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.

The state has turned its back on our own ability to regulate this industries. –Carlos Guillermo Smith on WFTV 2015-09-01

An Orlando TV station investigates the pipeline pushers and finds both them and Sabal Trail wanting, digging up some new evidence of apparent back-room collusion.

Christopher Heath, WFTV, 1 September 2015, 9 Investigates new Florida natural gas pipeline,

A third natural gas pipeline is in the works for Florida. But, even as the power companies pushing the plan tout the need for increased natural gas in the state, questions are being raised about the company actually building the pipeline.

The web version goes into PHMSA fines and Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc., Petitioners, vs. SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC and STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Respondents 2015-08-28

Filed 28 August 2015 (PDF). -jsq

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

STATE OF FLORIDA

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.,

Petitioners,

vs.

SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC and

STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION,

Respondents.

OGC Case No.: 15-0468

Petition for Administrative Hearing:

Florida Department of

Environmental Protection’s intent to issue Environmental Resource Permit

Petitioner:

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.

P.O. Box 88

Hahira, GA 31632

wwalswatershed@gmail.com

WWALS Watershed Coalition Florida Inc.
Chris and Deanna Mericle
(386) 938-5943 or (321) 431-3204 or (386) 855-5096
7712 SW 32^nd Lane
Jasper, FL 32052
mericle.deanna@gmail.com
cjmericle@gmail.com

Permit applicant: Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC.

400 Colonial Center Parkway, Suite 300

Lake Mary, FL 32746

Department Permit file number: 0328333-001

Counties affected by the permitted activity: Hamilton, Suwannee, Gilchrist, Alachua, Levy, Citrus, Marion, Sumter, Lake, Polk, Orange, Osceola. Affected counties represented by WWALS: Hamilton, Suwannee, Madison.

Date Petitioner became aware Continue reading →

Why is Florida DEP trusting this company with our valuable natural resources? –WWALS to FL-DEP in Florida Bulldog

The reporter quoted extensively from the WWALS amended petition, and got responses from Spectra Energy and the Florida governor’s office. Spectra claimed it’s safer than other pipeline companies, which is like saying one cigarette is safer than another. You know what’s safer? Stop smoking! And stop building pipelines: go straight to solar power for the Sunshine State.

Dan Christensen, Florida Bulldog, Pipeline foes ask DEP to deny key permit; Cite ‘conflict of interest’ by Gov. Scott,

Opponents of a proposed natural gas pipeline in North Florida are asking Florida regulators to reject the project, citing both dangers to the environment and a “conflict of interest” by the regulators’ boss, Gov. Rick Scott.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced in July its intention to award a crucial environmental permit and rights to drill beneath riverbeds that would allow Houston-based Spectra Energy (NYSE:SE) to construct the controversial, $3-billion Sabal Trail Transmission.

State records show Continue reading →

FSI Requests comprehensive groundwater nitrate sampling in Alachua and Gilchrist Counties

Not sure why FSI didn’t put this on their website, but here it is, both PDF and HTML below.

-jsq

FLORIDA SPRINGS INSTITUTE REQUESTS COMPREHENSIVE GROUNDWATER NITRATE SAMPLING IN ALACHUA AND GILCHRIST COUNTIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Robert Knight
Director,
Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute
386-462-1003

August 28, 2015, GAINESVILLE, FL — On Thursday, Dr. Robert Knight, Director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute called for a comprehensive, area-wide groundwater nitrate sampling effort by state and local governments, especially in the karst areas of Alachua and Gilchrist counties. Dr. Knight’s call for action comes after Continue reading →

Filing petition with Florida Friday against Sabal Trail

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 27th, 2015, Hahira — Continuing to oppose the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous invading Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline, WWALS Watershed Coalition will file Friday an amended petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FL-DEP) opposing that agency’s intent to issue a permit for Sabal Trail Transmission to bore its 36-inch pipeline from Hamilton County to Suwannee County under the Suwannee River in Florida.

Update 2015-08-28: Here is the amended petition filed today.

WWALS originally filed a petition on August 7th. FL-DEP denied that petition on August 14th, giving a list of reasons and fourteen days to amend. WWALS will file an amended petition at the end of that fortnight, on Friday August 28th. Numerous residents of Florida have become WWALS members, and some will be named in the new filing.

Deanna Mericle, of Hamilton County, Florida, notes, Continue reading →

Scott backs environmentally dubious pipeline from firm he invested in –Miami New Times

Adding a video from the Arkansas River pipeline geyser, another Miami paper picked up last week’s Florida Bulldog story.

Tim Elfrink, Miami New Times, 17 August 2015, Scott backs environmentally dubious pipeline from firm he invested in, Continue reading →

FL Gov. Scott’s blind trust isn’t opaque

Federal disclosure laws require revealing some information Florida’s blind trust law supposedly hides, and there are other cracks in that state law that let a reporter see some of what’s in Florida Governor Rick Scott’s blind trust, including last year that he owned stock in Spectra Energy and its subsidiary DCP Midstream Partners LP, as well as in Williams Co. and a flock of other pipeline and fossil fuel companies.

Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org, 19 August 2015, You don’t need X-ray vision to see through Gov. Rick Scott’s blind trust, Continue reading →

Miami Herald picked up Spectra accidents and ties to FL Gov. Scott

From Florida Bulldog to a daily with more than 140,000 circulation.

Dan Christensen, Miami Herald, 16 August 2015, Pipeline company with tie to Gov. Scott and state backing, has history of accidents,

Spectra Energy, the company that state environmental regulators say should be allowed to construct a 267-mile-long natural gas pipeline in North Florida, has a checkered history of accidents and violations of federal safety rules in the U.S. and Canada dating back decades.

FloridaBulldog.org reported last week Continue reading →

Spectra’s history of accidents and ties to FL Gov. Scott

Do we want to risk Sabal Trail’s fracked methane pipeline blowing out under the Suwannee or Withlacoochee Rivers like Spectra’s Texas Eastern Pipeline blew out under the Arkansas River in May? WWALS doesn’t, which is why we filed the petition to Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection asking them not to issue a permit for Sabal Trail.

The Little Rock blowout is one of several recent Spectra incidents Dan Christensen finds today in FloridaBulldog.org, Pipeline company with tie to Gov. Scott, and state backing, has history of accidents, Continue reading →

WWALS petition to FL DEP vs. Sabal Trail

This is the petition (PDF) WWALS filed Friday 7 Aug 2015 against FL-DEP’s intent to isue a permit for Sabal Trail to drill under the Suwannee River and otherwise destroy wetlands and add hazards for no benefit.

Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas also wants to drill the Sabal Trail pipeline under the Santa Fe River and the Withlacoochee south River (the one that flows from the Green Swamp to the Gulf). Sabal Trail also wants to drill under WWALS’ Withlacoochee River that flows into the Suwannee, but in Georgia, so that is not a topic of this petition.

Remember there are still plenty of things you can do to help stop this pipeline invader from destroying forests, fields, and streams, adding hazards for no benefit.

And you can come see where Sabal Trail proposes to cross the Suwannee this Saturday, August 15th, as we paddle down the river!