A fourth Florida LNG export operation seeks approval, this one explicitly wanting to use methane from the Sabal Trail Transmission fracked methane pipeline. It’s on the divide between our Suwannee River Basin and the St Johns River Basin, where Jaxport is proposing to ship out liquid natural gas from Jacksonville. St Johns Riverkeeper and Our Santa Fe River beware.

The Sabal Trail pipeline itself was already proposed to cross three rivers in the Suwannee Basin: to cross the Withlacoochee River twice, to drill under the Suwannee River, and then under the Santa Fe River, leading to three Florida LNG export operations already authorized by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy. Now we learn there’s also an LNG export application in the Suwannee River Basin. This one, proposed by Strom, Inc., to locate in Starke, Florida, was submitted to FERC before the FERC Scoping Meetings for Sabal Trail completed, yet FERC never told any of the numerous attendees about it, even though quite a few people explicitly asked if the Sabal Trail methane was for export. Follow the link for details on this Strom, Inc. application.

Maybe a mile uphill from Alligator Creek, which flows into the New River, then the Santa Fe River, then the Suwannee River, then the Gulf of Mexico. Our Santa Fe River already knows about this.

St. Johns Riverkeeper should also beware. Strom’s Starke, FL location is also right on the divide beyond which water flows to the Atlantic past Jacksonville in the Lower St. Johns River Watershed. Specifically, it’s only about 20 miles from North Fork Black Creek, which flows into the St Johns River. Given that one of the already-permitted LNG export companies is Crowley Maritime’s Carib Energy, based in Jacksonville, and Jaxport is gearing up for LNG export, it’s safe to assume trucks or trains with LNG will be passing through the Lower St. Johns River Watershed on their way to Jacksonville.

-jsq

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