A major big city daily?
A local newspaper of record along the proposed pipeline path?
Nope: the Valdosta State University student newspaper, The Spectator,
has done what its bigger newspaper colleagues have not dared:
oppose the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and demand renewable
energy instead.
Where students lead, maybe their elders will follow.
Editorial in The Spectator 1 May 2014 (I added the links and images), Pipeline a risk to Valdosta, Continue reading
Two citizens from Hahira couldn’t speak in Citizens Wishing
to Be Heard, but the Chairman
would go into the private board room out of camera range afterwards
to speak to them.
The Chairman did
describe a statement about the Sabal Trail pipeline.
Veterinarian Amanda Hall didn’t appear but was appointed to the Dangerous Dog Board. They objected to the Hahira annexation request. They approved a bid for an mobile emergency bypass pump on a trailer, a computer lease purchase agreement, and two Juvenile Justice grant application items, for Continuation and for Enhancement (more about that). And all four remaining voting Commissioners showed up.
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer is #1 among the U.S. dirtiest power plants.
But FPL owns most of one of the four units there,
dirtying Georgia’s air for Florida’s power.
The same FPL that wants the fracked methane Sabal Trail pipeline
through Georgia, destroying Georgia’s environment.
It’s time for Georgia to say no to destroying Georgia’s environment
for a company in another state.
Thomas Stackpole wrote for Mother Jones 11 September 2013, 1 Percent of America’s Power Plants Emit 33 Percent of Energy Industry’s Carbon, Continue reading
Local veterinarian Amanda Hall for the
Dangerous Dog Board,
a very long weather report,
another
Hahira annexation request,
a
bid for an emergency bypass pump (water well? wastewater force main? other?),
two
Juvenile Justice grant application items, for
Continuation
and for
Enhancement (more about that).
Oh, and all four remaining voting Commissioners showed up,
unlike either the Work Session or Regular Session two weeks ago.
Here’s the agenda.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Yet another sinkhole in Florida. And guess what goes within 20 miles of that Florida retirement community? The proposed Sabal Trail Transmission methane pipeline. Does poking holes in the already-fragile karst limestone that holds up houses and contains our drinking water, anywhere in Florida or south Georgia, sound like a good idea to you?
Susan Jacobson wrote for Orlando Sentinel, 19 April 2014, Sinkhole in The Villages threatens 2 homes,
This sinkhole was growing April 19, 2014 near 2 houses in The Villages. (Helicon Property Restoration)
A large sinkhole has opened under two houses in The Villages.
A picture provided by Helicon Property Restoration, which is working to stabilize the hole, shows a house teetering at the edge.
Video in report by Lisa McDonald for WKMG, Orlando, 19 April 2014, Crews fill sinkhole that threatened 2 homes in The Villages:
Continue reading
Another
Hahira annexation request (on the agenda this time),
a
bid for an emergency bypass pump (water well? wastewater force main? other?),
two
Juvenile Justice grant application items, for
Continuation
and for
Enhancement (more about that), and
I didn’t know we had a
Dangerous Dog Board.
All I can find is
some related Georgia laws.
Here’s the agenda.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
The city of Valdosta does have a plan to fix its sewer problems;
it’s funded; and it’s moving along rapidly.
In the Spotlight on Valdosta’s front page says:
Click here for updates to Valdosta’s Sanitary Sewer System improvement projects.
That link leads to Valdosta Sanitary Sewer System Improvements [Since moved by Valdosta to a new URL. 2018-01-28 -jsq], Continue reading
Although the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) didn’t overflow in the rains earlier this week, and apparently not yesterday, either, there were manhole sewage overflows then and according to the Florida Department of Health there were similar overflows yesterday, from Valdosta into the Withlacoochee River.
WCTV posted yesterday a News Release: Florida Department of Health,
TALLAHASSEE- The Florida Department of Health today issued an advisory to residents in counties surrounding the Withlacoochee and the downstream Suwannee River. The City of Valdosta has reported a spill, made up of a combination of storm water and untreated sewage, that has overflowed into the One-Mile Branch, Two-Mile Branch, Sugar Creek and Cherry Creek which flow into the Withlacoochee River. Lab test results received April 18, 2014, indicate higher than normal levels of fecal coliform bacteria in the river waters.
Oddly, there doesn’t seem to be anything about this on the city of Valdosta’s own website yet, but no doubt there will be. More in later posts about what that.
-jsq
To the VDT the county government always smells like azaleas
and the city of Valdosta government always smells like sewage.
The local newspaper of record doesn’t seem to smell sewage
or landfill problems from Lowndes County.
Today’s VDT editorial complains about
environmental groups paying attention to “theoretical disasters”
(presumably referring to the Sabal Trail pipeline),
yet the VDT has never covered the group that has
most consistently followed the watershed-wide
flooding issues that cause Valdosta’s flooding problems:
WWALS Watershed Coalition.
The VDT recommends citizens get more involved
in sniffing out Valdosta’s sewage problems, yet it doesn’t seem
to cover Citizens Wishing To Be Heard anymore, nor has the VDT called
for the citizen participation sessions promised by
the local governments for the Army Corps of Engineers flooding studies.
Maybe the VDT could encourage citizen participation, rather than ignore it.
VDT editorial today, It just plain stinks, Continue reading
These are the fourteen items he promised
two weeks ago at the SpectraBusters panel at VSU:
Sabal Trail will be expected to adhere and honor all Lowndes County Ordinances –Bill E Slaughter, JR to FERC, 10 April 2014.
I thank Chairman Slaughter for making that statement to FERC.
Despite his apparent refusal to speak on behalf of all the citizens of the county after the 24 February 2014 Commission meeting, he did actually say his ecomment to FERC was “on the behalf of the Commission and Citizens of Lowndes County”, and that he expects Sabal Trail to follow all Lowndes County ordinances, plus Continue reading