Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8A
i FORBYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, January SI, 19W
Ozone program gets new a name -
Partnership for a Smog-Free Georgia
The Voluntary Ozone Action
Program, a public-private initia
tive designed to reduce air pollu
tion, announced Jan. 21 the adop
tion of a new name as its second
season nears. Now known as the
Partnership for a Smog-Free
Georgia (PSG), the program
adopted the new name to indicate
a broader scope of purpose while
still addressing its primary goal of
reducing ground-level ozone and
smog in the metro Atlanta region.
The name
change also
means that,
starting in May ,
Smog Alert
Days will
replace last
year’s “Ozone
Action Day”
designation to
better reflect the air quality issues
that prevail in Atlanta and
Georgia. “Smog Alert Days” will
be declared when forecasters pro
ject that weather conditions will
be conducive to the formation of
ground-level ozone at concentra
tions exceeding federal standards.
Last year, there were 35 Ozone
Action Days and 22 actual
exceedances of the one-hour fed
eral standard for ozone.
“We want employers and the
public to recognize that they can
positively impact air quality
through individual and group
efforts, explained Jeane Pierce,
PSG coordinator for Georgia’s
Sales and use tax seminars scheduled
Annually conducted throughout
Georgia free of charge, the
Department of Revenue’s Sales
and Use Tax Division today
released its 1999 Taxpayer
Awareness Seminar Schedule.
Over the past decade, these sem
inars have traditionally proven to
be an effective method of educat
ing the public about the latest
changes in sales and use tax law,
local taxes, audit preparation and
other areas of interest. Following
is a list of seminar dates and loca
tions, and advance registration is
required. Taxpayers desiring fur
ther information or who would
like to register to attend a specific
seminar, are invited to call the
DOR’s Sales and Use Tax
Division in Atlanta at (404) 656-
4060.
Feb. 11: Valdosta State
Space needed for Roswell carrier annex
The U.S. Postal Service is seek
ing offers to purchase a site or an
existing building for a new carrier
annex in Roswell, acting
Postmaster Ken W. Wyrick
announced.
The preferred area of considera
tion is a corridor one mile wide,
1/2 mile north and 1/2 mile south
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Environmental Protection
Division. “This new identity bet
ter reflects the nature and goals of
our program - creating partner
ships - and foreshadows that in
the future, this program will reach
out to other parts of Georgia, not
just metro Atlanta.”
The Partnership for a Smog-Free
Georgia works to reduce high lev
els of smog during the peak ozone
season, May 1- Sept. 30 each
year, when concentrations of
This new identity
better reflects the
nature and goals
of our program.
99
es, which commit to encourage
actions among their employees to
reduce smog pollution.
Recommended smog reduction
actions focus on reducing the
amount of driving done by all
metro Atlantans. Employers are
asked to consider season-long or
daily actions such as encouraging
and/or subsidizing mass transit;
encouraging carpooling; offering
flextime or telecommuting
options; or deferring lawn mainte
nance and refueling of fleet vehi
cles until the “Smog Alert Day” is
over.
Ground-level ozone, an invisi
ble gas that can irritate and cause
University, Continuing Education
Auditorium, Valdosta; 8:30 a.m.-
5 p.m.
March 18: Albany State
University, James Pendergrast
Library Lecture Room (JPL 114),
Albany; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
April 7: Floyd Junior College,
Heritage Hall, Rome; 8:30 a.m.-5
p.m.
May 5 and 6: Kennesaw State
College, Burruss Building, Room
151, Kennesaw; 8:30 a.m.- 5 p.m.
June 16 and 17: DeKalb County
Administrative Building, Maloof
Auditorium, Decatur; 8:30 a.m.-5
p.m.
July 14 and 15: Savannah
Technical Institute, Whitebluff
Auditorium, Savannah; 8:30 a.m.-
5 p.m.
Aug. 4 and 5: Gwinnett Justice
Administrative Center,
of Crossville Road (Route 92),
bounded on the east by Alpharetta
Highway and on the west by
Bowen Road/Mountain Park
Road. The site size should contain
approximately 4-5 acres. To be
acceptable, an existing building
must contain approximately
26,074 square feet of net interior
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damage to the lungs, is the main
component of smog. Particulate
matter, another major component,
is the ingredient in smog that is
visible to the human eye. Ozone
levels have been measured in the
metro Atlanta region since 1980,
but this will be the first year that
fine particulate matter will be
measured. The metro Atlanta
region is categorized as a “seri
ous” area that does not meet fed
eral air quality standards for
ground-level ozone.
“The fact that ozone can be both
‘good’ up high above the Earth
but ‘bad’ down on the surface
where we breathe it confused our
audience in the past," explained
Pierce. “Now, by focusing on
smog - composed of both ozone
and particulate matter we hope
that people will better understand
the goal of the program: to reduce
air pollution that we know harms
our health, and to give all of us
cleaner air to breathe.”
The Partnership for a Smog-Free
Georgia is directed by the
Environmental Protection
Division in cooperation with five
other local agencies and organiza
tions. The mission of this volun
tary initiative is to reduce emis
sions and improve air quality in
the 13-county metro Atlanta
ozone nonattainment area. For
more information about PSG or to
become a PSG Partner, call (404)
363-7032 or visit the website at
www.voap.org.
smog are great
est and the
region has the
greatest diffi
culty meeting
federal air
quality stan
dards. The pro
gram partners
with business-
Auditorium, Lawrenceville; 8:30
a.m.-5 p.m.
Sept. 16: Macon State College,
Lecture Complex, Building C,
Room 104, Macon; 8:30 a.m.-5
p.m.
Oct. 7: Columbus State
University, Elizabeth Bradley
Turner Center for Continuing
Education, Auditorium,
Columbus; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Oct. 21: Russell Research
Center, Auditorium, 950 College
Station Road, Athens; 8:30 a.m. -
5 p.m.
Nov. 18: Tentative - West
Georgia College, Townsend
Center for Performing Arts,
Carrollton; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Dec. 1 and 2: Georgia Power
Building, 241 Ralph McGill
Blvd., Atlanta; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
space with loading dock, truck
maneuvering area and 186 park
ing spaces.
For information or to submit
proposals, contact Jerry Adkins,
Real Estate Specialist, Atlanta
FSO, 4000 DeKalb Tech Pkwy,
Suite 300, Atlanta, Ga. 30340-
2799, or phone (770) 454-0662.
Repairs
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Internet Hookup
Networking
GOVERNMENT
AGL from 1A
bought at the flat rate, but chose
not to. So if we have cold weath
er, they’re fine; if not, they’re
going to take a hit. That’s just
the speculative nature of busi
ness. But consumers shouldn’t be
penalized if the company specu
lated and lost.”
The sale and distribution of
natural gas to consumers has
long been a regulated industry.
But in the interest of dispelling
monopoly and encouraging com
petition and consumer choice,
Georgia became the first state to
pass a law giving residential cus
tomers the freedom to choose
their own natural gas provider.
McDonald says the rate
review was just a function of the
PSC’s role in easing the transi
tion to deregulation.
“When the General Assembly
passed Senate Bill 215, deregu
lating Atlanta Gas Company, it,
in its wisdom, included a safety
Ray’s election law bill out of committee,
may reach Senate floor vote next week
Sen. Billy Ray of Lawrenceville brought Senate
Bill 6 before the committee on State and Local
Government Operations Thursday.
“This bill will help us avoid a situation in the future
where a person attempts to follow the election law in
good faith only to be>thwarted by a technicality,”
Day said. “Now we can be sure that prospective can
didates are fully informed. It will also ensure the
authenticity of petitions circulated for any other pub
lic initiative.”
SB 6 is a bill designed to clarify the laws surround
ing the requirements for the listing of independent
candidates and pauper candidates on the
general election ballot, as well as clarify
laws surrounding petitions for the recall
of elected officials or for any other
endeavor. This bill is an expanded ver
sion of a bill proposed two weeks ago by
Ray. The previous version did not cover
recall petitions or pauper candidates.
In order for a prospective candidate to
obtain a ballot slot, he or she must peti
tion the signatures of 5 percent of the
citizens of the district in which he or she
is running. All petitions used for the
purpose of obtaining a ballot must be
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Our customers
have spoken loud
and dear.
valve whereby the Georgia PSC
would have an opportunity to go
back and regulate the company
until they were out of the com
modity sales business,” said
McDonald. “We invoked that
when these billing problems
were occurring.
“At the same time, we can’t
force the timing,” he added. “It
has to be agreed upon between
the parties and it is to Atlanta
Gas Light’s credit that they
reached agreement and did not
forestall the process through
what potentially could have gone
notarized to be official, and the circulator must
swear to the fact that all signatures on the petition
are genuine and that there are no false names. This
measure, if enacted, would prohibit any circulator of
a petition from also notarizing that petition.
This requirement has not yet been codified.
This bill is a response to an incident preceding the
1999 county commission election in Gwinnett
County in which Alan Gathercoal, a prospective can
didate, obtained a sufficient number of signatures
only to have most of the signatures rejected because
the petitions had been notarized by the circulators.
Ray
all the way to the Fulton County
Superior Court. We could have
been struggling with this prob
lem for many months.”
Paula Rosput, president of
AGLC, said, “Our customers
have spoken loud and clear. We
are returning to a price structure
based on actual usage of natural
gas. Customers will only pay for
what they use and starting now,
their bills will make sense
again.”
The public hearing previously
scheduled for Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. in
the PSC Hearing Room will not
be cancelled. Consumers who
wish to make their sentiments
part of the official record may do
so then.
McDonald’s opinion on
deregulation?
“It’s gonna work, folks,” he
told his audience. “The transition
has had some bumps in the road,
but it’s really going to work.”
Gathercoal appealed the ruling and the
case is currently before the State
Supreme Court.
SB 6 passed unanimously through the
State and Local Government
Operations committee today. It will
likely come up for debate on the Door
of the Senate this coming Tuesday. Ray
said he was “pleased” with the bill’s
progress.
Ray represents the 48th district,
which includes parts of Fulton, Forsyth
and Gwinnett counties, including the
city of Lawrenceville.