The ant continues against the dinosaur this morning!
When: 10 AM Tuesday 20 October 2015
Where: Hamilton County Board of Commissioners Chambers,
207 NE First Street
Jasper, Florida 32052
What: WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP
Defending the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, the Floridan Aquifer, the Florida Springs Heartland, and our water, land, and air
against the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline
Remember: Continue reading
No minced words on the front page of Hamilton County, Florida’s daily newspaper: “Insanity”!
The online title was more sedate, but the story accurately recorded some of the polite outrage of the citizens who spoke to FERC against the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.
Among them were at least five WWALS members and many members of Our Santa Fe River.
Amber Vann, Suwannee Democrat, 7 October 2015, Locals speak out against gas pipeline,
One man, Rocky Stewart, explained Continue reading
“Water is our most precious commodity, not pipelines, not Sabal Trail,”, said
WWALS member
Alton Burns, and both
he and WWALS president
John S. Quarterman spoke twice, about safety, water, conflicts of interest, the Floridan Aquifer, lack of transparency, Okapilco Creek, the Withlacoochee River, and the Suwannee River, all of which Sabal Trail is trying to drill under.
Local landowners were the most blunt: the FERC process is
a farce
and
a hoax,
they said.
See for yourself in these
LAKE videos from Moultrie last night.
But it’s still important for you to come speak up, to be on the record, so the news media will hear, and so your neighbors will hear. The FERC meetings continue tonight in Valdosta and Continue reading
The FERC circus in Valdosta Wednesday, Kayaktivism on the Withlacoochee River Saturday, reprinting Alapaha River Water Trail brochures,
the new Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, and
WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FL-DEP in Jasper (or Live Oak) 19-22 October 2015:
these are some of the topics WWALS president John S. Quarterman will talk about on the air.
When: 8AM Wednesday October 30th 2015
Where: Continue reading
Update 2017-05-18: Salt water intrusion inland is worse than you think, including the “Apalachicola salinity feature” up to the GA-FL line and east through Lowndes County, with a special additional brackish Valdosta feature. See Revised Hydrogeologic Framework of the Floridan Aquifer System 2016-03.
Update 2016-02-22: Fixed URLs for DEP files.
Salt water and other solids are coming up in Florida wells far inland from the sea,
right up to the state line, and it probably doesn’t stop there.
The problem is worse on the coasts and in south Florida, but
north central Florida is not immune, judging by these
preliminary maps by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Likely culprits would seem to include overpumping. Continue reading
The closest FERC meeting is actually in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 September 2015. And remember, sinkholes don’t matter, says FERC.
Amber Vann, Jasper News, 24 September 2015,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Sabal’s proposed pipeline impact ‘less than significant’ on environment,
According to the EIS, “constructing and operating the Sabal Trail Project in South Georgia/North Florida could induce sinkhole development, alter spring characteristics and impact local groundwater flow and quality.” However, the study finds that Sabal Trail’s proposed impact minimization measures and construction methods would cause the project to not “significantly impact karst terrain, springs or the Floridian aquifer.”
The EIS goes on to state the Floridian aquifer is the “most productive aquifer Continue reading
The fracking that drives new pipelines was a crime until ten years ago, and it should be again: injecting poisons into the ground under our water supply was always a bad idea.
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson and Jim Tatum, Suwannee Democrat, 14 September 2015,
The FERC flexes its muscles on Sabal Trail,
The time frame is coming down to the wire as to Sabal Trail and its invasion of our riverbeds and springs systems. They have met with nothing but negative comments throughout Georgia and Florida. People have turned out in droves to express their dissent. In spite of this, they move onward with their plan to install a 36” pipeline under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, and through the center of this fragile spring system. Our springs heartland is a regional identity unlike any in the world, but vulnerable to developers and oil and gas companies.
Many environmental groups have been active in resisting. Our Santa Fe River Inc. was consistently Continue reading
People can request a hearing by the state of Georgia or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to stop GA-EPD or the USACE
from rubberstamping
Sabal Trail’s use of wetlands within 30 days from Friday.
USACE explicitly asks for public comments on
“cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest”,
unlike
FL-DEP’s attempts to narrow the issue.
Presumably this includes crossings of the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ochlockonee, and Withlacoochee Rivers in Georgia (and the Suwannee, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee (south) Rivers in Florida and other rivers in Alabama), although
this USACE Jacksonville office public notice
about the Clean Waters Act and the
Rivers and Harbors Act
doesn’t specify.
It was released Friday September 11th
just like the one USACE Mobile District released that same day on
Proposed Discharge of Sabal Trail Fill Material.
Apparently you can ask for a public hearing by USACE in Alabama or Florida
as well as in Georgia.
Here’s the Jacksonville USACE public notice: Continue reading
The main point:
“I’ve got an independent route: let’s cancel this pipeline, and the Sunshine State should go directly to solar power.”
Here’s the video: Continue reading
