In this file photo, Lili Bartoletti and other protesters of the biomass plant line up at the corner of Park Avenue and Patterson Street Tuesday, April 19, 2011, prior to the Industrial Authority meeting in Valdosta.

After a recent drought of news regarding the proposed Wiregrass Power, LLC biomass facility, Industrial Authority chairman, Jerry Jennett, believes the facility will miss the deadline today for construction as part of the Economic Development Agreement between the company and Industrial Authority.

“I don’t think they even have a ground disturbance permit yet,” said Jennett. “Their development agreement ends June 1. That’s the end of the development agreement, that’s it. They have not asked us for a project extension and I’m pretty sure if they did ask for one, they’d get a no vote.”

The finality of Jennett’s statement brings a tumultuous chapter in Valdosta history to a close as the proposed biomass facility has received an enormous amount of backlash from the community in the last year for health concerns and fiscal viability.

Citizens of all ages and ethnicities have made numerous appearances at Industrial Authority, Valdosta City Council and Lowndes County Board of Commissioner meetings regularly to protest the proposed biomass facility.

“I feel like the only person that ever listened to us was Ashley Paulk (LCBC Chairman),” said Leigh Touchton, president of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chapter of the NAACP. “We believe the health of the entire community (would have been compromised) and that the group most affected by the emissions would have been the southside community. We believe everybody deserves to breathe clean air.”

“This was the most diverse group of people that I have ever seen for any citizen’s group in Valdosta,” said Touchton. “Karen and Michael Noll (co-founders of Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy) did a fantastic job educating the community. At least one of them has been at every local government meeting for the past year.”

Recently, Industrial Authority members and staff have remained quiet on the topic, leading the much of the public to believe the project was still on track.

In December, the Industrial Authority spent $17,534.36 bringing panelists from around the country to answer community concerns.

“The total amount of investment the Authority has made in due diligence for this project will be approximately $115,000. But when you look at the economic impact study and see how much is going to be returned into our community which is about $110 million and over 250 jobs, we think it’s a great investment,” said Allan Ricketts, VLCIA project manager in an interview with the Times back in February.

“I don’t think they’ve even sold the power,” said Jennett. “I don’t think that they have a project that will make money so they can borrow to fund it. I look at it as a manufacturing plant whose product is electricity. You have to be able to sell your product. With power demand way down, they haven’t been able to sell their output.”

The previous deadline for the proposed facility of April 1 was also missed by the company, which required a finalized engineering procurement construction contract, a power purchaser/transmission agreement and a wastewater/biosolids agreement.

“They’re good, honest people, as far as I’m concerned,” said Jennett. “They still have permits; I would say that until the permits run out with the federal and state governments, to never say never, but our development agreement with them is over. June 1st at midnight, it’s over.”

“I’m just glad it’s not going to happen and I think it’s something the community can be happy about because it’s a result of the community sticking together and not quitting,” said Angela Manning, pastor of New Life Ministries. “We have a lot of people in my church that have breathing problems, kids and adults. We know that this is a dangerous thing; the sick will die and the healthy will get sick.”