The Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) held their public, town-hall style meeting last night, which was well attended.  The Tallahassee Democrat reported over 100 people in the audience. 

 

Some very well informed people from the audience asked questions which supported their skepticism about the biomass project proposed by BG & E, and approved in FSU’s Campus Master Plan. 

 

Some of the people at the front table had done their homework and many of us in the audience shook our collective heads when some others spoke, wondering why they had been invited in the first place. 

 

The moderator, Marjorie Turnbull, did a commendable job in letting individuals have the floor without interruptions from either side. 

 

Lesson Learned: 

  • The process for siting a small energy producing plant in Florida appears to be inadequate to address the necessary health, environmental and community concerns. 
  • The implementation of the Campus Master Plan as an effective tool to allow universities, large land-holding institutions, to plan for growth and development outside the local planning process was not intended to adequately plan for something like a power plant siting in a residential neighborhood.  It was intended to plan for future land use including classrooms, housing, research facilities, infrastructure (including roads and the traffic it creates), conservation, recreation and open space, parking facilities and all other things normally associated with a university’s growth.  The 6C-21, Florida Administrative Code governs Campus Master Plans. https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ChapterHome.asp?Chapter=6C-21
  • Some of the Guest Panelists added no substantive information
  • Many residents and other interested audience participants did their homework before coming
  • The City of Tallahassee has studied alternative sources of energy, including solar, geothermal, wind, tidal and biomass, with emphasis on demand management and conservation. Solar PVE was determined not cost effective in today’s market, while solar thermal is considered cost effective.

 

The meeting started with a lengthy, overview of what is biomass by Ben Cowart, Department of Energy Services for the City of Tallahassee.  Here’s a clearer, shorter biomass 101 from Wikipedia. 

 

At the end of the meeting, it was confirmed by BG & E official, Glenn Farris, that the sources of the biomass to gasify in the proposed plant has not been secured as of yet.  [BiomassGasElectric, Inc.

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