Tag Archives: Veolia

Getting our road fixed after garbage trucks –Anita Armstrong @ LCC 2013-08-13

Yet another side effect of that

exclusive franchise to Veolia (excuse me, ADS):
dirt roads being damaged by garbage trucks,
came up
at the

13 August 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

County resident and taxpayer Anita Armstrong
said now that garbage trucks are coming
down her road it’s in bad shape and they need help.
Commissioners seemed to think that was comical.

Here’s

the video:

Getting our road fixed after garbage trucks –Anita Armstrong

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 August 2013.

-jsq

Landfill PCB violation

What hazardous waste was accepted at Veolia’s Pecan Row Landfill
that got a $27,500 fine from GA EPD this January?

Veolia is ADS now, the same company to which

Lowndes County granted an exclusive franchise for waste pickup.

We already knew that landfill accepts

coal ash from TVA.
What else is in there,
seeping into our drinking water aquifer,
and with runoff going into the Withlacoochee River?

According to

GA EPD,

Under authority of the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act :

Facility: Veolia ES Pecan Row Landfill/Valdosta; order issued to Veolia ES Pecan Row Landfill, LLC

Location: Lowndes County

Order Number: EPD-SW-2564

Date of Issue: January 30,2013

Cause of Order: Violations of Rules for Solid Waste Management/regulated hazardous waste acceptance; failure to properly conduct inspections

Requirement(s) of Order: Implement plan to prevent acceptance of regulated quantities of HW and PCB wastes at facility; ensure all employees handling waste recognize/identify labeled HW and PCB wastes at facility

Settlement Amount: $27500.00

Facility:	Veolia ES Pecan Row Landfill/Valdosta; order issued to Veolia ES Pecan Row Landfill, LLC
Location:	Lowndes County
Order Number:	EPD-SW-2564
Date of Issue:	January 30,2013
Cause of Order:	Violations of Rules for Solid Waste Management/regulated hazardous waste acceptance; failure to properly conduct inspections
Requirement(s) of Order:	Implement plan to prevent acceptance of regulated quantities of HW and PCB wastes at facility; ensure all employees handling waste recognize/identify labeled HW and PCB wastes at facility
Settlement Amount:	$27500.00

According to

U.S. EPA,
Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB): Continue reading →

Tipping fees vs. host fees from Veolia

What is this contract involving tipping fees that

Lowndes County declined to produce a copy of?
How can it be “adequately maintained in the future”, as former Commissioner Lee
put it, if the county doesn’t know what it is?

The

minutes for the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Work Session 11 October 2010
say:

Resolution-Proposed Amendment-March 2007 Greater Lowndes Solid Waste
Management Plan,

County Planner, Jason Davenport, presented the resolution, adding that
the amendment was drafted due to a proposed expansion and reconfiguration
of the Evergreen landfill. Mr. Davenport added that the amendment had
been reviewed by staff, the Regional Commission and the Deep South Solid
Waste Authority. Mr. Davenport further stated that Mr. A.J. Rodgers, of

Veolia Environmental Services, was present to answer any questions the
Commission might have regarding the project. Commissioner Lee stated
that he was concerned that the contractual relationship that has been
in place for quite some time be accurately reflected and adequately
maintained in the future. Commissioner Lee then asked Mr. Rodgers if a
new cell had been created yet. Mr. Rodgers answered that construction
had begun in a cell that had already been approved.

Veolia spelled his name

[Andrew] AJ Rogers and identified him as
“area manager for Veolia ES Solid Waste Southeast, Inc.”

in a 22 March 2011 press release.

But what is this “contractual relationship”?
According to
a letter from Walter G. Elliott, Lowndes County Attorney, Continue reading →

Budget Telling Tonight @ LCC 2013-06-25

Tonight you can go be told what the county’s budget will be,

5PM at the county palace.
If you want to see the proposed budget,
you’ll have to go their beforehand and view the one paper
copy they are

required by law to show you.
They say they’re short of money,
so why are they

wasting taxpayer funds suing a legitimate business?

On the county’s online calendar:

Budget Public Hearing (6/18/2013)

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing for the purpose of considering

the Fiscal Year 2014 proposed budget on the following dates:

June 18, 2013 at 5:30 p.m.

June 25, 2013 at 5:00 p.m.

Location:

Lowndes County Commission Chambers

327 N. Ashley St.

Valdosta, GA

A copy of the proposed budget is available for public review in the office of the County Clerk.

For questions please call 671-2400.

Kay Harris wrote for the VDT 19 June 2013,

Lowndes County facing budget woes,

Continue reading →

Adjourn into trash excuses @ LCC 2013-06-11

Citizens still wanted to talk about solid waste after the

Commission adjourned the Tuesday 11 June 2013

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Commissioners offered nothing but excuses.

Commissioner Page asked for

Mr. Wright
to stay behind so he could talk to him.
The Chairman adjourned; I didn’t hear or see any motion or second or vote.
Aren’t those required by state law?

The subsequent excuses included:

It’s not about right or wrong anymore.

Nevermind that most of the people in the room thought it was,
as well as many of the citizens and voters in the county.

We have to follow the process.

Nevermind they didn’t hold Continue reading →

You’re losing the democratic process –Gary Wright @ LCC 2013-06-11

“I hope you’ll consider a democratic process working into your rules,”
remarked a military veteran at
Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

After saying he was also concerned about how Deep South Sanitation
is being treated,
Gary Wright said:

There is a little bit of a lack of democratic process in your meeting
groundrules.
On your website I don’t know anything in there that said
you have only thirty minute meetings for the entire thing.
I don’t know if this happens whenever you have a meeting
that’s only thirty minutes long; I’ve never been to one.

Their rules

don’t say that,
but it’s not surprising there is confusion, given Continue reading →

Do the right thing –Steve Parker @ LCC 2013-06-11

The right thing is not letting one company take all the money to New York
while putting another out of business, said a local resident
at Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

When you get a company like Veolia or Advanced that’s taking
all the money to New York, and then they come to my house
and they leave, I put garbage bags beside my can and they
won’t pick it up.

And then my guy, Cary Scarborough, comes
and picks up everything,
and you know what else he does guys? Continue reading →

I want a choice in who I use –Jerome Tucker @ LCC 2013-06-11

“Let me decide who I want to haul my waste,”

said a former Chairman of the Industrial Authority
at Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Jerome Tucker thanked

Commissioner John Page for bringing up the topic of freedom,
since that was his main topic, too.

I’m here to talk about… where I have a choice who handles my waste…

Cary didn’t come to me looking for business.
I saw his truck come along and Continue reading →

Exclusive Franchise for Solid Waste Collection Services @ LCC 2012-12-11

Why did the Lowndes County Commission make

this exclusive franchise
with a Florida or Alabama or New York company

and then

sue a local Lowndes County company after

the VDT reported the previous spring that any contract
would be non-exclusive and wouldn’t put anybody out of business?

Here, obtained by LAKE through an open records request,
is the

contract with ADS of Middle Georgia, LLC.
The

the agenda item for the 11 December 2012 Commission meeting at which
this contract was approved
says ADS of Central Alabama, Inc.

The contract says ADS is “a Florida corporation”,
and we know ADS is owned by

Highstar Capital of New York City.

Once again,

why is granting a cheap monopoly to an out-of-state company
more important than either letting local companies compete for the service
or having the county continue to provide a public service directly to
its taxpayers and citizens?

The termination clause

I pointed out to the Commission
after
an ADS executive made excuses for nonperformance
is

Paragraph 18 of the contract: