Here’s what I just sent Hamilton County Commissioners before their meeting tonight, 6PM Tuesday 15 March 2016, Room 112 Courthouse, 207 Northeast First Street, Jasper, Florida (PDF):

Re: Thanks for your efforts against the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous Sabal Trail pipeline

Dear Commissioners,

Thank you for your Resolution 2015-2 of March 3rd 2015 to support SB-166 and HB-169 to ban Fracking in the State of Florida. As you know, a bill in the Florida legislature that would have prohibited counties from banning fracking was defeated recently. But beware: Calhoun County, FL may see the Cholla Petroleum Company begin seismic testing any day now. And there is a shale gas basin underneath Hamilton County. http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=12546

Thank you for protecting our Withlacoochee River and the Floridan Aquifer with your Resolution No. 14-10 of August 19th 2014 asking Sabal Trail and FERC to move the pipeline off the Withlacoochee River in Florida. They did that, making you an inspiration to all of us. In Georgia, three more county resolutions and three city resolutions against Sabal Trail followed. Suwannee County recently passed a resolution against the Hildreth compressor station.

Sabal Trail is completely unnecessary now that solar power is cheaper, faster, and far cleaner and safer than natural gas. I’ve attached a graphical summary of a well-worked-out plan to power all of Florida with sun, wind, and water and nothing else. References for that plan by Stanford Professor Mark Z. Jacobson and his team of researchers are including in a fourth attachment, a packet of materials I have sent to fourteen counties down the pipeline path, all the way to Martin County. Much of those materials you will recognize, but some may be new to you.

As you know, Sabal Trail still wants to drill through Hamilton County and under the Suwannee River. As some of you saw February 18th at the river in Suwannee River State Park, Sabal Trail omitted from its filings with FERC many sinkholes along its proposed pipeline path. Here are some videos and pictures from that hike: /?p=17912

You may not be aware of the numerous sinkholes on the Sabal Trail pipeline path on the Wilkes property at CR 141 SW. Here’s a picture of some of them. That’s WWALS member Deanna Mericle in the picture for scale. I believe she and WWALS board member Chris Mericle will be at your meeting tonight. They can tell you what they saw.

What you do is watched throughout Florida. I’ve attached an appeal to you from a WWALS member Cecile Scofield, who is a Martin County landowner at the far end of the pipeline chain of Sabal Trail and Florida Southeast Connection. She informs you about the several liquid natural gas (LNG) export operations already approved there.

She attached an excerpt from testimony to Congress by someone who actually favors natural gas for industry. Even that person, Daniel J. Weiss, notes that liquid natural gas (LNG) export would drive up domestic natural gas prices. Given that Florida already gets 60% of its electric power from such gas, that would be a very bad thing for Florida.

We all look forward to your action tonight.

For the rivers and the aquifer,
[/s]
John S. Quarterman, President

Attachments:

• Solutions Project summary of sun, wind, and water to power everything in Florida
• Appeal from Cecile Scofield of Martin County, Florida
• Congressional testimony against LNG export by Daniel J. Weiss
• Packet sent to 14 county commissions down the pipeline path available at this link:
  /wp-content/themes/pianoblack/img//2016/03/2016-03-07-commissioner-packet.pdf

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

100% Florida p. 1: sun, wind, and water mix, jobs, efficiency

100% Florida p. 2: health, land, cost savings

Comment from Cecile Scofield, Palm City, FL: If your Commissioners cannot guarantee that not one cubic foot of natural gas from the Sabal Trail Transmission and Southeast Market Pipeline projects will be exported in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas, then they cannot in good conscience support these big energy pipeline projects.

I live in Martin County where we have Floridian Natural [Liquefied Natural Gas] Storage, Florida Power & Light, the Southeast Market Pipeline, and now Florida East Coast Railway that will be transporting LNG through our community headed for deep water ports throughout the state of Florida. 48 trucks a day loaded with LNG will be headed out of the Floridian facility alone. The potential for a catastrophic LNG accident in my neighborhood is likely. Please help protect my home and family.

Cecile
774-526-4738

Trade Implication of U.S. Energy Policy and the Export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
Testimony before the Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Trade
By Daniel J. Weiss | Thursday, April 24, 2014
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/report/2014/04/24/88506/trade-implication-of-u-s-energy-policy-and-the-export-of-liquefied-natural-gas-lng/

…Energy Information Administration (EIA) also found that natural gas exports will increase gas prices.

Increased natural gas exports lead to increased natural gas prices. Larger export levels lead to larger domestic price increases, while rapid increases in export levels lead to large initial price increases that moderate somewhat in a few years. Slower increases in export levels lead to more gradual price increases but eventually produce higher average prices during the decade between 2025 and 2035.

A price increase could have severe impacts on family budgets. EIA reports that the typical household spent an average of nearly $2,000—or 2.7 percent of their household income—on household energy fuels in 2012. The households in the lowest fifth income bracket spent more than twice this portion—6 percent—on household fuels.

Higher natural gas prices could hurt manufacturing

Lower natural gas prices have fueled the recent increase in U.S. manufacturing. “Fuel Fix,” a Hearst energy publication, reported in March that:

An ample supply of cheap natural gas has ignited a U.S. manufacturing surge projected to expand plant payrolls and drive demand for chemicals, machinery and steel through the end of the decade, according to a report released Thursday. Sinking natural gas prices … are linked to more than 196,000 new manufacturing jobs in major metropolitan areas and a $124 billion boost to sales for energy-intensive products like fabricated metals and plastics, according to a U.S. Conference of Mayors report on the nation’s industrial growth.

This growth is at risk if more LNG exports boost natural gas prices, as studies indicate. According to EIA, the industrial sector, which includes manufacturers that use natural gas as a feedstock, would experience a 28 percent price increase in direct natural gas costs between 2013 and 2020. The price boost would be more than a 50 percent increase between 2013 and 2030. LNG exports could reduce net job creation compared to using this gas for domestic manufacturing.

-jsq

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

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