Category Archives: Agriculture

What WWALS Does: watershed advocacy from outings and water trails to wastewater and pipelines

Water trails, wastewater, corporate agriculture, solar power, fracking, and pipelines: WWALS works with many issues in many ways, as part of our advocacy for conservation and stewardship through education, awareness, environmental monitoring and activities such as our monthly paddle outings.

Here’s an introduction to WWALS for the many new members and even more people following WWALS on facebook and twitter.

WWALS Watershed Coalition, or WWALS for short, is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation about everything related to water in the watersheds Continue reading →

Bill Gates considered toxic to springs –Dan Hilliard

It’s not the Gates Foujndation: it’s his private investment arm. And Lakeland Sands is not the only LLC shell corp he’s using to buy up land in Suwannee, Hamilton, and Madison Counties, FL and Lowndes and Echols Counties, GA; see /issues/corpag/.

Dan Hilliard, Citrus County Chronicle, 31 July 2016, Bill Gates and the death of Florida’s iconic springs,

…while the degradation of South Florida waters receives national attention, contributions of big agriculture — exemplified by operations owned by Bill Gates — to the deterioration of North Florida waters have gone largely unnoticed.

Throughout North Florida, over-pumping of the Floridan aquifer and Continue reading →

Stop Florida ERC from raising water toxin levels 2016-07-26

Update 2022-12-23: EPA gives Florida 12 months to fix its water quality standards 2022-12-05.

FDEP could have stuck with U.S. EPA’s recomendations for water quality, but instead did a complicated statistical analysis to excuse raising the amounts of benzene and other toxins in Florida’s waters. Drinking, fishing, swimming: all are affected. The decision may be made 9AM this Tuesday morning, July 26th 2016, by the Environmental Regulation Commission (ERC) in Tallahassee. Please call or write its members, your newspaper or TV stations, or come to the meeting early for the demonstration and then attend (see below for details).

The ERC has cancelled all its other monthly meetings so far this year, yet Continue reading →

WWALS flies with Southwings

Many thanks to Southwings and pilot Roy Zimmer for the ride on Roy’s Rollercoaster. The wind did pick up a bit towards mid-day but that only made it more fun.

Chris Mericle, John S. Quarterman, Roy Zimmer of Southwings, Can Denizman

We saw what we flew to see. More on that later.

-jsq

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

Suwannee Farms, Lakeland Sands, and Bill Gates in Suwannee County, FL

Why does a farm need an industrial wastewater facility permit? WWALS got an email alert from FDEP about such a permit request for Suwannee Farms LLC on June 11th. A bit of digging shows it’s apparently now owned by Bill Gates, along with many more nearby acres in center pivot agriculture.

Permit: Water – Industrial Wastewater Facility Permit
Project Name: SUWANNE FARMS LLC
Location Id: FLA470031
Location Name: Suwanne Farms LLC
County: Suwannee
Application Number: FLA470031-005
For further information, please contact the Northeast District permitting office in Jacksonville at (904) 256-1700

Suwannee Farms has its own Continue reading →

Antioch Cemetery in a field, Jasper, FL

“Gone but not forgotten” say many of the epitaphs in Antioch Cemetery, stranded in the middle of a center pivot field near Jasper, Hamilton County, Florida. Who did this? Could it be Bill Gates?

The cemetery is at the end of SW 38 Trail, 30.4606571, -83.1870117, in a tiny 1.97 acre parcel 4736-000 owned by Continue reading →

It’s the most votes I’ve ever gotten on anything. –Neill Herring, about GA House against Sabal Trail easements

Pipeline invaders go home to Houston, signed, Georgia legislature.

Georgia Sierra Club’s Neill Herring and Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers at WWALS Watershed Conference in Tifton, 24 August 2013.

Kristi E. Swartz, EEnews, 28 March 2016, PIPELINES: Ga. lawmakers move to block 2 interstate projects,

ATLANTA — Georgia may be friendly to its own electric utility and natural gas companies, but the state Legislature sent a strong message last week to outside corporations that their pipelines are not welcome here.

Continue reading →