{"id":2604,"date":"2010-09-30T19:48:24","date_gmt":"2010-09-30T23:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/biomass-rezoning-minutes-county-commission-9-june-2009.html"},"modified":"2010-09-30T19:48:24","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T23:48:24","slug":"biomass-rezoning-minutes-county-commission-9-june-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/biomass-rezoning-minutes-county-commission-9-june-2009.html","title":{"rendered":"Biomass Rezoning Minutes, County Commission, 9 June 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the
\n
\nmessage from Prof. Manning<\/a>,
\nhe says<\/p>\n

\nI did address the county commission on this topic over a year ago \u2013 in a public forum at a scheduled meeting.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He provided no date nor link, but since
\nthis is the only Commission meeting minutes for which I can find
\nhis name,<\/a>
\nI’m guessing this is the one he meant.
\nI’ve quoted here the relevant item, and I’ve added paragraph breaks
\nto it to make finding individual speakers’ names easier.
\nSee also the VDT writeup.<\/a>
\nI would like to ask people, especially academics,
\nwho want to cite sources to actually cite them,
\nnot allude to them by some vague description.<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n

\nLOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
\n
\nMINUTES
\n
\nRegular Session
\n
\nTuesday, June 9, 2009
\n
\nCOMMISSIONERS PRESENT
\n
\nChairman Ashley Paulk
\n
\nVice Chairperson Joyce E. Evans
\n
\nCommissioner Richard C. Lee
\n
\nCommissioner G. Robert Carter
\n
\nChairman Paulk called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\n[…]<\/p>\n

\nREZ-2009-05 Wiregrass Power, LLC, 2637 Old Statenville Hwy, 0164 025. 22.1 ac.,
\nE-A to I-S,<\/p>\n

\nCounty Planner, Jason Davenport, presented the item, stating that both the
\nPlanning Commission and TRC recommended approval with conditions.<\/p>\n

\nChairman
\nPaulk asked those in attendance to be patient with the Commission as the item was
\nconsidered, since it was an issue that many in attendance may want to speak.<\/p>\n

\nDr.
\nMichael Noll, 2305 Glynndale Drive, spoke against the request and presented the
\nCommission with a list of questions prepared by himself, Dr. Brad Bergstrom and Mr.
\nSeth Gunning.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Fred Deloach III, 1411 New Statenville Highway, addressed the
\nCommission requesting that tires and coal be added to the list of prohibited fuel items.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\nRandy Allison, stated that he owned a farm adjacent to the property and was concerned ^Labout noise and the amount of water that would be consumed.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Tim Swilley, 3423
\nHickory Grove Road, questioned the location of the plant and echoed Mr. Allison\u2019s
\nconcerns regarding water.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Frank Flarherty, 2810 Melrose Drive, voiced concerns
\naddressing pollution.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Allan Ricketts, Industrial Authority Project Manager, presented
\nthe Commission with a presentation supporting the request.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Bob Turner, Wiregrass
\nProject Manager, also spoke in favor of the request.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Lee asked that Mr. Turner be
\nallowed to address the concerns stated as well as those presented by Dr. Noll.<\/p>\n

\nIndustrial Authority Director, Brad Lofton, joined Mr. Turner and spoke in favor of the
\nrequest, explaining that this project had been researched for quite some time, adding
\nthat it was a good, safe fit for the community.<\/p>\n

\nCommissioner Lee asked if the fuel
\nsource might change in the future.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Turner stated that the plant was being
\nconstructed to handle specific items as presented and that due to the nature of the
\nplant, it would only be able to handle those items.<\/p>\n

\nKen Garren, 4840 Lori Street, spoke
\nin favor of the request as former Industrial Authority Director.<\/p>\n

\nTom Manning, 5761
\nThompson Road, spoke in favor of the request, adding that the applicant seemed
\ncapable and that the facility would provide a positive energy source.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Fred Deloach,
\nJr., stated that he was not for it or against it, he just wanted more information regarding
\nhow it might affect Mud Creek’s water levels.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Johnny Swilley, Hickory Grove Road,
\nstated that he thought the plant was a wonderful development, but questioned the
\nlocation.<\/p>\n

\nCommissioner Lee asked how the site was chosen.<\/p>\n

\nMr. Lofton replied that the
\ncombination of available water, fuel and close proximity to transmission lines were all
\ndeciding factors.<\/p>\n

\nCommissioner Lee stated that a lot of work had been done on the
\nproject and made a motion to approve the request with the following conditions,<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    \nonly
    \nbiomass fuel shall be used to generate electricity at the plant site, except for start-up
    \noperations which may require the use of natural gas or diesel fuel for a short period of
    \ntime (not to exceed three (3) calendar days) to stabilize boiler combustion.
    \nEligible
    \nbiomass fuel shall at no time, during start-up or any other time of operation, include any
    \nanimal byproducts, animal waste, tires, coal, or any materials other than what has been
    \npresented in the letter of intent with the rezoning application submitted on May 5th 2009,<\/p>\n

  2. \n

    \nthe use of the subject property shall only be a forty (40) megawatt biomass electric
    \ngenerating plant,<\/p>\n

  3. \n

    \nthe proposed use for Wiregrass Power, LLC will be developed and
    \nconstructed in substantial compliance with the site plan titled “Concept Layout For:
    \nWiregrass Power, LLC” and submitted by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial
    \nAuthority to the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners with their rezoning
    \napplication on May 5th 2009.
    \nAdditionally, the buffer areas depicted on the site plan
    \nshall remain in place to include the maintenance of all proposed buffer areas as
    \npresented for the life of the project<\/p>\n

  4. \n

    \nand there shall be no lighting impact on adjacent properties,\n<\/ol>\n

    \nVice Chairperson Evans second.<\/p>\n

    \nMotion carried.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In the message from Prof. Manning, he says I did address the county commission on this topic over a year ago \u2013 in a public forum at a scheduled meeting. He provided no date nor link, but since this is the only Commission meeting minutes for which I can find his name, I’m guessing this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,120,14,15,16,740,2,88,21,32,23,73,289,1106,178,55],"tags":[5312,8750,5133,8738,2113,4469,1747,5311,4129,2043,8745,8753,2061,4919,4566,8722,1909,188,5315,8801,8701,5310,2417,1790,5219,793,1691,154,2081,4020,7,1809,1603,5220,8863,1197,4530,4874,5221,1327,8715,5306,5314,34,5313,4533,5308,5307,410,6,1619,2900,1175,180,8816,8742,8749,8743,294,8727,4123,5309],"class_list":["post-2604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-biomass","category-economy","category-education","category-environment","category-forestry","category-government","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-planning","category-pollution","category-renewable-energy","category-safety","category-science","category-vboe","category-vlcia","category-water","tag-adm","tag-agriculture","tag-air-quality","tag-biomass","tag-board-of-education","tag-brad-bergstrom","tag-brad-lofton","tag-cadillac","tag-carbon-dioxide","tag-clean","tag-co2","tag-coal","tag-electricity","tag-environmental-protection-agency","tag-environmental-racism","tag-epa","tag-epd","tag-executive-director","tag-federal-clean-air-act","tag-forestry","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-center-of-innovation-for-renewable-energy","tag-georgia-tech","tag-green","tag-gretchen-bielmyer","tag-industry","tag-karen-noll","tag-landfill","tag-langdale","tag-leigh-touchton","tag-lowndes-county","tag-mercury","tag-michigan","tag-mud-creek-wastewater-treatment-plant","tag-naacp","tag-paper-mill","tag-particulates","tag-pca","tag-perimeter-road","tag-permit","tag-pollution","tag-president-obama","tag-sewage-sludge","tag-sierra-club","tag-timber","tag-tom-manning","tag-u-s-department-of-energy","tag-u-s-dept-of-agriculture","tag-uga","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-board-of-education","tag-valdosta-daily-times","tag-valdosta-state-university","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority","tag-vboe","tag-vdt","tag-vlcia","tag-vsu","tag-wastewater","tag-water","tag-wiregrass-power-llc","tag-world-wildlife-federation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2604","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=2604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}