Monthly Archives: November 2019

Please deny Georgia Power rate, signal get on with renewable energy –WWALS to GA-PSC 2019-11-05

Testimony sent as PDF yesterday, for the Georgia Power rate hike Public Hearings continuing today at GA-PSC.

[2016 Peak Day Marginal Costs]
2016 Peak Day Marginal Costs

November 5, 2019

To:

Jason Shaw, Commissioner, District 1

Georgia Public Service Commission

244 Washington Street, SW

Atlanta GA, 30334-9052

jshaw@psc.ga.gov

Re: Docket 42516 Georgia Power Company’s 2019 Rate Case

Commissioner Shaw,

It was good to meet with you Thursday.

I have not met anyone unaffiliated with the electric power industry who supports a rate hike for Georgia Power, especially not a mandatory connection fee. Many people around here are already struggling to balance electric bills, grocery bills, and gas bills. A mandatory connection fee would most greatly affect those least able to afford it. Despite Georgia Power’s arguments, the beneficiaries of such a rate hike would not be its customers, rather its investors, following a playbook spelled out by the electric utility industry think tank Edison Electricity Institute back in 2013.

I urge the Georgia Public Service Commission to reject Georgia Power’s request for a connection fee raise, or at the least to make it as minimal as possible. Georgia Power as a regulated public utility should be “A Citizen Wherever We Serve,” not an agent for its investors to get more profit at the expense of its customers.

[Urge reject connection fee raise]
Urge reject connection fee raise

It is not surprising that Georgia Power is in need of funds, due to Southern Company’s failing Big Bet on Continue reading →

Troupville River Camp, center of Little and Withlacoochee River Water Trail 2019-10-31

Here’s the narrative we sent Thursday in the WWALS pre-application to the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program (GOSP) (many more details are on the WWALS website):

A Troupville River Camp will attract paddling and fishing enthusiasts of all ages. The property is located at the Confluence of the Little River with the Withlacoochee River, off of I-75 and GA 133 just west of Valdosta, the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin. Proposed amenities include air-conditioned bathrooms, hot and cold running water, five screened sleeping platforms, picnic tables and benches, outdoor fire pits, and paddle boat racks for canoes, kayaks, and paddle boards, with river access near the Confluence.

[Paddlers departing in the Confluence Viewscape]
Paddlers departing in the Confluence Viewscape

The location is historic, where Troupville was the former Lowndes County seat before Valdosta, from 1833 to 1860. The property has been privately owned since then and is now available for purchase for this purpose.


Map of Troupville, GA adapted from C.S. Morgan, in Ray City History Blog, 9 February 2014, Map of Old Troupville, GA with Notes on the Residents.
jsq note: the scale of the streets on this map is too large; few of them extended onto the subject property;
thanks for clarification by Wiregrass Region Digital History Project (WRDHP).

The Land Between the Rivers has Continue reading →

Nutrients and Cyanotoxins, FDEP Triennial Review Workshop, Tallahassee 2019-11-04

Water quality testing for nutrients and cyanotoxins were big topics at yesterday’s Public Workshop in Tallahassee. Apalachicola Riverkeeper Georgia Ackerman was there, but had to leave at noon. So John S. Quarterman ended up speaking as Suwannee Riverkeeper and on behalf of Waterkeepers Florida, in Florida’s Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards.

[Apalachicola Riverkeeper Georgia Ackerman]
Apalachicola Riverkeeper Georgia Ackerman

The FDEP presenters made it pretty clear they preferred putting up warning signs based on clorophyl a measurements and whenever cyanobacteria blooms are sighted, as they ask DOH to do now, to waiting for lab tests to come back to confirm, as EPA Continue reading →

Cindy Leighton with Paddle Georgia on the Withlacoochee River –Herald-Leader 2019-08-28

The story begins, “When Cindy Leighton set out on the 2019 Paddle Georgia trip on June 15, putting her kayak into the waters of the Little River, she was taking part in something Paddle Georgia hasn’t done before — heading to Florida.”

WWALS member Cindy Leighton sent us images of this story by Sherri Butler, Herald-Leader, Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia, Section B Feature Front, August 28, 2019, Paddle Georgia crosses the line for a river journey spotlighting lue springs of Florida, which goes beyond Paddle Georgia into Water Trails and River Camps.

[Front page]
Front page

On the feature front page, Continue reading →

Tallahassee Triennial Review Public Workshop 2019-11-04

Update 2019-11-05: Workshop report.

FDEP is holding a Triennial Review workshop in Tallahassee Monday (tomorrow) morning.

When: 9AM, Monday, November 4, 2019

Where: Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Bob Martinez Center, Room 609, 2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, Florida

Announcement: on the FDEP website, along with the agenda.

Teleconference Call-in: 1-888-585-9008,

Conference Room Number: 125-938-245#

Teleconference participants will be in “listen only” mode (muted) throughout most of the meeting, but will be given an opportunity to provide verbal comments during the public comment period (after in-person attendees).

2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, FL, Map

If you can’t go to this one, three more are scheduled, but they will not have teleconference participation. They are: Continue reading →

Banks Lake Solstice Light Parade, 2019-12-21

Update 2019-12-25: Pictures: WWALS Light Parade at Banks Lake 2019-12-21

Update 2019-11-13: There will be a $50 first prize, and smaller second and third prizes. Also food!

Marking the winter solstice and the ending of 2019 with a decorated evening lighted boat parade and contest with hot chocolate and cookies. First event of its kind in the area.

Please go all out with lights for your boat (glow sticks work well, or head lamp, flashlight, etc.) so other boaters can see you in the dark, and it’s a light parade! It will be totally dark after sunset. There will be no moon.

[Winter Solstice 2019]
Winter Solstice 2019

Banks Lake is part of the WWALS Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).

When: Gather 3:00 PM, launch 5:00 PM, Sunset 5:34 PM, Moonset 2:16 PM, Saturday, December 21, 2019

Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635.

GPS: 31.034824, -83.096725

Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp

Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Boats: are available from Banks Lake Outdoors if you reserve in advance, and they may be free rental.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

[Headlamp]
Headlamp. Photo: John S. Quarterman, Banks Lake, 2019-05-18.

Continue reading →

Banks Lake Full Cold Moon Paddle, 2019-12-12

Leisurely sunset paddle and watch the full moon rise over the lake.

You must have a light for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow sticks work well, or head lamp, flashlight, etc.) so other boaters can see you in the dark. It will be totally dark after sunset.

Banks Lake is part of the WWALS Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).

When: Gather 4:30 PM, launch 5:00 PM, Sunset 5:32 PM, Moonrise 6:10 PM, Thursday, December 12, 2019

Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635.

GPS: 31.034824, -83.096725

Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp

Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Boats: are available from Banks Lake Outdoors if you reserve in advance, and they may be free rental.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

[Luna paddler]
Luna paddler. Photo: John S. Quarterman, Banks Lake, 2019-05-18.

Continue reading →

Waterkeepers Florida passes resolution against titanium mine application near Okefenokee Swamp

Waterkeepers Florida asks the Army Corps to require Twin Pines Minerals to supply all the information missing from its application for a titanium mine near the Okefenokee Swamp, to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), to hold Public Hearings, including in Florida, and “to answer how the Corps has or will determine that the Applicant’s proposed mine would not adversely affect the Okefenokee Swamp, the St. Marys River, the Suwannee River, the Floridan Aquifer, or the State of Florida.”

You can also still comment to the Army Corps.

[TPM Equipment closeup, Wayne Morgan]
TPM Equipment closeup Photo: Wayne Morgan for Suwannee Riverkeeper on Southwings flight, pilot Allen Nodorft, 2019-10-05.

Continue reading →