More Tropical Storm Irma effect. Received today, 12 September 2017:
Good morning, the meeting for the Regional Plan Workshop has been rescheduled from the 14th to:
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st, 2017
9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
SGRC Office
327 W Savannah, Ave.
Valdosta, GaSherry H. Davidson
Local Government Services Director
FullLogo
229-333-5277 ext.124
229-300-0923 cell
For suggestions from WWALS so far and more Continue reading
More about this in Live Oak this Thursday. Harriet Heywood, Citrus County Chronicle, 4 September 2017, Sierra Club Sabal Trail victory
On June 14, fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale began flowing through the Sabal Trail Pipeline despite a pending lawsuit Sierra Club had against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Seems the agency had failed to conduct an environmental impact study to consider the climate impacts of the project.
WWALS members Harriet Heywood and Maxine Connor holding the Suwannee Riverkeeper banner, Dunnellon, Florida, 28 January 2017. Picture by John S. Quarterman for WWALS.On Aug. 22, a federal appeals court denied the Southeast Market pipeline and Sabal Trail project approval, since FERC did not do the requisite climate study.
Turns out there are still Continue reading
To see Sabal Fail in inaction at Dunnellon, jump to The Dunnellon odorant leaks, where the pipeline stooges wrapped it in towels, sprayed a deodorant, and waited until morning. Really, according to the incident report from Marion County Fire Rescue. It doesn’t get better in this summary: none of the state or federal permitting or safety agencies did anything, leaving Marion County to deal with the situation unassisted.
If you want to know some background, see also Continue reading
Georgia Power (and Florida Power & Light and Jacksonville Electric Authority) created the coal ash; they can find ways to dispose of it safely on their own land. And if FPL is shutting down coal plants, how about shutting down its Unit 4 at Plant Scherer, which sends mercury into our Alapaha River. FPL bought into that unit decades ago with the same excuses it’s using for the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline now: shutting down a different generating plant, and alleged (now admitted false) need for more electricity.
The Georgia Power coal ash pond at Plant Scherer, seen here in this undated company photo, will be closed over the next three years. Fabian, Liz – Macon
Special to The [Macon] Telegraph
Kristina Torres, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, More safeguards could be considered for coal ash ponds in Georgia, Continue reading
The good news: no wastewater spills from Valdosta since January.
And Valdosta has a new Utilities Director: Darryl Muse, formerly of Ocala, Marion County, Florida.
While at Ocala, Muse handled converting septic tanks to city sewer
and a wastewater plant upgrade,
both to protect springs.
Maybe he will be more sympathetic to people downstream in Florida than
certain officials still with the City of Valdosta.
Having completed the installation of the new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant and the the force main at the Y on Gornto, Continue reading
Let’s add #StopETP National Day of Action to our Not so Fast, Sabal Trail: Suwannee and Flint Riverkeepers in Live Oak 2017-09-07.
#NoDAPL #NoSabal canoe by Bill Sagues; picture by Julie Bowand
on the Suwannee River 13 September 2017.
StopETP Coalition, National Day of Action,
Enough is enough. On September 8th and 9th we’re taking action across the country to #StopETP and defend indigenous rights and our water, land, air, and climate.
Sabal Trail is a partnership of Spectra Energy, NextEra, and Duke Energy. Remember who now owns the pipeline company part of that partnership, Spectra Energy: Continue reading
Update 2017-09-01: Add #StopETP Day of Action one day early to the same event in Live Oak.
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman will show four years of Sabal Fail, and the Three Stooges plumbing in Dunellon. WWALS member Cecile Scofield will talk about LNG export all over Florida. Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers will explain what the fossil fuel industry calls the Great Major Victory by Sierra Club, Flint Riverkeeper, and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, and what it means (so far as anyone knows). WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman will lay out what you can do to help stop Sabal Trail and reform FERC. Plus videos.
When: 6:30 PM, Thursday, September 7, 2017
Where: Live Oak Woman’s Club, 1308 11th St SW, Live Oak, FL 32064
Free: There is no admission fee and you do not have to be a member of WWALS to attend. Naturally, we do encourage you to join WWALS today. https://wwals.net/blog/donations/
Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper and Gretchen Quarterman, WWALS Executive Director
Update 2017-08-31: More maps and other information in the Phosphate Mining page.
Here’s a much better map:
Proposed Mining Areas, Application CPA 17-02, 2017-09-18
PDF of this map
I was confused by the mining areas map in the NCFRPC materials for the recent Union County Comprehensive Plan workshop Monday 21 August 2017. That map in the previous post appears to show almost all of Union County as mining areas. So I asked NCFRPC E.D. Ed Koons. He clarified: Continue reading
Update 2017-08-31: More maps and other information in the Phosphate Mining page.
Update 2017-08-30: Follow this link for a proposed new and much better mining areas map.
Here are copies of the original searchable and high resolution PDFs of the three main items presented by NCFRPC (a slide presentation, the evaluation amendments, and a draft mining text amendment) at the Union County Comprehensive Plan workshop Monday 21 August 2017.
Illustration A-X: Mining Areas on page A-25 of the
Evaluation Amendments.
PDF of this page.
Thanks to Scott R. Koons, Executive Director, North Centra Florida Regional Planning Council, for sending these documents in response to a public records request from Suwannee Riverkeeper.
The documents are (with links to the PDFs): Continue reading
“Once the court officially returns the matter to FERC, the pipeline should cease operations while FERC undertakes the new analysis,” wrote Elly Benson, lead attorney for the case Sierra Club just won against Sabal Trail.
She summed up: ”Instead of sacrificing our communities and environment to build unnecessary pipelines that “set up surefire profits” for pipeline companies at the expense of captive ratepayers, the focus should be on transitioning to clean renewable energy and energy efficiency—especially in the Sunshine State. Forcing federal agencies to grapple with the true climate impacts of dirty fossil fuel projects is a big step in the right direction.”
She leads off this fourth in a WWALS news roundup series (1, 2, 3) about that case, followed by Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper, another party to the case.
WWALS is not a party to that case and does not speak for the parties, so I can be a cheerleader for them. Shut it down! Let the sun rise!
How many pipelines do we want? None!
When do we want them? Never!
—WWALS at the Sabal Trail Suwannee River crossing, 15 August 2015.