Bigger type than the rest of the page, and in the editorial column position:
Haley Hyatt, who took these pictures, noticed that about how the
Moultrie Observer
printed the
WWALS op-ed Friday 1 August 2014, as
“Much opposition”.
So that’s at least two newspapers so far, the other being the Ocala StarBanner. Continue reading
The Moultrie Observer printed
the WWALS op-ed Friday 1 August 2014;
that’s still not online.
But the Ocala StarBanner has it online, Sunday 3 August 2014,
Water, property rights over pipeline profits.
Several more newspapers are considering it.
-jsq
Chris Mericle’s introducation says this video:
shows some of the springs, sinkholes, and other karst features that lie in close proximity to the proposed Sabal Trail gas pipeline where it crosses the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton and Madison County, Florida.
Including active sinkholes right next to the proposed pipeline route. And a karst window a couple of hundred feet from the pipeline.
Here’s the video:
The video is about the part of the Withlacoochee River where Continue reading
This is a long version of the op-ed sent to many newspapers in WWALS’ watersheds; there is also a short version. -jsq
Protesters drove
as far as nine hours to
Leesburg, GA July 10th, where Spectra Energy
lost its eminent domain demand for its Sabal Trail
36-inch, hundred-foot right-of-way natural gas pipeline,
and local landowners countersued.
Spectra hobbled back to Houston, Texas bound by strict conditions for
surveying that one Mitchell County property,
and bound to haunt south Georgia again for a trespass jury trial.
The ensuing flurry of newspaper op-eds by Spectra’s Andrea Grover plus a page-long Sabal Trail interview in the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT), didn’t mention numerous Sabal Trail downsides. Continue reading
This is an op-ed submission sent to many newspapers in WWALS’ watersheds and beyond. There is also a longer version. -jsq
Protesters drove
up to nine hours to
Leesburg, GA July 10th, where Spectra Energy
lost an eminent domain demand for its Sabal Trail
36-inch, hundred-foot right-of-way natural gas pipeline,
and local landowners countersued.
Spectra hobbled back to Houston, Texas, bound by strict conditions for
surveying that one property,
and bound to haunt south Georgia again for a trespass jury trial.
Spectra
bragged in op-eds about 50 public meetings,
never mentioning overwhelming public opposition
in
Moultrie,
Valdosta,
Clyattville,
Madison and elsewhere to
that gash through our fields, forests, and wetlands,
and
under our Withlacoochee River twice.
Sabal Trail’s air quality permit application with Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division met immediate Continue reading
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposes some new rules to
clarify Clean Water Act protection.
Some people and organizations have concerns about that,
and the EPA has now responded to those concerns.
Comment periods are still open for you to provide input directly to EPA
about the proposed rule.
Here’s the EPA’s Waters of the United States Proposed Rule. EPA says clarification of the Clean Water Act was requested by a broad range of state, tribal, and local government agencies and elected officials and NGOs, ranging from AASHTO to the National Association of State Foresters. One of the two examples EPA cites of state enforcement problems is on the Flint River in Georgia:
Recreation in Lake Blackshear, Georgia
Continue reading
Related to
population centers in the Suwannee River watershed,
someone asked,
“Do we need an interstate Suwannee Bioregion Coalition to guard the waters that feed into the Suwannee River?”
We’ve got pieces of it already cooperating to some extent in opposing
the Sabal Trail pipeline.
There are many other even larger issues that everyone in the Suwannee River
basin faces.
In south Georgia and north Florida we have Continue reading
Stroud Water Center wrote in their Upstream Newsletter, VOL. 2014, ISSUE 1, February 2014,
Scientists Set Buffer Width Minimum Standard.
A strip of forest along a stream channel, also called a riparian forest buffer, has been proposed and used for decades as a best management practice to protect streams by filtering out contaminants from agriculture and other land uses before they can enter them.Their benefits are many, but one benefit has dominated social and political conversations, and that is their role in preventing contaminants from entering streams.
A few years ago, Stroud Water Research Center proposed that riparian forest buffers also play another important role by Continue reading
Flint Riverkeeper has a handy legislative update
about water bills in the Georgia legislature, one bad one before committee today: SB 299.
This bill would actually do away with the riparian buffers that currently keep mud and sewage out of rivers and streams. It’s up for a vote today in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment. At least one Senator on that committee is in WWALS watersheds: Tyler Harper, (404) 463-5263, (404) 463-4161 fax, Ocilla, District 7, (229) 425-4840. You can contact him or your state Senator. Here are many reasons SB 299 is a bad bill.
More reasons, by
Camo Coalition, of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, starting with:
Siltation kills streams. Siltation can fill lakes making boat access difficult or impossible. Silt destroys the habitat of aquatic invertebrates—caddis flies, mayflies, stone flies, and such. Pollutants can kill fish and these aquatic animals directly. Destroy the food chain; destroy the fishery.
The Flint River, #2 on American Rivers’ most endangered rivers list, is the next watershed to the west of us. If this bill passes, when will they come for the waters of the Little River, too?
Here are some good bills that need support, with
descriptions from
Georgia Water Coalition’s current
legislative update, which covers the same bills as Flint Riverkeeper’s update.
Extending the Ban on Aquifer Storage and Recovery
Continue reading
As we could have guessed from the aquifer storage meeting last November, the water grab to ship to Atlanta HB 213 that failed in the Georgia House last year is back on the table this year, and it’s still a bad idea, especially with the Flint River #2 on American Rivers’ Most Endangered Rivers list.
Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper, wrote for the Atlanta Business Chronicle
10 January 2014,
Bill would fundamentally change Georgia water law,
In the Dec. 13, 2013, Atlanta Business Chronicle article “Bill could aid Georgia in water case,” Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Jud Turner was quoted saying those who object to his proposed Flint River legislation (SB 213) believe in a water swap “conspiracy theory.”
The controversial provision in SB 213 would authorize state investment in “projects to augment stream flows” and would then authorize the director to prohibit downstream property owners with permits from withdrawing “augmented” water (which is undefined). The duration of the prohibition on water withdrawals is undefined, and the bill is structured to allow private consulting companies …
-jsq
