Tag Archives: Planning

The power of going solar —John S. Quarterman


Solar panels on farm workshop --John S. Quarterman
My op-ed in the VDT today. Remember
to vote today or Tuesday.
-jsq

This spring,

the University at Buffalo turned on 750 kilowatts of
solar electricity.

Rutgers U., in New Jersey, installed 1.4
megawatts in 2009 and started on 8 MW this summer. Down here with a
lot more sun, how about solar panels on VSU parking lots?

There’s

plenty of private solar financing available. Also in New
Jersey, a company installed 6 MW of solar on high school land and
leased the power to the school supplying most of its needs win-win.


You can go see a solar farm already working fine here,

200 kilowatts at Mud Creek Wastewater Plant.
Why not do the same


View Larger Map


at Lowndes High School, where all the world on I-75 could see,

attracting business to our community?

Why not?

Continue reading →

New solar in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida: where’s Georgia?

What are these

new solar projects?
Here are a few FERC lists,
in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Florida,
and there are more in Texas.
Not so many in Georgia.



  • Zongyi Solar America’s 20 MW Tinton Falls Solar in Monmouth County,
    New Jersey, is online. Tinton Falls Solar is the largest
    photovoltaic project in New Jersey.
  • Southern Sky Renewable Energy LLC’s 5.6 MW Canton Landfill Solar
    Project in Canton County, Massachusetts is online. This photovoltaic
    project is built on the closed and capped Canton Landfill. It is the
    largest solar facility in New England. The electricity generated is
    sold to the Town of Canton under a long-term agreement.

New Jersey again!
20 Megawatts is even larger than the

6.1 MW at Lawrenceville School.
And Massachusetts, even farther north.
Let’s also look just south of us:



  • SunEdison’s 3.6 MW Phase 2 Lakeland Regional Airport Solar Project
    expansion in Polk County, Florida is online. The Lakeland Regional
    Airport Solar has a total capacity of 6.3 MW. It is the largest
    photovoltaic project in Florida. The electricity generated is sold
    under long-term contract to Lakeland Department of Electric Water
    Utilities.

Ah, but

that’s illegal in Georgia!
Here you can sell electricity only to your one and only monopoly utility,
predetermined for you by the 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act.
Maybe we should change that?

The Lakeland Chamber of Commerce

helped promote that solar project.
Maybe better PR than

feuding with the newspaper?

Also only slightly farther south of us,

Continue reading →

Wind and solar were all the new U.S. electric generation in September 2012

Wind and sun provided all the new electric power generation
deployed in September 2012.
As Moore’s Law continues to decrease solar prices, solar
power gets deployed still more rapidly,
and wind also gets installed on time and on budget.
Meanwhile, nuclear takes a

three-legged nuclear regulatory-capture stool
and hardly any new reactors get finished anyway.


Stephen Lacey wrote for TP Climate Progress 24 October 2012,

Wind And Solar Make Up 100% Of New U.S. Electricity Capacity In September,

September was tied for the

hottest of any September on record
globally. It was also a very hot month for renewable energy in the
U.S. According

to figures from the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, wind and solar accounted for all new electricity
capacity added to America’s grid in September.

New wind is up 25% Jan-Sep 2012 over the same period last year,
and new solar is up 78%.
For comparison, new coal is

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VDT and Chamber feuding about which is the most negative


popcorn



Image courtesy Fir0002/Flagstaffotos under GFDL v1.2

Break out the popcorn!
The VDT and the Chamber of Commerce are feuding.
About which one is the most negative!
Also, the Chamber hates agriculture.
And everything good around here is to the Chamber’s credit,
but anything bad is not their fault; just ask them.

The VDT editorialized 18 October 2012,

Is Valdosta really one of the poorest?
mostly criticizing

the recent report that ranked
Valdosta MSA as the third poorest in the country.
The VDT added:

Now that the world wide web has broadcast this story, what can be
done locally to combat this image? And what are the various entities
involved in job and business recruitment, i.e. the Chamber of
Commerce and the Industrial Authority primarily, doing to fix the
underlying problem — low household income and the high
percentage of individuals living below the poverty line.

Valdosta can attract retailers. But can Valdosta step it up and
attract larger industries offering high paying jobs? Has the
community turned away from what made this a successful, viable up
and comer in the state, namely manufacturing and agriculture? These
industries sustained Valdosta for many years and provided good, well
paying, solid blue collar and middle income jobs. Educational
opportunities are far greater today, there are more high school,
tech and college graduates in the area than ever, and blaming the
quality of the work force is starting to lose its luster as a viable
excuse for not bringing in industry. We have the land, we have the
workers, we have the infrastructure and we have a great location
with a good quality of life.

Perhaps the community leadership should focus on the assets that are
already here and less on what’s not. Then maybe the next time a
story like this appears on the Internet, Valdosta won’t be cast in
such a poor light.

The Chamber fired back a broadside to its members, which
I’ve included below here, since I don’t think you can find it online elsewhere.
Here’s the most precious part:

Second, while there is still farmland in Lowndes County, it’s
shrinking and when it sells, it’s for uses at prices that rule out
agricultural use. Agriculture had begun moving to nearby more rural
counties even before the cotton field at the end of Baytree Road
was paved over for Valdosta Mall. Our largest tractor and farm
implement dealers followed.

That’s right, farmland is good for nothing but paving over,
so says the Chamber!
Nevermind that knowledge-based workers generally like

Continue reading →

Propaganda for charter school amendment 1 paid for by out-of-state donors

Who can afford to pay for these two glossy mailers pushing
the charter school amendment?
Who are GeorgiaHope2012.org and BrighterGeorgia.org, anyway?
Recipients of millions from Alice Walton and the Walton Family Foundation
to push a bill sponsored in the statehouse by ALEC’s “our state legislators”.
Will we believe Alice Walton and ALEC, or will we believe
our Georgia educators, who overwhelmingly

oppose Amendment 1?


Two glossy mailers pushing the charter school amendment

GeorgiaHope2012.org’s mailer (the big one) says in really light grey type:

Paid for by Families for Better Public Schools Edward Lindsey Chairman

We’ve heard of them before.
They raised

$486,750 by September, about 96% from outside Georgia,
including Alice Walton ($250,000),
K12 Inc. of Virginia ($100,000),
Charter Schools USA of Florida ($50,000),
J.C. Huizenga and National Heritage Academies Inc. of Michigan ($25,000 each).
Their spokesman Bert Brantley (who went to Lowndes County public schools)
claims

the bogus preamble
to the charter school amendment,
the one that uses ALEC
Family Trigger jargon
and asserts things that just aren’t in either of the authorizing bills;
he claims that preamble

is “factual”.
His previous PR campaign was pushing the T-SPLOST transportation tax
that failed by a landslide.

Families for Better Public Schools
is still playing the

charter school bait and switch in their mailer
by pretending Amendment 1 is needed for charter schools:


EVERY CHILD DESERVES A CHANCE!
VOTE YES!
for Public Charter Schools on November 6th.

We don’t need this amendment to create charter schools.
Any local school board can already do that.

BrighterGeorgia.org’s mailer (the smaller one)
says in grey on grey type:

Paid for by Georgia Charter Schools Association

GCSA got $700,000 from the Walton Family Foundation last year,
and is a member of

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WALB on Lowndes County Commission Chair candidates


Gretchen Quarterman billboard

WALB says we have a choice for Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission.

Lydia Jennings wrote for WALB yesterday,

Meet candidates vying for Lowndes Co. Commission Chairman,


Gretchen Quarterman
Bill Slaughter and Gretchen Quarterman are two very different
candidates. Both are running for Lowndes County Commission Chairman.
Slaughter is the CEO of Waller Heating and Air Conditioning and
Quarterman is a farmer and owner of Okra Paradise Farms.

“I’m very curious, I have a math and science background so I’m
always asking why do we do it this way, not just what do we do, but
why do we do it, what problem are we solving,” said Quarterman.

Continue reading →

Agenda @ GLPC 2012-10-29


GLPC Agenda 2012-10-29
The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meets tonight.
Here’s the

agenda.

The agenda was

faxed by GLPC Chairman Bill Slaughter
to Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, at her request;
GLPC itself still doesn’t have agendas online, fifteen months after
SGRC stopped posting them.

In his fax cover letter of 23 October 2012, Bill Slaughter noted:


Videos of 30 Club Candidates Forum 2012-10-22

Great Job Last Night!

See You Wed. Evening!


Videos of AAUW Candidates Forum 2012-10-24
Presumably he was referring to her appearance at the

22 October Candidates Forum 30 Club at Serenity Church
and the then-upcoming

24 October Candidates Forum by AAUW at Valdosta High School.
Gretchen Quarterman and Bill Slaughter are the two candidates
for Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission.
You can see LAKE videos of

all four Candidate Forums online.

There is one Valdosta permit case on tonight’s GLPC agenda,
and three rezoning cases, one from Hahira, and two from the county.
I have been transcribing these faxes, but I don’t have time today,
so here’s a brief summary table.

Valdosta,

Final action

Thursday
8 Nov 2012 		2. CU-2012-07 Stafford Properties

1609 Norman Drive, Valdosta

Request for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP for a Car Wash in a Community Commercial C-C zoning district.
Hahira,

Final action

Thursday
1 Nov 2012 		3. HA-2012-01 Gateway Pines

1022 W. Stanfill Street, Hahira

Request for a Variance to Parking Requirement prescribed by Section 7-1.1, 7-4, and 9-3.2 of the Hahira Zoning Ordinance
Lowndes County,

Final action

Tuesday
13 Nov 2012 		4. REZ-2012-16 Cook County Land Ventures

SW corner of Georgia Highway 122 East and Cat Creek Road, Hahira

Request to rezone ~2 acres from E-A (Estate Agriculture) to C-C (Crossroads Commercial)
5. REZ-2012-17 John Henry Davis dba Lowndes Development, LLC

Davidson Road, Valdosta

Request to rezone 23.49 acres from MAZ-II and MAZ-III (Moody Activity Zone)
to R-10 (Suburban Density Residential)

-jsq

Vote No on Amendment 2 —Charlie in Peach Pundit

Let's cut to the chase on what Charlie

wrote for Peach Pundit 18 Oct 2012:

Georgia needs significant ethics reforms. There needs to be greater
transparency for those who do business with the state. Trust must be
restored. Good governance must be demonstrated.

Paying slightly higher rates for a few more years is a small price
to pay to avoid giving away 20 year favors to today's patronage
class. Vote no on this amendment. That is the best way to save
Georgians money.

Georgia is the worst state for legislative corruption.
Do we want those legislators committing us financially
for 10 or 20 years?
If knowing

it's an ALEC bill wasn't enough for you, maybe this will be.
Vote No on amendment 2.

-jsq

ALEC’s “our state legislators” behind multi-year GA constitutional amendment referendum


Ronnie Chance
Look who sponsored

Georgia Senate Resolution 1231 which put
the second referendum question on the ballot!
Two of ALEC’s “our state legislators”,
Senators Ronnie Chance of the 16th,
and
Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of the 21st,
are among the sponsors (Chance is the first sponsor).

SourceWatch’s ALEC Exposed

found Ronnie Chance on ALEC’s International Relations Task Force.
Rogers himself told CBS News how much he values ALEC,

Who is ALEC?
By Mark Strassmann and Phil Hirschkorn 30 June 2012.
Rogers spelled out the same thing ALEC itself told me:
it considers people like Chance and Rogers
“our state legislators”.
“Our” as in belonging to ALEC, not representing you the voters and taxpayers.


Chip Rogers
Guess who sponsored the bill that put the charter school amendment on the ballot,
HB 1162 in its Senate form?

Chip Rogers.
And who sponsored the companion bill that would suck money out of public
schools and give more per pupil to charter schools, using our local tax dollars,
HB 797 in the Senate?

Chip Rogers.
And House sponsors Jan Jones (R 46th) and Edward Lindsey (R 54th) of both bills

are also ALEC’s “our state legislators”.

I don’t always agree with Adam Smith, but when I do, I quote The Wealth of Nations from 1776:

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Softbank’s Son to install solar in Japan: watch out, Georgia Power!

The same Masayoshi Son who shook up Japan’s Internet market

and is about to do the same in the U.S.
is moving to modify Japan’s power market from nuclear to solar.
Watch out, Georgia Power and Southern Company!
If you don’t get a move on, Son-san will eat your lunch, too.

Mariko Yasu wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek 23 June 2011,

Softbank’s CEO Wants a Solar-Powered Japan,


Masayoshi Son
Billionaire Masayoshi Son made a fortune taking on Japan’s phone
monopoly. Now he aims to shake up its power utilities after the
worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. The 53-year-old chief executive
officer of Softbank says he will build solar farms to generate
electricity, with support from at least 33 of Japan’s 47
prefectures. He’s asking for access to transmission networks owned
by the 10 regional utilities and an agreement that they buy his
electricity. No other company has secured unlimited access to the
those transmission networks. The utilities would not comment.
Japan’s main business organization, the Keidanren, called for
“careful analysis” before any drastic change in the power system
took place.

If Japan ever felt ready to back Son’s ambitious plan, this is the
moment. Radiation has spread across at least 600 square kilometers
(230 square miles) in the northeast since the Mar. 11 earthquake and
tsunami led to meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.
Outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in May he will rethink a plan
to increase atomic power to 50 percent of the nation’s energy output
from 30 percent. Renewable energy already accounts for 10 percent,
according to Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. Son
wants to see that tripled by 2020. “The question is how this nation
is going to survive after cutting nuclear power,” he said at a
government panel meeting on June 12.


Complacent Georgia Power and SO, you maybe don’t think he can do it?
NTT probably thought that, too:

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