Tag Archives: Safety

Nova Scotia banned fracking; will southeast U.S. ban fracked methane pipelines?



Yesterday
Nova Scotia announced a ban on fracking.
Will local or state governments in the southeast, now threatened
by the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline,
ban such pipelines?
Especially since FERC has now directed Sabal Trail to examine
routes through Americus, Cordele, Ashburn, Tifton, Adel, Valdosta, and even Thomasville,
in addition
to the ones it already proposed through Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties?

Sierra Club Canada wrote about public meetings
in its Media Release of 28 August 2014,

Government of Nova Scotia Needs to Ban Fracking,

“Public meetings held by the panel were attended by an
overwhelming majority of well-informed citizens who had deep
concerns about fracking,” according to [Gretchen] Fitzgerald,
“Those concerns should be met with the type of leadership they
deserve: an immediate, legally binding ban.”

And the Nova Scotia government listened.
Bruce Erskine wrote for The Herald Business 3 September 2014,

Nova Scotia to ban fracking,
posting a video in which you can hear
Energy Minister Andrew Younger say: Continue reading →

A presentation and some rubberstamping @ LCC 2014-08-26



Congratulations to Ashley Tye for being

only the third in the state to attain
a certificate as a professional emergency manager.

“I was trying to break a record,”
bragged County Chairman Bill Slaughter as several people reminded
him not to skip approving the minutes,
presumably referring to

the previous morning’s three-minute Work Session.
After the six-minute presentation,
they took less than a minute on each of the remaining items,
except they did find time for an

Executive Session for Attorney-Client Privilege.
Who are they suing this time?
Crawford Powell had to remind the Chairman not to skip

Citizens Wishing to Be Heard, but “There are none,”
said the Chairman, with satisfaction.

This time the contractor

had magically finished punchlist for Nottinghill that
the previous morning the County Engineer said would take a week,
but had not finished the work.
What does this rubberstamp punchlist mean, then?
They approved the

Davidson Road drainage easement quit claim from the county back to the landowner.

Here’s

the agenda with links into the videos and a few notes,
followed by a video playlist.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Three minutes, three items @ LCC 2014-08-25



The contractor

hasn’t finished the punchlist for Nottinghill
but the County Engineer wants the Commission to accept that infrastucture anyway.
The

Davidson Road drainage easement quit claim is from the county back to the landowner.
The

third item must be for tomorrow evening.
Three minutes total for
only

two items from the agenda,
but that’s probably a record.
Normally we post videos of each item separately, but this time, why bother?
They vote Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM.

Here’s

the video, followed by the agenda with a few notes, and links to the individual items inside the one video.



Three minutes, three items

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 August 2014.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Emergency, Nottinghill, Drainage @ LCC 2014-08-25



Last December

Chairman Slaughter wanted relatives of those selling land for Nottinghill
to come forward and state their names
the day after

he didn’t ask Spectra Energy reps to do that
during their sales pitch for the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline?
Well, the

county is now pondering accepting infrastructure for that subdivision.
Maybe the won’t accept that pipeline, which they could prevent by
passing or enforcing local land use zoning ordinances.
There’s also a

Quit Claim Deed for Drainage Easement on Davidson Road
and an

Emergency Management Certificate Presentation,
and that’s it, on the lightest agenda in recent memory.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Double water equip. 2 to 1@ LCC 2014-07-22



The three Commissioners who showed up voted 2 to 1 for

a no-bid purchase of not just one but two expensive pieces
of water treatment equipment, with no bids, not on the budget, not discussed at the retreat, and not included in SPLOST VII.

The

KLVB appointment was tabled because applicant withdrew.
They finally found out

the open Board of Health slot
was only until December 2015 and the usual terms are six years.
Commissioners as usual didn’t ask any questions when County Engineer Mike Fletcher
said

yet another subdivision was ready for infrastructure to be accepted
by the county.

Here’s

the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Here are links to the videos, followed by a playlist.

Continue reading →

Children, cancer clusters, citizen water tests @ GA EPD 2014-07-17



Citizens are not convinced EPA, GA-EPD, and GA Dept. of Health
are doing enough to find what’s causing widespread sickness and death
in Waycross, GA.
They asked questions and provided data and anecdotes for more than
an hour, demanding more testing and answers, at a meeting
about the Seven Out Superfund and other air and water contamination,
for example from CSX and AGL.

Georgia Department of Health did

offer a new survey, with local help.
She also offered to send a local health dept. rep. right out whenever
they were alerted a certain site stunk after rains.
EPA and GA-EPD admitted there was a problem and said they were
trying to fix it,
which is a step forward from

their preliminary Waycross meeting last November.
But not a big enough step or quick enough to satisfy Waycross people who are or
who know many who are sick or dying.

They asked very insightful questions, about Continue reading →

Videos: Appt to KLVB & Health, County Extension, Alapaha water treatment, Riverside Road, Bemiss Landing Subdivision @ LCC 2014-07-21



The

KLVB applicant withdrew,
none of the

Health Board applicants showed up,
and none of the Commission or Staff knew what the usual
terms are on the Health Board, much less that this
slot was because somebody resigned with a year left on her term.
Even with that confusion, they took only
nine minutes to discuss appointments to two boards and five other items,
including

a no-bid contract.
Ever wonder when your Lowndes County Commission actually talks about
the county’s business?
They vote tomorrow evening at 5:30 PM, probably with no more
public discussion.

Here’s

the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Here are links to the videos, followed by a playlist.
There are no videos for
Invocation, Pledge, or Citizens Wishing to be Heard
because those are only
in the Regular Session, Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM.

Continue reading →

Appointments to KLVB & Health, County Extension, Alapaha water treatment, Riverside Road, Bemiss Landing Subdivision @ LCC 2014-07-21



And an

EMPG grant award application.
As usual, no clue who the board applicants are.
However, Nick Hinson’s term on KLVB is up this year, so I predict he’ll be reappointed.

Here’s who was on the Health Board at the end of 2012.
One of their members, Mary Margaret Richardson, is also
on the hospital board.
Here are videos of the Board of Health 30 May 2013 meeting.
The Board of Health meets again 7:30 AM Tuesday 22 July 2014.

Here’s

the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Seven Out Superfund Assessment Public Meeting @ GA EPD 2014-07-17



6-8PM Thursday 17 July 2014

Memorial Stadium, 715 Dewey St., Waycross, GA 31501

The Environmental Protection Agency, GA Environmental Protection
Division, and Georgia Department of Public Health will be present to
discuss sample collection and results from the Seven Out Tank site
in downtown Waycross.

EPD will also be available to address issues and answer questions
regarding CSX.

From Satilla Riverkeeper’s

facebook event.
Here’s
a map: Continue reading →

Solar freakin’ roadways




Solar Roadways has raised $1,884,633 in six weeks from Earth Day to now
on a goal of $1,000,000 in indiegogo
(which was already

a record for most contributors with 36,000 people at $1.5 million).
Yes, to all those who have asked me, I think it could work.
Add solar roadways to rooftop solar and solar farms and wind,
and
the EPA’s new CO2 rule (which doesn’t even do much about coal for years
and does nothing about about “natural” gas)
will seem like a quaint baby step in a few years after this happens: Continue reading →