Dear GPA Members,

The October 30th issue of Time magazine had an interesting article on the composition of U.S. population to mark the recent milestone of exceeding the 300 millionth American. The article provided excellent and simple graphics on race, income, etc. Among the graphics was the following link to a population density map of the U.S. The bottom of the page provides links to the entire article “America By the Numbers”. http://www.time.com/time/covers/20061030/where_we_live/

It is interesting to note that while the U.S. has exceeded 300 million, our population is less than 5% of the world population. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the U.S. currently uses roughly 25% of the world’s energy but will be exceeded by Asia around the year 2015 as the world will almost double current energy consumption by the year 2030. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/world.html

If you are interested in energy or climate change issues, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change just convened and released the following data:
Download PDF Document

Dan Reuter, AICP, President
Georgia Chapter
American Planning Association

December 5, 2006
The Community Planning Academy – Principles and Practice Workshop, Atlanta, GA
For more information, visit the event announcement.

December 5 – 7, 2006
Charrette Planner Certificate Program Roanoke, VA
for more info please visit their website at www.asla.org

December 6 – 9, 2006
NLC Congress of Cities,  Reno, NV
for more info please visit their website at www.nlc.org

December 7, 2006
GPA Board Meeting, TBA
for more info please email Tracy Dunnavant

December 12, 2006
IAP2 Georgia Chapter – Brown Bag Lunch Talks, Atlanta, GA
for more info please email sallison@jjg.com

January 5, 2007
Southface – Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable, Atlanta, GA
for more info please visit their website at www.southface.org

Visit the GPA Calendar of Events website page for a full listing...

District 8 – Update

by Paul Forgey, AICP, District 8 Board Member

GPA District 8, located in the southwestern corner of Georgia, will be the location of two new energy production facilities. The first, located in Mitchell County will be the largest ethanol plant in the southeast. When built, the facility will produce 100 million gallons of corn-based ethanol annually. In addition, the 143 million dollar plant will create several marketable by-products. These include distiller grains, which are used as animal feed and carbon dioxide. While there is some controversy surrounding the benefits of ethanol, the plant is likely to have a positive impact on the economy of the region. It will provide farmers additional markets for their crops and create new opportunities utilizing the by-products of the facility.

The second facility is a 1,200-megawatt coal plant in Early County. The plant will be Georgia’s first new coal-burning plant in 25 years. Upon completion, this will represent a nearly 2 billion-dollar investment. The project is expected to generate 1,300 jobs during construction with 120 permanent jobs after completion. In 2000, Early county had an unemployment rate of over 24%, making this project very appealing from an economic development standpoint. However, with an allowable annual release of nearly 16,000 tons of toxic materials, the coal plant is certainly more controversial than the ethanol facility.

Both of these projects have, and will continue to provide interesting lessons in planning. Because many of the counties in the region are plagued by persistent poverty, the economic benefits of the projects are needed and welcomed. It will take care however to balance this with the potential environmental and health risks.

For further information on either project, contact Paul Forgey at the Southwest Georgia Regional Development Center at 229-522-3552.