On the LAKE Front

In Georgia, "competitive" is not for you!

Remember the Southern Company brags about "Our competitive generation business". The important word there is "our", as in the Southern Company and its subsidiary Georgia Power gets to compete, and you don't. Unless you're big enough.

According to the Georgia Public Service Commission:

Some retail competition has been present in Georgia since 1973 with the passage of the Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act. This Act enables customers with manufacturing or commercial loads of 900 kW or greater a one time choice in their electric supplier. It also provides eligible customers the opportunity to transfer from one electric supplier to another provided all parties agree.

This is apparently only one of twelve Georgia laws that impede a competitive solar power market. But this Territoriality Law alone might be enough of an impediment. Here's a guide, and here's the text of the Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act.

Because of that law, you can't you put up solar panels on your own land and sell your power to somebody somewhere else. And you can't get a company like SolarCity or Lower Rates for Customers to put up solar panels on your property and sell you the power ( or can you?). Unless you're generating at least 900 KW; then maybe you can get selected businesses to switch to your power once. Except you probably still won't qualify, because

Georgia Power, nuclear buggy whip manufacturer

I think of Georgia Power more as like IBM when minicomputers came out. IBM built bigger mainframes. The Internet started to spread, and IBM pushed its own proprietary SNA network. (Remember SNA? I didn't think so.) Then PCs came out, and IBM layoffs started....

Glenn Carroll wrote for Georgia Wand today, Georgia Power Stuck in a Nuclear Jam,

Everybody except for Georgia is jumping on the wind and solar bandwagon, but Georgia Power is side-lined in a nuclear jam like a horse-buggy manufacturer at the dawning of the Ford assembly line.

The white area on that map is for states that have no standards or goals for renewable energy.

Remember Georgia Power is the biggest part of its parent, The Southern Company, and the nuclear units at Plant Vogtle (operating and planned) are actually owned by another offshoot of The Southern Company. According to Southern Company's webpage, Megawatts and Markets,

Southern Company regulated regional electric utilities serve a 120,000-square-mile territory in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. Our competitive generation business extends to markets in six southeastern states.

It's interesting how similar the Southern Company's markets are to the states in that white southeast no-renewable-energy-portfolio area!

-jsq

Shareholder Questions to Southern Company

Nuclear is our only emissionless technology, said Southern Company (SO) CEO Thomas A. Fanning. That would indicate that solar and wind have emissions. I assume he just mis-spoke in his otherwise masterful responses (often not answers) to shareholder questions.

Slides and sound for CEO Fanning's main presentation are available on SO's website. He indicated SO is unmatched in a combination of financial aspects, including dividends that have steadily increased year after year, and especially investment stability. He neglected to mention that much of those dividends are made possible by Georgia Power's guaranteed profit margins. He did find time to oppose big government regulation, which is ironic, since Southern Company is a big beneficiary of Georgia's numerous regulations benefitting Georgia Power. He also bragged about the Georgia legislature passing the "Energy Rate Increases to Finance Nuclear Power Plant Construction".

During the Q&A session, I congratulated CEO Fanning on his 62% compensation raise last year, and noted that Georgia Power customers also got a raise,

"Industrial": Positive or Negative? Videos @ VLCIA 2012-04-17

Market study advisory panel forming up! Chairman Roy Copeland asked whether "Industrial" in VLCIA's name is positive or negative for PR? Executive Director Andrea Schruijer made sure to announce a date change for a board meeting a month in advance. All that and much more!

Here are videos of the entire 17 April 2012 regular meeting of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA). Here's the agenda.

VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer said they had shown contractor Market Street Services the area so they could go back and start working up data for a market study. In May an advisory panel of 10-13 individuals plus focus groups will meet with Market Street.

They went to the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC) spring forum in Austin, Texas, and they moved their May meeting a week later than usual.

New PR and Marketing person S. Meghan Duke gave an update on her area. Chairman Roy Copeland flustered her by asking whether the word "industrial" in VLCIA's name reflected positively or negatively? She fell back on saying they were doing a survey towards a unique identity.

I'll answer: as long as VLCIA includes as "industry" boondoggles like a health-threatening biomass plant and a job-destroying private prison, why yes, "industrial" reflects negatively on VLCIA. But a mere name change through a D.B.A. won't fix that problem. Only a change in behavior will fix that problem. Changes such as doing some due diligence so they know when a private prison company is playing them along by saying they're the primary site. Changes such as weighing the community's health when considering potential jobs. And especially changes such as listening to people outside the VLCIA and Chamber bubble when others do useful and important research. The community can be an asset for VLCIA, providing research and contacts VLCIA either does not have the resources to do or might not think of to do, if VLCIA will listen to the community.

There's more in the videos. Gretchen took these videos, as Chairman Roy Copeland welcomed guests, "even those with cameras." Here's a video playlist:

Videos
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Tom Davis CPA, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,
S. Meghan Duke Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams Operations Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 April 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Southern Company Rated Worst of Seven Major U.S. Utilities

Southern Company, Number One! In failing grades, that is. Room for improvement in renewable energy.

Green America press release dated 24 May 2011, Southern Company Rated Worst of Seven Major U.S. Utilities: Southern Gets Straight "F"s in Grading of "The Dirty Seven" Utilities, Also Home to Three of 10 Worst-Polluting Power Plants in U.S.,

On the eve of Southern Company (NYSE: SO) holding its annual meeting of stockholders in Pine Mountain, GA., the nonprofit Green America released a report today ranking the major U.S. power producer as "the United States' most irresponsible utility."

Titled "Leadership We Can Live Without: The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for Southern Company," the Green America analysis assigns letter grades to seven major U.S. utilities on four fronts: reliance on coal; pollution; reliance on and expansion of nuclear power; and lobbying expenditures. Southern came in dead last with straight "F" grades in all four of the categories.

The PR and the report have a lot more detail, such as this:

Clean Air Task Force data shows that Southern Company's coal-fired power plants cause 1,224 deaths, 1,710 heart attacks, 20,770 asthma attacks, and 752 cases of chronic bronchitis per year. The total annual cost of all of this damage is over $9 billion.

Hey, that's more than the original projected cost of the new nukes! Georgians, do you like trading your health for SO's coal plants and its nuclear boondoggle?

Or would you rather Southern Company and Georgia Power spend less for more electricity by following Austin Energy and Cobb EMC into solar power, plus wind off the coast, for jobs, for energy independence, for health, and for profit?

-jsq

Florida utility delays nuke, asks for rate hike

Florida is already experiencing a likely future for the new Plant Vogtle nukes in Georgia: completion date pushed back, and customer charges raised.

Fred Hiers wrote for Gainesville.com 1 May 2012, Progress asks for nuke fee hike,

Progress Energy announced Tuesday that it is hiking the estimated cost of its proposed Levy County nuclear plant and pushing the plant's completion date back to 2024.

Progress Energy also said it plans to ask Florida regulators to increase customers' bills to upgrade Progress' damaged Crystal River nuclear plant.

Progress said in a press release that the new cost of the plant could be as high as $24 billion. The previous estimate was about $2 billion less. The plant was originally slated to go online in 2016, but that deadline continues to get pushed back.

2016 to 2024? An eight year delay? And from $22 billion to $24 billion, or 9% more? It looks like Progress Energy has started down the path of many $billion cost overruns that The Southern Company and Georgia Power already went down 30 years ago and have already started back down again. Georgia Power customers: don't be surprised if your rates go up more for nukes that get pushed still farther into the future.

Meanwhile, by John Hanger's estimates, an extra $1 billion would buy about 450 MW of wind power or about 330 MW of solar power. So that $2 billion expected cost rise would buy about

Videos @ GLPC 2012-02-27

Here are videos of the entire February meeting of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC). I would post their agenda, but they didn't publish one.

They elect new officers annually. The previous chairman, Tommy Willis, handed over to the new chairman, Bill Slaughter. The recognized outgoing members John Bailey from Hahira and W.G. Walker from Dasher and former chairman Tommy Willis and introduced Ryan Warren as the new member from Dasher. (Who's the new member from Hahira?)

See these two items previously posted:

• Width, houses, and inheritance: REZ-2012-01 Whitehead/Black
• Conservation at Lake Alapaha: REZ-2012-02 Dinkins

Here's a video playlist:

Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Conservation at Lake Alapaha: REZ-2012-02 Dinkins @ GLPC 2012-02-27

How did conservation zoning get put on part of Robert Dinkins' property at Lake Alapaha? County records conflict on that point. Was it important to keep that conservation zoning? Staff thought so, but the Planning Commission thought otherwise, and the Lowndes County Commission decided to agree.

The second county case in the 27 February 2012 Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting was REZ-2012-02 Dinkins, Southern Shore, 0264 007 A&B, ~97 ac., R-21 & CON to R-A, well/septic. They spent 8 1/2 minutes on it, mainly listening to the requester, Robert Dinkins, wonder how any part of the subject property was zoned for conservation. Staff recommended the conservation zoning remain. GLPC voted to recommend removing it.

REZ-2012-02 got 2:37 12 March 2012 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission and 6:49 in its 13 March 2012 Regular Session. The County Commission voted to remove the conservation zoning. Here's a previous post with more detail about that.

Here's a video playlist of this rezoning item in all three meetings (GLPC, LCC Work Session, and LCC Regular Session):

Conservation at Lake Alapaha: REZ-2012-02 Dinkins
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 February 2012.
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 March 2012.
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 March 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Width, houses, and inheritance: REZ-2012-01 Whitehead/Black @ GLPC 2012-02-27

Housing, driveway width and possible change to the ULDC, conveyance to relatives, number of housing units, and other issues: the Planning Commission discussed all these and recommended a rezoning with a few conditions (limit of 2 houses). The County Commission zipped through making a decision.

The first county case in the 27 February 2012 Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting was REZ-2012-01 Whitehead/Black, 218-82 & 82A, ~7.1 ac., 2 lots, E-A/R-A to R-A, well/septic. They spent more than 27 minutes (1:09 + 3:54 + 6:02 + 1:21 + 1:40 + 2:56 + 2:56 + 0:59 + 6:16) on REZ-2012-01.

Compare that to the 5 minutes in the 12 March 2012 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission and approximately 5 minutes in the 13 March 2012 Regular Session as the Lowndes County Commission approved the rezoning with the limitation on only 2 houses.

Time isn't everything, and staff did visit the site and clarify some points and Commissioners did ask a few questions in the Work Session, but the Planning Commission spent much more time examining this case.

Here's a video playlist of REZ-2012-02 in all three meetings (GLPC, LCC Work Session, and LCC Regular Session):

Width, houses, and inheritance: REZ-2012-01 Whitehead/Black
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 February 2012.
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 March 2012.
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 March 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Tonight: Planning Commission Agenda @ GLPC 2012-05-21

The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meets tonight. Here's the agenda.

The agenda was faxed by GLPC Chairman Bill Slaughter to Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, at her request; GLPC itself still doesn't have agendas online, ten months after SGRC stopped posting them.

There's one rezoning case on the agenda, a county case:

2. REZ-2012-09 John A. Copeland
Property Location: Loch Laurel Road, Valdosta, Ga
Request to rezone ~5 acres from R-A (Residential Agriculture) and R-1 (Low-Density Residential) to C-C Crossroads Commercial)

According to the Lowndes County Tax Assessors database, James R Copeland and Elizabeth J. Copeland own two lots on Loch Laurel Road with Situs/Physical Address of 0 Loch Laurel Road, one of 1 acre and the other of 8.67 acres, and another one mostly surrounded by those two at 3248 Loch Laurel Road of 1.5 acres. It will be interesting to see how those plots add up to about 5 acres. Whatever GLPC recommends, final action is scheduled for the Lowndes County Commission at its 12 June Regular Session.