These 120 sheets of detailed 2009 Construction Plans for the Brooks County Industrial Park contain a clue to how the sewer system there is connected to Quitman.
It turns out the clue is on the 2006 maps, too, but less obvious.
Stay tuned for that connection.
To interpret these sheets, it is useful to know that Prospect Drive is what appears on googlemaps as Fritzke Drive. Aviagen’s chicken incubation plant is south of Prospect Drive, east of GA 333. Continue reading
Congratulations to Jason Barnes on being promoted to Valdosta Director of Utilities after a year as Acting Director.
He has a lot of work left for him by previous city administrations, both in drinking water quality and a planned new well site, and of course in fixing Valdosta’s chronic sewer leaks, overflows, and spills, while expanding the sewer system to accomodate new industry.
The Withlacoochee River gets the most news, because most of Valdosta’s spills have been into creeks that flow into that river. But the collapsed sewer main next to Knights Creek ends up in Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. The city seems to have finally gotten a handle on that one, having replaced most of that sewer main, with the rest to be scheduled as regular repairs instead of expensive emergency fixes.
Nobody is going to be happy until there are no more spills, but I have seen fewer spills that did not last as long since Jason Barnes has been in charge.
About the first thing I heard from him once he became Acting Director was that a sewage spill had contaminated Sugar Creek, so we rerouted from a boating cleanup to an onland cleanup. Jason Barnes showed up in person at that cleanup, where we thanked him for telling us. Continue reading
Update 2024-07-25: Videos: Human noise and song birds: WWALS Webinar by Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU 2024-07-11.
Ever wonder why there seem to be fewer birds?
According to the VSU Sound Ecology Lab, “Rapid human-driven habitat loss and modification are leading causes of decreased biodiversity and species extinction.”
Dr. Erin Grabarczyk researches some more subtle human effects on birds, “I’m interested in how animals respond to human-generated environmental change. Specifically, my research aims to link the effects of anthropogenic noise on singing behavior, signal transmission, and song perception in song birds, with the goal of connecting each of these in analysis of communication in a social context.”
Dr. Grabarczyk will give a WWALS Webinar at noon, Thursday, July 11, 2024.
Register in advance with zoom for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pde-hpj4tEtL4VbpQVvbIBC0zVbBRHKv9
In addition to her research so far, she will mention some new research she is starting in the Suwannee River Basin.
WWALS Board President Sara Jay Jones will give a brief introduction, Dr. Grabarczyk will speak for about 45 minutes, and we will have questions and answers. Continue reading
Cecile Scofield told the Martin County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners that Brightline passenger rail is owned and financed by the same New York hedge fund as the liquid natural gas (LNG) liquefication plants that are sending LNG by rail over Florida East Coast Railway (FECR), and the LNG export and passenger rail projects are mutually dependent, presenting “unique risks”, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Here is Cecile’s presentation, extracted from
Martin County’s own video:
https://youtu.be/KjjdDdb1HI8 Continue reading
Update 2024-07-01: LNG by Rail on FECR through Martin County, according to FRA –Cecile Scofield to Martin County, FL BOCC 2024-06-18.
For years we’ve been trying to FOIA information from FRA about FECR’s project to ship liquid natural gas (LNG) by rail through densely-populated areas. After four months, two FOIAs, and further correspondence, we finally got quite a bit.
It confirms in detail much of what Cecile Scofield has been saying for years. LNG liquefaction plants and the railroad are owned by the same company, and there are safety concerns about their plan to ship LNG by rail up and down Florida to export to the world and by land across the U.S.
Yet many important safety details were redacted.
FECR’s plan is to ship LNG up and down Florida, out through ports from Miami to Jacksonville, and to ship it all over the U.S. Continue reading
![[Construction Plans, Brooks County Industrial Park 2009-03-03, DeVane PlanEng, Brooks County Industrial Authority]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2009-03-03--brookscoda-maps/fbmany.jpg)
![[Jason Barnes, Valdosta, Utilities Director 2024-07-01, Water and sewer systems, Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-01--vld-utilities-public-works/fbmany.jpg)
![[Human noise and song birds, Dr. Erin Grabarczyk of VSU, WWALS Webinar by zoom, Noon-1 PM, Thursday, 2024-07-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-07-11--human-noise-songbirds/fbmany.jpg)
![[FRA: FECR LNG export by rail & Brightline, Cecile Scofield @ Martin BOCC 2024-06-18, Fortress Energy Partners (FEP), Hialeah, Port Miami, Port Everglades, JAX]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-06-18--fra-lng-brightline-rr-martin-county-fl/fbmany.jpg)
![[Fortress Investment Group (FIG) affiliates exporting LNG to the world: Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) and New Fortress Energy (NFE)]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-06-07--fra-foia-response/many.jpg)