Tag Archives: Transparency

Transparency could have prevented TX fertlizer plant explosion

Has anybody checked on the various agricultural chemical plants around here? Lack of transparency can kill.

Joshua Schneyer, Ryan McNeill and Janet Roberts wrote for Reuters today, Texas fertilizer company didn’t heed disclosure rules before blast,

The fertilizer plant that exploded on Wednesday, obliterating part of a small Texas town and killing at least 14 people, had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate—which can also be used in bomb making—unaware of any danger there.

Fertilizer plants and depots must report to the DHS when they hold 400 lb (180 kg) or more of the substance. Filings this year with the Texas Department of State Health Services, which weren’t shared with DHS, show the plant had 270 tons of it on hand last year.

There’s more in the article.

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Videos of the landfill gas energy meeting 2013-04-15

Since LAKE was the only coverage of the Pecan Row Landfill Gas Energy meeting 15 April 2013 at Colquitt EMC in Valdosta, these videos let you see the interesting cast of speakers and other attendees.

Our host, Danny Nichols, Colquitt EMC General Manager, expressed concerns about feel-good vs. economically viable energy projects and said he thought the landfill gas project was both, emphasizing “like a switch it comes on”, in other words, baseload. (Colquitt EMC is not big on smart grid.)

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Two former national nuclear regulatory chiefs: stop nukes

Last month former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Jaczko said all 104 operating U.S. nuclear power reactors are unsafe. This month former Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board Chair Gopalakrishnan says the reactors currently building in India, already three years behind schedule and now found to incorporate numerous defects and deficiencies amid gross lack of transparency, must be stopped. When will the NRC stop the restart of the flawed and non-transparent San Onofre 2? When will the NRC or GA PSC or the GA legislature or even Southern Company coming to its senses stop the 19-month-late $1-billion-overbudget flawed-concrete Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 before they waste any more of our resources that could be going to solar and wind jobs and energy?

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Lanier County Advocate and Lakeland City Council

Local newspaper videos local government and puts it on YouTube! They have city council, county commission, board of education since September last year. It’s the Lanier County Advocate, videoing the Lakeland City Council, the Lanier County Commission, and the Lanier County Board of Education, plus the Lanier County Historical Society on their YouTube channel.

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Kendrick Johnson inquest and protests

The death of Kendrick Johnson at Lowndes High School in January is still considered suspicious by many, and protests continue, with increasing news coverage. I hear there’s going to be a vigil at the Lowndes County palace tomorrow evening.

WCTV posted a compendium 16 January 2013, Father Speaks Out at Prayer Vigil for Lowndes High Student, including statements from the Lowndes County Schools Superintendent and from the Sheriff’s Department.

George Boston Rhynes of course has been on the case from the beginning, including videoing the protests and interviewing protesters. As he says, it’s a human rights issue.

Quinten Plummer wrote for the VDT 11 April 2013, Family wants answers in LHS student’s death

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Videos: Road abandonment, deannexation @ LCC 2013-04-08

More questions than usual at the 8 April 2013 Lowndes County Commission Work Session, but it still only lasted 11 minutes. And a question that wasn’t even raised: who does own both sides of Log Road? The Tax Assessor’s database says something different from what the County Engineer said. No special presentation was seen.

Here’s the agenda, with a few notes.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
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Agenda, Industrial Authority @ VLCIA 2013-04-16

The agenda is different for today’s Industrial Authority meeting! It has even less information than usual: no reports about PR or marketing or existing or new projects; nothing about business parks, and no executive director’s report. It does list an attorney report and an audit update.

Here’s the agenda.

Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority
Agenda
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street

General Business

  • Call to Order
  • Invocation
  • Welcome Guests

Minutes

  • Regular Meeting, March 8, 2013

Financial

  • Review Compiled Balance Sheet and Income Statements for March 2013
  • Audit Update

Attorney Report

Citzens Wishing To Be Heard

Adjourn General Meeting

Mission of the Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority is to
lead economic development in our community by supporting existing industries
recruiting industries through capitalizing on opportunities for collaboration.

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Speed dating local officials

Tallahassee does it, and local governments here could also sit down and talk with citizens. It even has built-in time limits, for those elected officials who are concerned about citizen longwindedness.

Gina Pitisci wrote for WCTV Thursday, Ever heard of speed dating? What about speed dating your local officials?

“The more any one of us can get out and talk with the citizens the better off we are,” Gil ziffer, Tallahassee City Commissioner, said. “If we’re insulated in our offices, it’s not like getting out and talking with folks so this is great for us.”

Here’s how it works: every 9 minutes the 12 leaders rotate from table to table giving each group of people an opportunity to ask questions or offer their ideas.

Listening to citizens: now there’s an idea!

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Lancaster, CA: transparent city

This is how a city that means business acts: in public, on TV and on the web, where its citizens can see it and its citizens can interact.

Not only is Lancaster, California moving ahead with solar energy for jobs and financial benefit, it’s a transparent city:

City of Lancaster, California City Council Meetings are broadcast live on local cable channel 28.

And city council meetings are archived for viewing online; video of yesterday’s meeting is already up. They do require Microsoft Silverlight to view, but nothing’s perfect, and other cities use YouTube, Vimeo, or other more generally usable methods.

And it’s not just the Lancaster City Council: videos of their Planning Commission and numerous other authorities and commissions are also on the web. Plus:

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Believe So. Cal. Edison about San Onofre?

Should we believe the operator of the broken San Onofre 2 nuclear plant that it’s safe to restart at 70% power? The same operator that knew the now-broken steam generators were flawed before it installed them? Recommended by the same NRC staff who couldn’t answer opponents’ questions? The same NRC that doesn’t publish licensee documents and says that’s never been a practice?

SanDiego6.com wrote yesterday, Sen. Boxer Blasts Report on San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station,

On Monday, Southern California Edison announced it had formalized a request to amend its operating license to allow it to operate its Unit 2 reactor at 70 percent beginning June 1.

The reactor was undergoing scheduled maintenance in January 2012 when a small, non-injury leak was discovered in plant’s other reactor. The plant has been shut down since.

According to Edison, vibrations that led to premature wearing of steam pressure tubes in the reactors don’t occur at 70 percent power. The utility wants to operate on limited power for the five warm weather months and then shut down for an inspection of the tubes.

After the inspection, the reactor would resume operating at 70 percent power. The company said it would use the collected tube data to determine an appropriate power setting for the long term.

There’s the catch:

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