroll continues to respond,
both copying a long list of people.

From: Gabe Fisher

Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:23:12 -0500

All, I appreciate the update on where the city stands on moving the
sewer all together—I just wish we had been kept informed of
the plans over the last 4 years. Living with the *real* threat of
flooding is stressful enough, add in the guaranteed associated
sewage spill is more than I can handle.

I also appreciate the city workers spreading lime and working on the
sewer line behind my house today. But I have questions—What
about the sewage in my yard and under my house? Is this my
responsibility?

Thanks, Gabe

Tim Carroll responded with a couple of suggestions:

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Florida sink hole evicts church

More

sinkholes in Florida in the same Floridan Aquifer that’s under us,
this time evacuating a church.
Maybe sinkhole safety should be important here, too.

WCTV carried an AP story today,

Suspected Sinkhole Forces Church Move



Pastor Rick Shuck told WBBH in Fort Myers on Monday the sinkhole has
caused uneven floors, cracks in the walls and a hole in the ground
so large that a landscaper fell into it.

Shuck says they had to end Faith Community Church’s Sunday service
early because “it’s just not safe anymore.” He says some cracks in
the walls are a half-inch wide and part of the auditorium floor has
dropped about 4 1/2 inches.



Geological engineers say it’s definitely a sinkhole. But the
church’s insurance company sent engineers who determined there is no
problem. So next month the two sides are heading to mediation.

That second picture above was taken in Lowndes County,
showing

printouts of analysis by a VSU professor of sinkholes
under a yard in Lowndes County.


And they’re

under Michael McCormick’s shed (see picture on the right),
and they’re

in his garage.

The same Floridan Aquifer is underground here as in Florida.
Perhaps something needs to be done about sinkholes right here in Lowndes County?

-jsq

Videos: Solar Dublin High School groundbreaking @ DHS Solar 2013-03-11


Breaking ground
Groundbreaking for solar power to save Dublin High 40%,
thus reducing teacher furloughs,

financed by municipal bonds,
made possible by cooperation among a wide range of
government officials, private companies, and individuals:
that was the groundbreaking story in Dublin, Laurens County, yesterday,
videod by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE.



Dublin City Schools are willing to try something new, and that’s why
they were groundbreaking,

said Chuck Ledbetter, Superintendent, yesterday.
He

recognized members present of the Dublin City Council, the
Laurens County Commission, the Dublin-Laurens Development Authority,
and state representative Matt Hatchett, and
Public Service Commissioner Bubba McDonald.

Ledbetter’s theme,


News camera and speaker
Everybody worked together to make this happen.

was echoed over and over by many other speakers.
What they worked for was economic help for Dublin City Schools
through solar power, financed by municipal bonds.


The Mayor of Dublin, Phil Best added to the list

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Circular wastewater firing squad continues

The VDT's Sunday front page was covered with wastewater stories,
continuing the circular firing squad of the local powers that be.
Meanwhile

in Dublin, GA, they're breaking ground for solar panels
at the local high school, using a bond financing
model that we could use here, if local leaders would look up.



In addition to

some detail about the city's FEMA application
and

following up on flooded yards,
the VDT followed up on

its EPD and EPA scrutiny story
with one saying

City received help from EPD to keep EPA away.
It's good the VDT is covering these issues, but it's still leaving out
important parts of the local water story.

Apparently firing back at



Thursday's Valdosta City Council session,
perhaps especially

Robert Yost's very pointed criticisms of the VDT,
the VDT concluded its

rather rich Sunday editoral:

City leaders, please, no more of the blame game. The citizens of
this community are imploring you to just accept responsibility and
fix it.

Yet the VDT has

spent the last week blaming the city,
and has accepted no responsibility for its own role, or that of
its editor, Kay Harris, in the recent loss of the SPLOST referendum
that would have further funded wastewater work in Valdosta.

Now, I agree with the VDT that

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Videos: Rezoning, two grants, fire, water, diversity and transparency @ VCC 2013-03-07



Still more about the recent flooding and water issues in these
videos of the 7 March 2013 Valdosta City Council Regular Session,
by
City Manager
Larry Hanson,
Council
Robert Yost excoriated the VDT,
former City Engineer
Von Shipman defended the city.
Multiple citizens brought up issues of diversity
and
local government transparency.

Here’s

the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes.

AGENDA

REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL

5:30 PM Thursday, March 7, 2013

COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

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Fracking north Georgia

Fracking, coming to north Georgia soon.

Dan Chapman wrote for the AJC Sunday,

Gas drillers turn to Georgia


Conasauga Field
DALTON, Ga. — Trillions of cubic feet of natural gas believed
to lie below the hills of northwest Georgia have remained virtually
untouched and unwanted — until now.

Shale gas drilling is slowing across the country, but a handful of
companies are poking around this corner of the state looking for the
next natural gas “play.” If they succeed, Georgia could join the
ranks of states reaping jobs, revenue and fears of environmental
damage from energy production, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has
learned….

In Alabama, the Conasauga shale field contains 625 trillion cubic
feet of gas, according to Bill Thomas, a geologist who taught at the
University of Kentucky and Georgia State. A similar amount could be
underground in Northwest Georgia, he added.



Wish I didn’t have to say I told you so:

Fracking: coming soon to a state near you? 26 Dec 2012.

No fracking.
No nuclear.
No biomass.
Let’s get on with solar and wind.

-jsq