Category Archives: Aquifer

The Floridan Aquifer is our main drinking water source under our entire WWALS watershed, east to south Carolina, west through Alabama to Mississippi, and under all of Florida.

Valdosta has a new Utilities Director

The good news: no wastewater spills from Valdosta since January. W-Darryl-Muse 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

#StopETP National Day of Action one day early in Live Oak 2017-09-07

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 #NoSabalTrail canoe
#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

Not so Fast, Sabal Trail: Suwannee and Flint Riverkeepers in Live Oak 2017-09-07

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/

Event: facebook, meetup

Gretchen Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition and Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper
Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper and Gretchen Quarterman, WWALS Executive Director

Videos: Continue reading

Union County Proposed Mining Areas 2017-08-30

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
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

Mining change drafts for Union County Comp. Plan 2017-08-21

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.

Mining Areas Map
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

From pipelines to renewable energy and efficiency –Sierra Club 2017-08-29

“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 it? Never!
How many pipelines do we want? None! When do we want them? Never! —WWALS at the Sabal Trail Suwannee River crossing, 15 August 2015.

WWALS at VSU Learning in Retirement 2017-08-31

Come ask Gretchen questions this Thursday morning, 10-11AM, at VSU’s Continuing Education building in midtown Valdosta.

When: 10AM to 11AM, Thursday, August 31, 2017

Where: VSU Continuing Education
903 N Patterson St, Valdosta, Georgia 31698

Event: facebook

Gretchen Quarterman, Executive Director, WWALS Watershed Coalition
Gretchen Quarterman speaking at a WWALS public meeting at VSU last spring

WWALS will be offering an interactive lecture at Valdosta State Learning in Retirement Fall Session. We will talk about the watershed of the Suwannee Basin, the Floridan Aquifer, current challenges, and how together we can make sure our water is swimmable, fishable, and drinkable.

Continue reading

HPS II Phosphate Mine proposal maps

Update 2017-08-31: More maps are in Issues menu in the Phosphate Mining page.

These are from the mine permit proposal, and are thus public record.

Location map

Location map
PDF

Detail map

Continue reading

This is wind in our sails and could be the end of Sabal Trail –Suwannee Riverkeeper in VDT 2017-08-24

Update 2017-08-29: Fourth news roundup: From pipelines to renewable energy and efficiency –Sierra Club 2017-08-29

“This is wind in our sails and could be the end of Sabal Trail,” Quarterman said, on the front page of the newspaper of record in the largest city in the Suwannee Basin, the Valdosta Daily Times.

Heading downstream
We got sails no one can see.
Suwannee Riverkeeper Vessel on the Suwannee River protesting Sabal Trail 2017-01-14

As Frank Jackalone says (see below), FERC has been getting away with murder. And now maybe they can’t.

Thomas Lynn, Valdosta Daily Times, 23 August 2017, Court decision to impact Sabal Trail pipeline, Continue reading

Pipeliners spooked by Sierra Club Major Landmark Victory; could shut down Sabal Trail –industry press

Update 2017-08-29: Fourth news roundup: From pipelines to renewable energy and efficiency –Sierra Club 2017-08-29

Update 2017-08-24: Third news roundup: This is wind in our sails and could be the end of Sabal Trail —Suwannee Riverkeeper in VDT 2017-08-24

OilPrice.com calls it “a critical decision yesterday, that could jeopardize the future for pipeline projects across the country”; pipeline companies could be “spooked” and “…the court ruling raises the unsettling possibility that the project may be forced to shut down — after billions were spent putting it in into service.” Other stories say this ‘huge’ win could also affect the Atlantic Sunrise, Penneast, Atlantic Coast, and Rover Pipelines, among others.

Children against Sabal Trail in Juno Beach, 2016-10-14
(L to R) Lea Fox, 4, Finn Ryder Purdy, 4, and Mason Dana, 7, of Lake Worth, sit with gas pipeline protesters outside of Florida Power and Light headquarters on Universe Boulevard in Juno Beach on October 14, 2016. The Sabal Trail Pipeline began supplying FPL’s plants in June. Groups opposed the pipeline that will start in Alabama and bring fracked gas through several counties in Florida’s springs and wetlands. (Richard Graulich / The Palm Beach Post)

Sad for FPL, Duke, Spectra, and all the other pipeline-building purveyors of fracked methane, maybe, but glad for all the landowners whose land was taken, local citizens who don’t want a 500+-mile IED next to their homes, schools, and waterways, and all people who want clean sun and wind energy, not more polluting fossil fuels.

It’s good the industry press agrees with what I told the VDT: “This is wind in our sails and could be the end of Sabal Trail.”

Here’s a news roundup, in addition to Continue reading