Reminder: the first leg of the Alapaha Quest has been rescheduled for Saturday, January 27, 2018, so see you at Sheboggy Landing then, not tomorrow.
However, if you want to get out in the cold this Saturday, January 6, 2018, other groups have two outings scheduled in the Suwannee River Basin: Alapaha Dead River Hike and Iche Nippy Dip Day.
Ichetucknee Springs State Park says: Continue reading
Here are links to the FERC-required daily informational postings of the parts of the Southeast Markets Pipeline Project (SMPP), Transco, Sabal Trail, and FSC, plus the other two big natural gas pipelines into Florida: FGT and Gulfstream. Can somebody point me at any Duke Energy Florida (DEF) power plant that is not being fed by FGT or Gulfstream, now that DEF is no longer listed by Sabal Trail as a customer? And since FSC only lists its Martin County power plant, where are all those coal plants supposedly already- or to-be-modernized?
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has a web page for Required Filers, which has a spreadsheet of Interstate Pipelines under the Natural Gas Act XLS updated 11/28/2017, but it’s incorrect, with the listing for Florida Southeast Connection going to the home page for NextEra Energy Resources. So, as usual, it’s necessary to do FERC’s job.
Informational Postings and map.
Operationally Available. Perhaps most interesting is Continue reading
Duke Energy Florida is no longer in the Customer Index in Sabal Trail’s FERC-required Informational Postings, as of January 1, 2018. Only Florida Power & Light is listed, still for 400,000 dekatherms per day. So what we’ve been saying since November appears to be true: Duke Energy Florida is no longer a Sabal Trail customer, which means there’s no excuse for Sabal Trail to have a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity, and FERC (or the D.C. Circuit Court) should revoke that permit.
Update 2018-01-05: Duke previously said it did NOT need Sabal Trail for the Crystal River power plant Duke is building, and in any case it could get the gas from Gulfstream or FGT if Sabal Trail failed, then Duke bought part of Sabal Trail, then Sabal Trail’s uncommitted capacity dropped by the same amount Duke was supposedly wanting, and now Duke is missing from Sabal Trail’s customer list. Plus most of Duke Energy Florida’s operational gas-fired power plants are being fed by FGT or Gulfstream, and apparently none from Sabal Trail.
Yet Sabal Trail today just ramped up nominated capacity above operationally available capacity. Where’s that gas going, Sabal Trail? Continue reading
Event: facebook.
Meeting Notice
WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting
2-4PM, Sunday, 14 January 2018
Wooden Nickel, 3269 Inner Perimeter Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602
Alapaha Quest, BIG Little River Paddle Race, songwriting contest, festivals, water trails, water quality monitoring, pipelines, phosphate mines, and more.
All WWALS members, especially committee members, are invited to attend, as is the general public.
All WWALS Board Members are expected to attend in person or by telephone.
The more done on the board list, the less time we’ll have to spend on them in this meeting.
Board Members:
John S. Quarterman (President, Chair PR, Watershed Issues, and Trails Committees, and Suwannee Riverkeeper®)*,
* Executive Committee
The agenda will follow closer to the date. If you’ve got something you want us to discuss or vote on, let us know. And come on down! The more the merrier.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
I-10 is closed in Florida, Georgia has declared a state of emergency, overpasses are closed, and a train derailed in Valdosta. Since nobody is used to it, this very unusual snow storm Grayson in south Georgia and north Florida is actually a big problem. Good thing we don’t have an outing scheduled for today, since the Suwannee Riverkeeper vessel is iced up.
Viewed from Gainesville, the storm stops at the state line, nevermind what the maps show: Continue reading
The manatees come in from the cold in February, to Manatee Springs; we’ll paddle from there 8.3 miles down the very wide Suwannee River to Fowlers Bluff, where we plan a water quality testing demo and possibly an oyster roast.
When: 9 AM, Saturday, February 24, 2018
Put In: Manatee Springs State Park, 11650 NW 115 St, Chiefland, FL 32626
Directions: at the end of S.R. 320, off U.S. 98, six miles west of Chiefland.
Take Out: Fowlers Bluff Ramp, 15597 NW 46th Lane, Chiefland, FL 32626. 29.396410, -83.026030
Free: This outing is Free! And we recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
Photo: Scotti Jay
A leisurely five mile paddle in about two and a half hours through a surprisingly wild section of the Withlacoochee River, much of it actually inside Valdosta, the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin, on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).
When: 9 AM, Saturday, March 3, 2018
Put In: Staten Road Landing, 4556 Staten Road, Valdosta, GA 31605, Lowndes County, GA. 7.1 miles north of downtown Valdosta. Beware: it’s a long rough dirt road access, then a scramble down the riverbank.
GPS: 30.9328, -83.28227
Take Out: Langdale Park Boat Ramp, 3781 N. Valdosta Rd., Valdosta, GA 31602, Lowndes County, GA.
Free: This outing is Free! And we recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
Map: VALORGIS.
White is Valdosta inside grey city limits, yellow is recharge zones for the Floridan Aquifer, green is Langdale Park.
We start in Lowndes County, cross over the county’s expanded sewer and water lines at Bay Branch (those lines head for Stafford-Wright Road). Then the City of Valdosta is on our left briefly before back to county both sides, and Sermons Branch (is that its real name?). Into a Floridan Aquifer recharge zone, passing on our right the Shadrick Sink, notorious for Continue reading
Update 2018-01-19: Rescheduled again, due to low water, to become a hike to the Dead River Sink, still on January 27, 2018.
Rescheduled to late January due to cold weather and low water: a long expert paddle to start the Alapaha Quest! Along the way we will pass Rowetown Church and the Willacoochee River Confluence as we paddle down the wild and exotic Alapaha River in the south Georgia winter. There will probably be many deadfalls, and unless the water is quite high, we probably will have to drag over or around them, so bring a rope for your boat.
When: 9AM Saturday, January 27, 2018
Put In: Sheboggy Landing at US 82, east of Alapaha, Berrien County, Georgia.
Take Out: GA 135 Atkinson near Willacoochee, GA in Atkinson County.
Price: This outing is free to all WWALS members, and $10 per vessel for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
Photo by Bret Wagenhorst 2017-06-03, of improved Sheboggy Landing.
Thanks to Berrien County Commission for funding the new concrete and road smoothing,
and thanks to Ben Warren, Berrien County Roads Superintendent, for doing the work.
Bring: a rope for dragging your boat over deadfalls, cold weather gear, including clothes that will stay warm if wet, and a change of dry clothes in a waterproof container. That’s in addition to the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup. The new outing date is after deer hunting season, so that’s a relief. Hunting will still be on for small game. That’s much less of a worry, but it wouldn’t hurt to wear hunting orange if you’ve got it.
Shuttle Distance: Continue reading