{"id":2561,"date":"2010-12-06T09:50:38","date_gmt":"2010-12-06T14:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/vlcia-biomass-forum-tonight-do-they-have-a-plan.html"},"modified":"2010-12-06T09:50:38","modified_gmt":"2010-12-06T14:50:38","slug":"vlcia-biomass-forum-tonight-do-they-have-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/vlcia-biomass-forum-tonight-do-they-have-a-plan.html","title":{"rendered":"VLCIA Biomass &#8220;Forum&#8221; Tonight: Do they have a plan?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.industrialauthority.com\/\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/profile.ak.fbcdn.net\/hprofile-ak-snc4\/hs625.ash1\/27538_265579862068_7988_n.jpg\"><\/a><br \/>\nAccording to the<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/valdostadailytimes.com\/opinion\/x278367209\/Biomass-plant-forum-Monday\">VDT&#8217;s What We Think of yesterday<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nAll citizens of Lowndes County and any other interested parties are<br \/>\nencouraged to attend the Biomass Forum Monday night, hosted by the<br \/>\nValdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, at 7:30 at the Conference<br \/>\nCenter.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Forum?  As in people will get time to get real questions answered?<br \/>\nAnd the VLCIA might be interested in real input?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nThe authority has invited a half-dozen individuals to speak, which will<br \/>\nlast approximately 60 to 90 minutes, followed by &#8220;ample&#8221; time for<br \/>\nquestions to be answered, at least 30 minutes, according to the Authority.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hm, 3 to 1 they speak we listen.<br \/>\nInteresting definition of &#8220;forum&#8221;.<br \/>\nAlso, despite VLCIA&#8217;s many complaints that people didn&#8217;t get involved<br \/>\nearly enough in their previous public meetings about this plant,<br \/>\nif this event is listed on VLCIA&#8217;s own website, I can&#8217;t find it.<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s not on the VLCIA&#8217;s facebook page, either.<\/p>\n<p>\nAlthough on November 10th there are two VLCIA facebook posts saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nThe Industrial Authority stands behind its decision for the construction<br \/>\nof Wiregrass Power LLC and feels like this green project will be a<br \/>\nwin\/win for the community.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So much for looking for input.<\/p>\n<p>\nAnyway, back to the VDT:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nThe Times has presented several stories with facts concerning the $140<br \/>\nmillion project, which will generate 20 to 25 local jobs once the plant<br \/>\nis up and running.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>20 to 25 local jobs.<\/p>\n<p>\nMeanwhile, in other places that have a plan:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/12\/mage-solar-cuts-ribbon-in-dublin-georgia.html\">MAGE SOLAR is already hiring in Dublin, Georgia<\/a><br \/>\nfor the first of 350 jobs in a photovoltaic (PV) solar manufacturing plant.<\/p>\n<li>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/12\/sunivas-500-new-jobs-went-to-michigan.html\"><br \/>\nSuniva of Norcross&#8217;s second PV plant with its 500 jobs went to Michigan,<\/a><br \/>\nbecause nobody in Georgia tried very hard to keep it here.<\/p>\n<li>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/12\/suniva-went-to-solar-valley-michigan-which-has-a-plan.html\"><br \/>\nSolar Valley, Michigan, has a plan<\/a><br \/>\nthat has already brought in thousands of clean energy jobs,<br \/>\nin addition to Suniva.\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/03\/the-jobs-are-in-the-trees-reforestation.html?cid=6a0120a58214e4970b01310fc6389b970c\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   width=\"307\" height=\"243\" src=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/phpThumb\/phpThumb.php?src=http:\/\/www.grist.org\/i\/assets\/infographics\/green_jobs_chart.jpg&#038;w=615\"><\/a><br \/>\nWhat&#8217;s our plan, VLCIA?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\nWhere&#8217;s our major solar generating plant?<\/p>\n<li>\nOur solar academy?<\/p>\n<li>\nOur solar manufacturing plant?<\/p>\n<li>\nOur<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/10\/houstons-renewable-energy.html\"><br \/>\nhouse retrofitting strategy?<\/a><\/p>\n<li>\nOur local agritourism map?<\/p>\n<li>\nOur <a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/03\/the-jobs-are-in-the-trees-reforestation.html?cid=6a0120a58214e4970b01310fc6389b970c\"><br \/>\nreforestation plan, with twice as many jobs as biomass?<\/a>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How about we plant trees instead of burn them?<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd I agree with the VDT on this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nAnd to the Industrial Authority and invited speakers, you are urged to<br \/>\nnot insult the intelligence of those attending. They understand what<br \/>\nthe plant will do. What they want to know is how this will affect them<br \/>\nin terms of health issues, air quality and safety, burning sewage,<br \/>\nthe number of trucks on the highway so close to several schools, etc.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe onus is on you, the Authority, to handle this in a much more<br \/>\nprofessional manner than the last Sterling project.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>More to the point, why is the VLCIA wasting its political capital<br \/>\n(and our tax dollars)<br \/>\non this one polluting plant when it could be working to bring in<br \/>\nreal clean energy?<\/p>\n<p>\nDoes the VLCIA have a plan to raise the local metro area out of<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/08\/valdosta-in-bottom-10-metro-areas-for-wages.html\"><br \/>\nthe bottom 10 for wages?<\/a><br \/>\nOr is this 20-25-job polluting plant the best the VLCIA can do?<\/p>\n<p>\nIf you can&#8217;t come to tonight&#8217;s &#8220;forum&#8221;, or even if you can,<br \/>\nhere is<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/10\/contact-information-for-elected-and-appointed-officials.html\"><br \/>\ncontact information for your elected and appointed officials,<\/a><br \/>\nincluding the VLCIA board.<\/p>\n<p>\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to the VDT&#8217;s What We Think of yesterday: All citizens of Lowndes County and any other interested parties are encouraged to attend the Biomass Forum Monday night, hosted by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, at 7:30 at the Conference Center. Forum? As in people will get time to get real questions answered? And the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,202,556,120,141,14,15,16,321,740,2,267,23,73,289,24,1569,133,178],"tags":[5209,8738,1031,4132,3507,5208,5210,4823,8713,5207,8714,2900,180,8742,8749,3209,8716],"class_list":["post-2561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-agriculture","category-air","category-biomass","category-co2","category-economy","category-education","category-environment","category-food-and-drink","category-forestry","category-government","category-mage-solar","category-renewable-energy","category-safety","category-science","category-solar","category-suniva","category-vdt","category-vlcia","tag-appointed","tag-biomass","tag-efficiency","tag-elected","tag-insulation","tag-j-economy","tag-officials","tag-reforestation","tag-renewable-energy","tag-retrofitting","tag-solar","tag-valdosta-daily-times","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority","tag-vdt","tag-vlcia","tag-wages","tag-wind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}