Daily Archives: February 6, 2018

FERC requires Sabal Trail report mixing of Randy Dowdy’s subsoil and topsoil

Bad news doubled for the little pipeline that cried wolf: FERC did not file any certificates today for Sabal Trail, and Brooks County farmer Randy Dowdy is vindicated with a letter from FERC demanding a plan from Sabal Trail “within 20 days” (emphasis in the original) for “for investigating the actual extent of the topsoil and subsoil mixing on the Dowdy and Robinson properties and the reported mixing on the Jones property.”

Sabal Trail through Randy Dowdy fields and Little Creek, Google Map
Map: Google, of Sabal Trail pipeline through Randy Dowdy’s soybean fields, next to Little Creek, which runs into Okapilco Creek, into the Withlacoochee River, into the Suwannee, to the Gulf.

That letter refers to an inspection report of November 14, 2017, also filed by FERC today, that documents that “topsoil and subsoil mixing has occurred in agricultural areas during construction of Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC’s (Sabal Trail) Sabal Trail Pipeline Project.”

FERC has thus validated Continue reading →

Profit is not an emergency; Sabal Trail is crying wolf 2016-02-05

Profit is not an emergency, say landowners to FERC:

Sabal Trail hopes to cry wolf to get relief. No Emergency exists to warrant the relief they seek. No shortage or national energy crisis exists to warrant the relief that they seek.

Like WWALS and Sierra Club, GBA Associates point out the pipeline has been shut down much of the past six weeks. Like Sierra Club, the landowners cite federal law that requires at least thirty days after an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before issuing certificates, referring to the so-called Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) FERC filed yesterday after the WWALS motion to deny the Applicants’ cry of wolf.

Attorney Jonathan P. Waters cuts to the chase:

As the Circuit Court stated, “All of these pipelines, of course, are being built for a reason: to make a profit for their shareholders, and their shareholders’ shareholders.” This is the fact driving the Sabal motion.

Style, Letter

Less than two weeks ago, Sabal Trail partner and thus Applicant for the so-called “emergency” relief, Spectra Energy’s new owner Enbridge Energy of Alberta, Canada, told its shareholders and the public in a Quarterly Earnings Call that Enbridge is “the leading developer and operator of wind, solar, and battery storage projects.” While praising solar and wind power at length, that Earnings Call mentioned Sabal Trail only once, yet managed to contradict the public record twice in that one sentence.

Clearly FERC would be doing a favor to Enbridge’s shareholders by Continue reading →