{"id":1957,"date":"2011-06-01T21:18:47","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T01:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/06\/biomass-down-for-now-next.html"},"modified":"2011-06-01T21:18:47","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T01:18:47","slug":"biomass-down-for-now-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/06\/biomass-down-for-now-next.html","title":{"rendered":"Biomass down for now: next?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/a>\nCongratulations to all who worked against the biomass plant:\ntoday was the deadline on its most recent extension,\nso it’s gone for now.\nCongratulations to WACE and SAVE and NAACP and New Life Ministries\nand everyone else who was involved, especially Natasha Fast, Seth Gunning,\nand Brad Bergstrom, who were working against it before almost anyone else.\n

\nCongratulations to those who were instrumental even though they were not\nexactly or originally biomass opponents, especially\n\nAshley Paulk,<\/a>\nwho came out and said what needed to be said,\nand\n\nGeorge Bennett,<\/a> who\nwas willing to admit in public that he was one of the earliest\nproponents of the biomass plant but new knowledge caused him to think differently.\n

\nA big shoutout to the \nVSU Faculty Senate<\/a>,\nthe only traditional non-activist body that went on record as opposing\nthe biomass plant with an actual vote before the extension deadline.\nThe VSU Faculty Senate did what the Valdosta City Council, the Lowndes County Commission and the Industrial Authority Board would not.\nGo Blazers!\n

\n\n<\/a>\nA special strategic mention to Kay Harris and David Rodock of the\nValdosta Daily Times, who came to realize they were not being told the\nwhole truth by the Industrial Authority.\nThe VDT even\n\ngave a civics lesson on how to stop the biomass plant.<\/a>\n

\nAnd a very special mention to the people who did the most to make the\nname of biomass mud in the public’s eye:\n\n<\/a>\nBrad Lofton, Col. Ricketts, and the VLCIA board.\nWithout their indoctrination sessions and paid “forum” and stonewalling,\npeople wouldn’t have been turned against that thing nearly as fast!\n

\nYet it ain’t over until it’s over.\n

\nAccording to\n\nDavid Rodock in the VDT today:<\/a>\n\n\n

\n“I don’t think they even have a ground disturbance permit yet,”\nsaid Jennett. “Their development agreement ends June 1. That’s the\nend of the development agreement, that’s it. They have not asked us\nfor a project extension and I’m pretty sure if they did ask for one,\nthey’d get a no vote.”\n<\/blockquote>\nJerry Jennett is the chairman of the Industrial Authority\nthat had every opportunity to schedule such a vote any time in the\nlast year or two and did not.\nSo how do we know how such a vote would go?\n

\nCongratulations again for all who worked against the biomass plant.\n

\nBut remember, incinerators gone today can come back tomorrow,\nas happened in Harrisburg, PA.<\/a>\nVigilance.\n

\nWhat if rates for other types of electricity increase, or somebody\ninvents a more efficient biomass incinerator?\nThen what actually killed this plant may not apply any more:\nits power was too costly so nobody would buy it.\nWhat if biomass power cost less at the same time other power cost more?\nThen you can bet somebody would propose another biomass plant\nand lots of people would say “it’s clean green power.”\n

\nThe only way to make sure it doesn’t come back is to make clear\nthat something else is far more profitable.\nAs far as energy, we know what that is:\n\nsolar energy for south Georgia.<\/a>\n

\nChairman Sonny Murphy of Sterling Planet, while being stubborn about the\nbiomass plant, also offered a next solar step:\nincreasing the Wiregrass Solar plant by another megaWatt.<\/a>\n\n<\/a>\n\nAlden Hathaway<\/a> of Sterling Planet knows how to do that,\nand\nPete Marte and Hannah Solar<\/a>\nstand ready to do it.\n

\nIt’s time to remind\n\nValdosta Mayor Fretti and County Commissioner Crawford Powell of their promise:<\/a>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nAnd, truthfully, I think Crawford and I have talked, if somebody makes\na larger array, we hope to come back and expand on this one, because\nwe’re a little competitive and we like to be the largest in Valdosta.\n<\/blockquote>\nGood as the Wiregrass Solar array is, there was a bigger one\nalready in\n\nDalton, Georgia<\/a> before Wiregrass Solar was even built,\nand there’s a much bigger one since April in\nBlairsville, GA.<\/a>\n

\nSo it’s time to get cracking on expanding the Wiregrass Solar array!\n

\n\n<\/a>\nAnd let’s not forget that\n\nsolar power is the people’s power<\/a>: we don’t need to wait for Sterling Planet\nor anybody else to build out a big plant.\nWe can put solar on our own house and business roofs and parking lots.\n

\nGo solar!\n

\nOnce again I applaud\n\nthe spirit of activism, the spirit of participation,\nand the spirit of community.<\/a>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nThere are plenty of things \nto work for,<\/a> such as solar power,\nlocal agriculture, education, and a sustainable economy.\n

\nAnd there are plenty of things to work against.\n\nGeorgia has continued to increase its prison population<\/a>\neven while other states realize they can’t afford to lock up so many people.\nThe very same Industrial Authority that wanted to build a biomass plant\nalso wants to build a private prison right here in Lowndes County,\n\n<\/a>\nprivatizing justice for the profit of a few prison company executives\non the excuse that incarceration is\n\n“cheaper” when privatized.<\/a>\nSome of you are already working against private prisons.\nOthers of you may want something to do: here’s a cause.\n

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