FERC and Sabal Trail at the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL

Filed with FERC 16 September 2014 as Report of Christopher J Mericle , On site meeting with local property owners, FERC and Sabal Trail at the proposed Withlacoochee river crossing Hamilton Co. Florida under PF14-1. Chris and Deanna Mericle are our local hosts for the WWALS outing at that same affected location 10 AM this Sunday, September 21st 2014. -jsq

9-10-14

Local property owners met with FERC and Sabal Trail to voice concerns with the proposed Natural Gas pipeline route where it crosses the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, Florida. We had a great turnout of local support. Also in attendance, supporting our cause, was David Brown, Florida Certified Geologist, Jessica Norfleet, Constituent Advocate representing U.S. Congressman Ted Yoho, and Louie Goodin, Hamilton Co. Coordinator representing Hamilton Co. Board of Commissioners.

600x300 John Peconom (center) Talking with Deanna & Chris Mericle, David Brown, and FERC Geologist Tony (1 of 2), in FERC and Sabal Trail at the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL, by Chris Mericle, for WWALS.net, 16 September 2014 Attendees for FERC included John Peconom, Project manager, James Martin, Chief-Gas Branch3 and at least 4 other people.

Sabal had over 10 people attending from all areas of expertise including Andrea Glover, public relations, and Greg Jones, Geologist.

There was discussion of alternate routes, safety, geologic concerns, and a host of other topics during a question and answer session, followed by a video presentation showing many of the springs and other features of the area. The Sabal Engineering team laid out the alternate route that they concentrating on, which avoids the Withlacoochee in Florida altogether. We then proceeded to tour the site to see some of the features first hand.

We came away from this meeting with a sense of accomplishment for the fact that Sabal was not proceeding at this site with any further investigation and was seriously looking at an alternate route to our east.  We are proud and grateful that in America, if you have a just cause and you speak up for it, you can be heard and make a difference.  

600x300 John Peconom (center) Talking with Deanna & Chris Mericle, David Brown, and FERC Geologist Tony (1 of 2), in FERC and Sabal Trail at the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL, by Chris Mericle, for WWALS.net, 16 September 2014600x300 John Peconom (center) Talking with Deanna & Chris Mericle, David Brown, and FERC Geologist Tony (2 of 2), in FERC and Sabal Trail at the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL, by Chris Mericle, for WWALS.net, 16 September 2014

John Peconom (center) Talking with Deanna &Chris Mericle, David Brown, and FERC Geologist Tony


Question and answer session


Video presentation


Morgan Spring overlook


Morgan Spring run overlook


Along the proposed route


Karst window adjacent to the proposed route.  Thank you to our photographer, Russ Tatum.