Tag Archives: Politics

Ask Florida Governor to veto HB 741 bad solar bill 2022-04-04

Floridians, please ask the governor to veto HB 741, which would gut rooftop solar power.

Here’s how to reach him:

(850) 717-9337

GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com

Office of Governor Ron DeSantis
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

[GismoPower solar carport roof]
GismoPower solar carport roof

Here’s why. Continue reading →

Last day to oppose HB 1150 Bad Neighbor Bill in Georgia legislature 2022-04-04

Please use this handy form: https://www.protectgeorgia.org/farm.html#/334.

[Hog CAFO manure lagoons. Photo: Kemp Burdette]
Hog CAFO manure lagoons. Photo: Kemp Burdette.

Jeff Amy, U.S. News & World Report via AP, April 1, 2022,

The Senate voted 31-23 for House Bill 1150, sending it back to the House for final approval of changes.

Today is Sine Die, the last day before the legislature adjourns until next year. So there’s no time for a conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of HB 1150. The House can only vote to approve the Senate version, or not. Continue reading →

Drainage built over that runs into Grand Bay @ LCC 2022-03-21

This morning the Lowndes County Commission considered and Tuesday evening will vote on letting a subdivision developer replace a detention pond with a built-on lot and some other detention area somewhere unspecified.

[Map: Little Viking Road to Grand Bay, ARWT]
Map: Little Viking Road to Grand Bay, in the WWALS map of the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).

The detention pond is marked by the red ellipse. The most likely drainage from there is where I drew the cyan line. It appears to go into Grand Bay. See below a closeup of the lot and a larger map of how Grand Bay drains into Grand Bay Creek, the Alapahoochee River, the Alapaha River, and then the Suwannee River on the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading →

Trash and 12-foot alligator at Valdosta City Council 2022-02-24

Mayor Scott James Matheson said he and Council had been discussing solutions to the trash problem, before last Thursday’s Valdosta City Council meeting. Afterwards he came outside and discussed that a bit more. Stay tuned.

There’s also a new Neighborhood Development and Community Protections Manager, Anetra Riley. Community Protections Manager is what they call Code Enforcement, so that is relevant to the trash problem. Continue reading →

Valdosta trash in creeks and rivers 2022-02-22

We even saw the Valdosta trash problem on the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle. One paddler fell in picking up trash, and two more collected a huge bag of trash in a canoe. I think those two live in a different county.

Maybe you’d like to come say a few words tonight to the Valdosta City Council. 5:30 PM, City Hall, 216 E. Central Ave., Valdosta, GA 31601.

The WWALS trash boom at Sugar Creek is showing some promise, but there need to be more of those and people dedicated to cleaning them out, plus something done about fast food parking lots upstream, including on Threemile Branch.

[Valdosta Trash on Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, Little River]
Valdosta Trash on Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, Little River

For all about the Valdosta trash situation, see: https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

SB

Remember the second boom we put across Sugar Creek? Here’s a report from the last day of January: Continue reading →

Georgia Okefenokee protection bill HB 1289 filed on Okefenokee Swamp Day 2022-02-08

On newly-proclaimed Okefenokee Swamp Day, a bipartisan bill to ban mining on Trail Ridge by the Okefenokee Swamp appeared in the Georgia legislature: HB 1289.

[Bill, Proclamation, Trail Ridge]
Bill, Proclamation, Trail Ridge

What You Can Do

You can ask Georgia Governor Kemp to get the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) to deny the permit request from Twin Pines Minerals, LLC, for a titanium dioxide strip mine within three miles of the Okefenokee Swamp, which is the headwaters of the St. Marys and Suwannee Rivers. Or ask your city or county government to pass a resolution supporting the Swamp and opposing the mine, as half a dozen have already done.

Or write directly to GA-EPD: TwinPines.Comment@dnr.ga.gov

Or use this convenient Georgia Water Coalition action alert form to ask your statehouse delegation to pass HB 1289 and to ask GA-EPD to deny the permits.

Why

Continue reading →

Bad Neighbor Bill, GA HB 1150, would let hog CAFOs into Georgia

Like its predecessor two years ago, this GA HB 1150 would allow only a year for anyone to sue if an industrial hog farm or other such problem opened next door. Despite not being able to name any frivolous farm nuisance suits, the bill’s backers claim preventing those is their purpose. Whatever their purpose, the practical effect of this bill would be to let North Carolina-style hog CAFOs into Georgia, polluting our air and water.

Please contact your Georgia statehouse delegation and ask them to stop HB 1150. Here is a way you can find out who that is: https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/

Christopher Quinn, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 2, 2022, Georgia farm legislative bill takes aim at property rights disputes,

The proposed legislation declares that any farm in operation for a year or more cannot be found by a court to be a nuisance. That added level of protection strips neighbors of their legal power to force a farm to correct a problem, such as creating overpowering odors from manure sludge ponds, opponents say.

Continue reading →

Sprawl in an aquifer recharge zone back on the Lowndes County Commission agenda 2022-02-08

The same proposed rezoning in Lowndes County that WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman spoke against in November will be back on the Lowndes County Commission agenda for a decision at 5:30 PM February 8, 2022.

That’s 5:30 PM, Tuesday, February 8, 2022, on the second floor at 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601.

Remember, this is upstream on the Little River from Florida and Brooks County Georgia, as well as Lowndes County. Because it’s a rezoning, anybody from anywhere can speak during the public hearing at that meeting. However, they will only allow a few people to speak for a few minutes.

So even better would be to send a written objection before the meeting to commissioner@lowndescounty.com. You can also try emailing the Commissioners individually, https://lowndescounty.com/directory.aspx?did=19 Beware that some of the Commissioners do not read their county email addresses, so best to also copy the County Clerk, belinda@lowndescounty.com.

Gretchen spoke against the new version of this rezoning (bigger lots) again Monday at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, this time pointing out that when community wells fail, their owners hand them over to the county, which puts the taxpayers on the hook for fixing them, so we don’t need any more community wells. A room full of opponents raised their hands at that meeting, and more than 300 signed a petition against the rezoning.

[Gretchen Quarterman at Planning Commission, aquifer recharge zone, sinkholes]
Gretchen Quarterman at Planning Commission, aquifer recharge zone, sinkholes

The subject property is also near some notorious sinkholes, the Myers Bluff Sinkhole on the Little River, and the Shiloh Road Sinkhole that fortunately did not take down that road or a nearby house. The Snake Nation Road Sinkhole, a bit farther south, forced the county to reroute that road to the tune of about half a million dollars. Continue reading →

Withdrawn but will return: subdivision in aquifer recharge zone near Little River, Lowndes County, GA @ LCC 2021-12-14

Update 2022-02-02: Sprawl in an aquifer recharge zone back on the Lowndes County Commission agenda 2022-02-08.

Update 2022-01-09: Cancelled: Lowndes County Commission Meetings 2022-01-10, so expect expect the contentious Miller Bridge Road subdivision that was withdrawn last time to be back with larger lot sizes at the January 24 and 25 Commission meetings.

The subdivision WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman spoke against at the November Planning Commission meeting was withdrawn before the December Lowndes County Commission meeting.

[Lowndes County Commission, Rezoning withdrawn temporarily, Aquifer recharge zone]
Lowndes County Commission, Rezoning withdrawn temporarily, Aquifer recharge zone

But the withdrawal letter said they would be back with a new plan by January 5th. The subject property near the Little River is still in an aquifer recharge zone, and far outside any appropriate Character Area in the Comprehensive Plan. Continue reading →

FPL opposes rooftop solar, deploys utility-scale solar 2021-12-20

FPL profits from deploying utilty-scale solar fields, but its executives and shareholders do not profit by home and business solar panels reducing need to generate power and reducing purchases of expensive mid-day electricity. So FPL opposes rooftop solar while bragging about being a world leader in solar energy.

FPL is regulated as a public utility, so you can demand the Florida legislature stop this bad bill. How about some solar financing instead?

[Rooftop vs. utilty-scale solar]
Rooftop vs. utilty-scale solar

Mary Ellen Klas for the Miami Herald and Mario Alejandro Ariza for Floodlight, 20 December 2021, Revealed: the Florida power company pushing legislation to slow rooftop solar; Florida Power & Light delivered bill text to a state lawmaker. Its parent company sent $10,000 to her campaign coffers,

The biggest power company in the US is pushing policy changes that would hamstring rooftop solar power in Florida, delivering legislation for a state lawmaker to introduce, according to records obtained by the Miami Herald and Floodlight.

Continue reading →