County Manager Joe Pritchard told everyone about the FERC Notice of Intent
and Scoping Meetings
starting next week
(Albany Monday 3 March, Valdosta Holiday Inn on West Hill Ave.
Tuesday 4 March, Moultrie 5 March, all at 6PM).
at the
25 February 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
7. Reports-County Manager
He said materials were on the county’s website, and they are:
Continue reading
Here’s
a video playlist of the
real questions asked at the Gilchrist County Commission
where everybody could see Sabal Trail and Spectra Energy answering
about their proposed 36-inch fracked methane pipeline in a 100-foot right of way:
or not answering.
This is 1 hour and 27 minutes worth of video.
I didn’t get all of it because both camera batteries ran down
and it took a bit to find a plug.
This interrogation went on for more than two hours total.
Well done, Gilchrist County, staff, citizens, and everybody who asked questions.
Update 28 Sep 2014: A couple of notable questions:
Adapt natural gas pipeline to renewable resources? –Laura Dailey @ GCC 2014-02-20
As mentioned in this PR, Gilchrist County put this in the “Time Certain” part of their agenda:
5:00 p.m. Sabal Trail Workshop
As mentioned in
local government pipeline responsibilities,
other local governments could do this, and more.
For example,
Lowndes County, Georgia
with 114,552 population compared to 16,815 for Gilchrist County (2012 est.)
could do more.
Here’s the video playlist:
Continue reading
It’s unlikely a U.S. town has any direct power over a siting decision in Canada, but a small Michigan town made its views known anyway, because it would be affected. Local governments affected by the Sabal Trail methane pipeline could do the same.
Lori Maranville wrote for the Milan News-Leader 22 February 2014, MILAN: Council approves resolution opposing nuclear waste site in Canada,
In October, U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry showing their concern for the proposed nuclear waste site.
“The placement of this nuclear waste storage facility is of great concern given its location near Lake Huron and the importance of the Great Lakes to tens of millions of U.S. and Canadian citizens for drinking water, fisheries, tourism, recreation, and other industrial and economic uses,” they wrote in the letter.
In passing a resolution opposing the site, Milan elected officials brought the issue to light for the city’s residents.
Continue reading
Make pipeline companies answer questions, motivate implementation of safety standards, announce FERC Scoping meetings, and enforce reasonable local zoning restrictions: these are things local governments can do, and NTSB and FERC say they should do most of them. Gilchrist County Commission in Trenton, Florida has done most of them, and plans to continue doing more. The Lowndes County Commission and the Valdosta City Council still can, too, plus all the other county and city governments along the proposed pipeline path, and their statewide county and city government associations. Will our local elected officials represent we the people?
There were
Real questions at the Gilchrist County Commission meeting in Trenton, Florida Monday.
Two hours of first questions from a citizens committee with
Spectra’s reps expected to answer right there in front of everybody,
then questions from locals and people from many counties around,
including attorneys representing landowners and other county
commissions cross-examining Spectra on the spot. The Chairman of the
Gilchrist County Commission said there was a general opinion among
the populace that they were asking specific questions and getting
only general answers. Congratulations, Chairman, Commission, staff,
Committee, and everyone who asked questions for showing the world
how it’s done, and for exposing Spectra’s evasions to public
scrutiny.
This is in sharp contrast to Continue reading
Less than two years after
Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning assured us
It is not in a seismic-sensitive area.
Fanning also claimed the technology was safe, before SO failed to get a reactor vessel from Savannah to the site, and before a renewed scandal revealed Korea’s document-forging Doosan supplies that “safe” nuclear technology. How safe will Plant Vogtle be in a bigger earthquake? How safe is it even without an earthquake? Not safe for the ratepayers or the taxpayers of Georgia or the U.S.
Mark Sandritter wrote for SBNation yesterday, Augusta National water tower leaking after Georgia earthquake, per report, Continue reading
Spotted first by Michael G. Noll in the VDT yesterday, the document promised by Col. Ford the previous evening. A quick search finds nothing about the Nelson Hill Wells, and no mention of VSU or any of the professors there who have expressed concern and asked for access to the site to conduct an independent study.
USAF ANNOUNCES AN
ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENTIn accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act and Air Force regulations, the Air Force Civil
Engineer Center (AFCEC) has completed a Revised Draft
Environmental Assessment (EA), Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI), and a Finding of No
Practicable Alternative (FONPA) to evaluate the
consequences of the following stated proposed action:The revised Proposed Action would involve the
construction of 11 housing units for senior leadership on
a 15-acre parcel on the base and 90 units on an
approximately 60-acre parcel located northwest of the
city of Valdosta, GA on Val-Del Road (the Val-Del
Parcel). This represents a reduction Continue reading
Last night I chatted briefly with Moody’s
Col. Ford, before he spoke at the
Lake Park Chamber Annual Awards Dinner.
He said he had been able to get on the site of the proposed Moody Family
Housing about a year ago.
I mentioned the
Nelson Hill Wells
and he said they had spent a lot of time already investigating
water issues, and now the Air Force has received the environmental assessment.
Perhaps it includes the missing piece this time,
and maybe there’s a way for the public and local professors
to provide input.
Colonel Edward Ford is commander of the 23d Mission Support Group at Moody AFB, Ga. He leads a group of more than 1,450 military and civilian members providing support and services to a population of 28,000 active duty, retired military and family members. His group maintains an installation with more than 830 buildings and more than 17,500 acres, including an adjacent bombing or strafing range. He is responsible for ensuring the readiness of support forces to mobilize and deploy to build, secure, and sustain air base operations at austere bare base locations anywhere in the world.
The 23d Mission Support Group also retains responsibility for civil engineering, environmental compliance, Continue reading
Seen today on Recent clear cutting in north of Lowndes County:
In the Northwest and Southwest of the most westerly boundary line of Nelson Hill Subdivision there are two well sites that had been previously deeded to Lowndes County for Deep Wells for Lowndes County Water Supply due to the problems at that time with the Well at Stone Creek location. However the test bore water samples came back with negative results due to surface water contamination entering the aquifer from all the fractures in the fragile lime stone basin and active sinkholes in that area, there is a sinkhole less than half of a mile south from where the test bores were done and it’s probably 90 feet deep. All this boarders the subject site Moody Housing.
So let’s look on the west side of the remainder of the Nelson Hill site, parcel 0071 006B. There are two cutouts, each about 50 feet square or 2500 square feet or 0.057 acre. Trying to select those in the online tax assessors maps, we get:
No data found for Continue reading
Multiple people reported clearing work at the site of the
Moody Family Housing project on Val Del Road,
with its
sinkhole next to an aquifer recharge zone,
that
not even
Moody Air Force Base can get in to inspect.
So we went out to look. There is clear cutting happening on Val Del Road (both sides) but it does not appear to be happening on the property slated for Moody Family Housing.
There has been clear cutting going on in the north of Lowndes County
for some time on large tracts near Skipper Bridge Road, Staten Road (near the
new river bridge) and on Val Del Road immediately south of the Moody Family
Housing tract.
It appears that most of those properties are owned by Natco LLC: Continue reading
Lowndes County’s
Emergency Management Director
reported yesterday on projected icy roads today.
Here’s the video:
Weather report by Ashley Tye, Emergency Management Director
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 January 2014.
All the local schools are closed, public and private, K-12 and college, so the best thing to to is to stay home.
Commissioner John Page said a constituent had just asked him if Lowndes County owned any snow plows. Answer: no, but the county can get access to them if needed.
County Clerk Paige Dukes enumerated ways she had tried to get the word out, including this information on the county’s front web page, which will probably disappear without trace in a day or so, so I’ve copied it below. Continue reading