Pickens Plan District Group TN-09

Comment

Comment by Richard Scott Barden on October 17, 2009 at 4:10pm

i have another idea use the interstate highway system existing right of way"s and easements to build solar electrical generation and the new smart grid for the next 100 years. this way you do not need to purchase large volumes of land just use what we all ready have inplace and owned by the federal govt.. that runs to each populated city area and rural area.

Comment by Richard Scott Barden on October 17, 2009 at 2:32pm

Memphis Commercial Appea lNews Editorial: Inching toward a megadeal
Factory site purchase approved: Proponents in Haywood County appear to have overcome concerns about the project.
Posted October 4, 2009 at 12:11 a.m.
.EmailDiscussShare »
DiggFacebookLinkedIn MySpace PrintAAA.West Tennessee might be late to the table, but progress last week on a new industrial "megasite" in Haywood County could get the region a seat at the state's economic development feast.

The 3,836-acre project stretching north from the Haywood-Fayette County line, envisioned as the site for a large manufacturing facility, doesn't have unanimous approval throughout the region.

Environmental and quality-of-life questions are being raised. Partisan political bickering has caused some delay.

But the project won unanimous approval by the State Building Commission last week after proponents made a convincing case for the deal and appeared to have overcome at least some of the political opposition.

There is still some resistance in the neighborhood of the megasite, located midway between Memphis and Jackson off Interstate 40.

It will be important, as the project develops -- and assuming that a threatened lawsuit is not successful -- to make sure that residents of the nearby community of Fredonia are adequately buffered from any large industrial project on the site and otherwise protected from any ill effects.

Several residents of the historic community, which was established by newly freed slaves during the Civil War, traveled to Nashville this week to oppose the commission's approval of the $40 million farmland purchase.

They said they were laying the groundwork for a lawsuit over the state's failure to take their interests into consideration during the planning stages of the project.

Ultimately, however, proponents won commission approval to exercise options on the land before an Oct. 31 deadline, which will allow infrastructure design work to begin.

The site has been certified for industrial use by the Tennessee Valley Authority, just as similar sites near Chattanooga and Clarksville have been approved for a new Toyota auto assembly plant and a Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. facility for the production of polysilicon, a raw material used to manufacture solar cells and semiconductor devices.

Near the megasite the state also plans to use part of a $62.5 million economic stimulus grant to build a new 5-megawatt solar farm that would provide electrical power for the TVA grid.

The solar farm also would advance Gov. Phil Bredesen's aspirations to turn Tennessee into one of the nation's leading producers of renewable energy.

The big economic news for West Tennessee, however, is that there is a glimmer of hope, at least, that manufacturing could make a comeback in an area where thousands of factory jobs have been lost, unemployment continues to rise and the poverty rate is among the highest in the state.

Enthusiasm is high in Haywood County for the project, and there is no question that its benefits will spill into Fayette County and beyond.

It's an opportunity that the state would be negligent not to take advantage of. When the next big industrial development project comes to the South, West Tennessee needs to be ready.

Comment by Richard Scott Barden on June 29, 2009 at 11:46am

i have written my congressman mr. steve cohen,govenor phil bredesen, senators corker and alexander to join the pickens plan as far as i know they did not join.

look forward to helping anyway i can. appreciate your leadership on alternative energy.

richard

Comment by Mike Pickens on June 24, 2009 at 12:33pm

I am your new regional leader, please let me hear from you !

Comment by Richard Scott Barden on April 27, 2009 at 1:11pm

Subject : Green Power Switch Program for Residential and Commercial customers of mlgw and tva

Date : Sun, Apr 26, 2009 05:45 PM










i have investigated the green power switch program with mlgw and TVA from which we
get all of our electricity. please if you get a chance go to www.tva.com and click on
the green power switch program tab and check out residential or commercial if applicable
and see if this is something you may want to add to your utility bill each month. the
only benefit is that you support our power generating giant to build more solar, wind,
methane,
and other renewable energy platforms to produce electricity.

TVA has built 12 wind turbines over in east Tennessee where there is an abundance of wind
which is confirmed on t.Boone pickens wind chart for the united states. we have a several
solar installations with one in Memphis at the bridge builders building next to st. Jude
hospital downtown.(i plan on attending a open hose with a guided tour on may 28th in the
late afternoon and check it out, anyone interested in going with me and c.j. let me know)


by the way Linda and i were listening to the 102.3 FM oldies station out of Arkansas and
on the hourly news report the reporter announced a 300 million dollar wind turbine engine
plant in jonesboro, Arkansas. just announced on Friday.

i would think as the aged hydroelectric which the web site says is no longer reliable for
our long term needs that they (t.v.a.) start thinking researching and developing a bigger
position with wind and solar and go and talk to the people whom are already doing this
now not later but right now today in our country.

Linda and i recently attended the first downtown Memphis farmers market
and while i was standing back out of the crowd another guy was doing the same and we
struck up a conversation and i found out he his working on his p.h.d. in flood control
with the Army Corps of Engineers and while talking to him i pitched the idea of floating
hydroelectric barge's that would move up and down with the river stage and actually be a
two-fold generating platform for hydro electric and wind. he thought that it was a good
idea and said there are literally hundreds of locations along the river close to existing
power infrastructure to plug into. they also could be moved into different area's as
dictated by the corps.

he thought they would be interested in harnessing the mighty Mississippi for electric
power. (note: he said 90 million cubic feet of water pass Memphis every second.)

write me back if you like the green power switch program.

Richard

Comment by Renee Klink on April 3, 2009 at 11:29am

District members, we’re at the third and final day of the Virtual March, and today we are focusing on getting action on a bill to establish a 21st century transmission system and a National Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). As Boone points out, twenty-eight states now have an RES – which directs electric utilities to produce a set percentage of their power using alternative sources by a date certain.

Let’s make a great final push. Please use this link to contact Congress and the President again today and send a message to them about renewable energy! Thanks to all who have participated in the Virtual March this week!

Comment by Renee Klink on April 2, 2009 at 9:01am

Thanks to all of you who have taken action in the Virtual March so far! It’s Day Two, and the focus today is on oil imports -- the March 2009 numbers show we imported 65 percent of the oil we used -- so let’s contact our Members of Congress again today about reducing America’s dependency on foreign oil. You can do this by phone, of course, and we have also set up links to e-mail Congress or contact your members via Facebook and Twitter about today's issue.

When you’ve done this, please leave a note here on our group page to let other members know you’ve taken action, and tell us if you received any information or feedback from the members’ offices.

Also, if you are a business owner or part of an organization that would like to take part in the Virtual March, please let me know and we’ll recognize you as a partner on the Pickens Plan Virtual March page!

Comment by Renee Klink on April 1, 2009 at 1:14pm

The first day of the three-day Pickens Plan Virtual March on Washington is here!

Among other actions, I’m encouraging everyone to send a single e-mail today, tomorrow, and Friday. It’s a simple thing to do, but it has tremendous impact.

Click here to ask Congress and President Obama to support the NAT GAS Act of 2009.

Thank you for your support.

Comment by Renee Klink on March 4, 2009 at 10:40am

Hi district members, have you signed up for the Virtual March on Washington yet? It's April 1-3. We want to continue to have an impact on how the Administration formulates American energy policy, and the Army will focus its energy during those three days on e-mails, calls and faxes to every Member of Congress.

Click here for more information about the Virtual March! And let's all make the commitment to recruit 10 other people to take part, too.

Comment by Kevin Lienhard on March 4, 2009 at 8:39am

I want to open by saying what a great concept this is. And I also want to be candid about some things. We all know that conversation opens up the mind for new and innovative ideas, which is the best way to see how things might work. But correct me if I am wrong, I do not see an actual strategy forming from this. I know that T. Boone Pickens has a plan/dream of which he, himself is acting on. But to truly achieve from this concept there needs to be short term goals set. Goals that can be performed by anyone immediately. That will get things started. I, like many others, do not know what it is needed to go out there and do my part for the Picken’s Plan and think that it would be very beneficial to have some sort of outline as to what needs to be done. Keeping a list of thing achieved, and a list of things to achieve, and how they correlate to each other chronologically.

In my opinion we need to: (by State/Area)

First of all break the Picken’s Plan down into different forms of energy, and then see how the Picken’s Plan will work in these areas . (some examples)
a. Fuels for vehicles
1. Natural gas vehicles
2. Bio-Fuels
3. Hybrids
4. Electric
b. Wind energy
1. Programs by State
c. Solar energy
1. Programs by State

Second, identify a “to do list” for each form of energy on what is actually needed to make these sustainable, and how to take action.

Third, outline the personal capabilities needed to achieve each goal or task, (this way people can identify better how they can provide help), and allow people to commit to the task by asking for volunteers, or by voting on the best qualified person for the task.

Last, but not least, there needs to be an area on the Picken’s Plan website showing this information broken down by area. Possibly a map of the U.S. having each map indicating each specific form of energy, (wind, solar, fuels) . Then, all one would have to do is click on the map and see what it is that is needed and what it is that has been accomplished.

To me this would allow for action as well as words. This is such an important topic in these economic times, and could be a great way to take responsibility on a local level. We cannot wait for our politicians to take action, it is up to US. Thank you.

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last