Tag Archives: Safety

ADS included household trash in their recyclded items –Tim Carroll

Personal recollection from Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll received today on

ADS fails to recycle, appeals DSS ruling anyway,
adding detail that wasn’t in the VDT article.

The main problem the City was having with ADS was they included
household trash in their recycled items. Used diapers and other
household products mixed in with recycle materials is not allowed.
The City advised ADS back to this past October of the issue and no
improvements were made. Eventually the city had no choice but to cut
them off. The City is a regional hub for recycle material and proud
to offer the service.

OK, so is that a violation of the county’s

“exclusive franchise”
with ADS?

-jsq

I don’t want to have to fear for my children as they sleep at night –Mindy Bland on WCTV @ LCC 2013-12-10

The Commission didn’t let citizens speak after

Spectra’s sales pitch for the Sabal Trail Pipeline Monday,
but some citizens spoke up in Citizens to Be Heard Tuesday
and WCTV covered that.

Winnie Anne Wright wrote for WCTV yesterday,

Citizens Address Lowndes County Commission About Sabal Trail Pipeline,

Residents covered topics such as the lack of economic impact on
Lowndes County, the legality of the pipeline, and also the safety.

“As a mother of three, I don’t want to have to fear for my children
as they sleep at night. And you hear a lot of people say that
natural gas line explosions don’t happen, and for those that feel
that they don’t, I really encourage them to go on the internet and
google gas line explosions and then tell me that they don’t happen.
As a mother, I feel like I have to step up and do what I can to
protect my children”, says Mindy Bland, an impacted homeowner.

Continue reading →

All 4 Commissioner questions about the pipeline –VDT @ LCC 2013-12-09

The VDT let local citizens speak, unlike the Lowndes County Commission.
Perhaps the VDT, like many local citizens, does not think transparency
means what the County Commission thinks it means.

Matthew Woody wrote across the top of the front page of the Valdosta Daily Times
today,

Sabal Trail presents at County Commission work session,

Protesters stood outside of the Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex at 8:30 a.m. in opposition to the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline project as representatives from the company made a presentation at the Commission Work Session.

That’s Matthew Woody across the street taking that picture,
and

here are more pictures of the protesters.

“We strive everyday for zero incidences,” Fahrenthold
said “All of our meetings, company wide, starts with a safety
update.”

Really?
So why afterwards did both Brian Fahrenthold and Andra Grover Continue reading →

Spectra Sales Pitch, Nothing about Nottinghill, etc. @ LCC 2013-12-09

Given

dozens of questions submitted by citizens
and every opportunity,
Commissioners asked only four perfunctory questions after
Spectra Energy’s

Sabal Trail pipeline sales pitch.
Chairman Bill Slaughter repeatedly let multiple Spectra reps
speak from the audience without having them come to the podium,
or even identify themselves before they spoke.
They were pointed at by the chief Spectra speaker when he named them,
but they did not stand up or raise their hand at the time,
so it was quite hard to tell which was which.
The Chairman never allows that sort of behavior from local citizens.
Why is he granting extra courtesies to a company from Houston
that wants to exercise eminent domain on local citizens’ lands?
Who does the Lowndes County Commission represent?

At least
WALB
and
WCTV
let a landowner speak: that’s more than the County Commission did.

Nottinghill is back yet again.
A Commissioner did ask staff whether it was really ready,
and it isn’t, but no Commissioners asked any such probing
questions of the Spectra reps.

The three

beer licenses, a

liquor license,
the

contracts, and the

bids were glossed over in almost as
perfunctory a manner.
There were some questions from Commissioners about
costs to the county government.
But there were none from Commissioners about costs to landowners
from gashing a pipeline through their property.

Given that there’s a

settlement for back pay for some county employees,
it appears that the employees maybe had to sue to get paid.

Staff did express concern about

“customer service” for a decorative
special tax lighting district, but none about service to the
landowners of the county whose land Spectra proposes to run through,
or for that matter to the taxpayers of the county to whom the
Commission and staff cannot be bothered to show what they’re voting
on before they vote.

Here’s

the agenda plus links to the videos and a few notes.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED-AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2^nd Floor

Continue reading →

U.S. EPA, GA DNR, GA Health Dept., and landfill in Lowndes County @ EPA 2013-11-14

At the

EPA meeting in Waycross about the Seven Out Superfund site,
EPA, GA EPD, and state health officials also had information about
crossover contamination in Lowndes County.

Matthew J. Huyser, On-Scene Coordinator for U.S. EPA,
told me that before

EPA shipped those 196,500 gallons of wastewater from Seven Out to the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County
they had applied procedures that were supposed to ensure those liquids
were no longer toxic and had tested them to be sure.
He said he would send me the specifics on that.
I didn’t ask him whether

CSX toxic wastes were shipped to Lowndes County.

Huyser also said EPA had checked the record of that receiving landfill
before sending anything there, and it had a good record.
He seemed surprised to learn Continue reading →

EPA, GA EPD, and Southeast Health in Waycross about Seven Out Superfund @ EPA 2013-11-14

Now

EPA is convinced that the public wants answers, after dozens of citizens
turned out to ask questions at

Waycross City Hall 14 November 2013.
A study of contamination sampling is in peer review,
and

GA EPD and

GA Health Dept. are also involved.
Citizens and

silentdisaster.org and

Satilla Riverkeeper and

WWALS Watershed Coalition are watching.

Matthew J. Huyser, EPA (l. standing blue shirt),

Jim Brown, GA EPD (c. standing white shirt),

Ashby Nix, Satilla Riverkeeper (facing Brown, paper in hand),

Joan Martin McNeal, silentdisaster.org (r. in group)

Roger Naylor, Public Relations Director for Southeast Health District,
is quite familiar with

Janet McMahan’s discovery of arsenic in groundwater
and says Continue reading →

Pipeline and Nottinghill, VLMPO, lawyers and alcohol @ LCC 2013-12-09

The proposed

Sabal Trail pipeline
presentation is really on this time,
with
citizen questions asked by the Commissioners.
Nottinghill is back yet again.
Two appointments to the
VLMPO Citizens Advisory Committee.
All that plus three beer licenses, a liquor license,
and a bunch of contracts and a couple of bids.

Here’s
the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED-AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2^nd Floor

Call to Order

Invocation

Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

Minutes for Approval

Work Session — November 11, 2013

Regular Session — November 12, 2013

Appointment

MPO Citizens Advisory Committee (2)

Public Hearings

REZ-2013-11
Nottinghill, Orr Rd R-A to R-21, Community Well and Septic, 14.71 acres

Decorative Special Tax Lighting District – Windstone Subdivision (Orr Rd)

Beer and Wine License — Twin Lakes Ventures, LLC — 4878 HWY 41 South

Liquor License — Big Al’s — 4991 HWY 41 S. Lake Park

For Consideration

Approval of the 2014 Commission Meeting Schedule

2014 Public Defender Services Contract & 2014 Operating Contract

Land Application Site (LAS) Bar Screen Replacement

Budget Calendar FY 2014-2015

Beer and Wine License — Parnish Corporation — 3119 Madison HWY

Beer and Wine License — Jay Brahamani, LLC — 2601 Madison HWY

Back Pay for 9-1-1 Center Employees

Second State Court Judge — Resolution & Act

Bids

Repair of Damaged F150- LCSO

Repair of Damaged Fire Tanker- LCFR

Reports-County Manager

Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address

Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

Sabal Trail (Work Session)

-jsq

Hear Sabal Trail Transmission answer questions from the Lowndes County Commission

PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Valdosta, December 5, 2013
—Representatives from Spectra Energy or its LLC Sabal Trail
Transmission will speak at the Monday morning Lowndes County
Commission Work Session and answer questions from
Commissioners.

When:
8:30 AM
Monday, December 9th, 2013

Where:
Commission Chambers
327 North Ashley Street, 2^nd Floor
Valdosta, GA 31601
229-671-2442

Questions:
commissioner@lowndescounty.com

Why: Spectra Energy
proposes a hundred-foot-wide gash through our lands for
their huge 36 inch Sabal Trail gas pipeline from
Alabama through Georgia to feed Florida Power and Light
(FPL) for no benefit to local citizens. A one-time payment
is nowhere near adequate for permanent destruction and
hazards when FPL and Spectra would continue to profit
forever.

Property values: A
pipeline through your property isn’t Continue reading →

We desperately need your help –Carol Singletary @ VCC 2013-11-07

A local mom said she was one of many landowners being bullied
by a pipeline company and asked for help from local leaders,
at the

7 November 2013 Valdosta City Council Regular Session.

Here’s

Part 1 of 2:

Carol Singletary’s impassioned and reasoned plea
got a response from Mayor John Gayle,
even if it was only Continue reading →

Commissioners listened about the pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

Commissioners at least listened about the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission
pipeline,
at the

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.
Now what will they do?

Video.
The Chairman started out reiterating his disclaimer of county responsibility from back in June,
but
at least this time said they’d take a look at it and they understood
what people were going through.
Carol Singletary started to respond, and Slaughter said they would
talk to her in a few minutes.
And they did.