Category Archives: History

Cheryl A. LaFleur again FERC Acting Chairman 2017-01-26

President Trump just brushed aside FERC Chairman Norman Bay, one of the few FERC Commissioners to show any reservations about FERC’s rubberstamping of pipelines, and put Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur back once again as Acting Chairman. This while FERC has only three Commissions, when it’s supposed to have five, probably indicates FERC is going to be pushing ahead all pipeline projects. Of course, that’s not much different from what we’ve seen for years with Sabal Trail.

Johnathan Crawford and Jennifer A. Diouhy, Bloomberg Politics, 19 January 2017, Trump Picks LaFleur as Chairman of U.S. Energy Regulator, Sources Say, Continue reading →

International coverage of Sabal Trail opposition and Suwannee River water protectors –The Guardian 2017-01-24

For once a news story gives the last word to local water protectors, and it plays up our land and our water.

Richard Luscombe, The Guardian, 24 January 2017, Why a protest camp in Florida is being called the next Standing Rock: At first glance the quiet town of Live Oak seems an unlikely venue for a stand against Big Energy. But in recent weeks it’s become a centre of opposition,

A north Florida river that attracted the state’s first tourists a century before Walt Disney’s famous cartoon mouse is emerging at the centre of a fight against a contentious 515-mile natural gas pipeline that many are calling America’s next Standing Rock.

One section of the so-called Sabal Trail pipeline is being laid beneath the crystal waters of the Suwannee river, whose pure mineral springs were once fabled to cure anything from marital strife to gout.

The story quotes Continue reading →

Tornado crosses Sabal Trail unfinished pipeline last night: time to report violations 2017-01-20

It’s time to photograph and report all potential Sabal Trail violations after last night’s storm. Pipeline construction should stop until damage can be independently assessed. I-75 is shut down, and so should Sabal Trail be.

Thats not daylight The sky was lit by lightning all night as a tornado killed two people in Brooks County and more in Cook County, Georgia. In between is Sabal Trail’s pipeline path across Okapilco Creek. I-75 is closed. What did that tornado do to the unfinished pipeline? What will all this water and wind do to all the Sabal Trail pipe exposed on top of the ground? What about that frac-out and sinkhole at Sabal Trail’s Withlacoochee River drilling only a short way downstream? What about Sabal Trail’s pipe going into that now probably waterlogged ream under the Suwannee River, or the Withlacoochee River South? What about Continue reading →

Tornado crosses Sabal Trail unfinished pipeline: more corrosion? 2017-01-20

It’s time to photograph and report all potential Sabal Trail violations after last night’s storm. Pipeline construction should stop until damage can be independently assessed. I-75 is shut down, and so should Sabal Trail be.

Thats not daylight The sky was lit by lightning all night as a tornado killed two people in Brooks County and more in Cook County, Georgia. In between is Sabal Trail’s pipeline path across Okapilco Creek. I-75 is closed. What did that tornado do to the unfinished pipeline? What will all this water and wind do to all the Sabal Trail pipe exposed on top of the ground? What about that frac-out and sinkhole at Sabal Trail’s Withlacoochee River drilling only a short way downstream? What about Sabal Trail’s pipe going into that now probably waterlogged ream under the Suwannee River, or the Withlacoochee River South? What about Continue reading →

Videos: Suwannee Riverkeeper at Hahira Historical Society 2017-01-09

We all drink from straws into the same Floridan Aquifer, so we need to keep it clean and full, said WWALS acting Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman at the Hahira Historical Society, a very influential institution between the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers in Lowndes County, Georgia.

You can see in this video that she also explained we paddle upstream in the rainy season and downstream in summer, how WWALS added Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®, and what WWALS does and where, including Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper at Hahira Historical Society 2017-01-09

Monday WWALS acting Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman will talk about Front door agriculture and the recent Mott regrant to WWALS for conservation outreach, about the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, and about Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®, at the Hahira Historical Society, a very influential institution between the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers in Lowndes County, Georgia. Come on down and hear how you can be a steward for our waters as a WWALS member, a committee member, or even as a board member.

When: 7PM Monday, Januar 9th, 2017

Where: 102 South Church, Street, Hahira, GA 31632

Event: facebook

I used to go see Dr. Parrott and then Dr. Acree in that building, which is Continue reading →

Solar power versus Sabal Trail –Suwannee Riverkeeper in VDT 2017-01-08

Op-ed, Valdosta Daily Times, today, January 8th 2017:

John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper Sabal Trail and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection assured us there would be no problems drilling a 36-inch natural gas pipeline through the fragile karst limestone under the Suwannee River in Florida, yet already Sabal Trail’s pilot hole under the Withlacoochee River in Georgia caused a frac-out of drilling mud into the river and a sinkhole.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should halt construction and do a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

When I happened to fly over the Withlacoochee River frac-out, I also saw Continue reading →

Chris and Deanna Mericle win Sierra Club Cypress Award

WWALS members Deanna and Chris Mericle won an award for their activism against the Sabal Trail pipeline at the December 1st 2016 meeting of the Suwannee-St Johns Sierra Club Group.

Deanna Mericle, Chris Mericle, Maryvonne Devensky
Photo: Maryvonne Devensky, Vice Chair/Outings/ICO, Suwannee-St Johns Group Sierra Club

The Pelican, Sierra Club Florida, Fall 2016, Chapter Announces 2016 Award Recipients,

Congratulations to the following individuals who are being recognized with Chapter awards:

Cypress Award, Chris and Deanna Mericle, Suwannee St. Johns Group The couple is being honored for their diligent work to expose the faulty documentation of the Sabal Trail Pipeline LLC. Through their efforts, much information on the dangerous pipeline was brought to the attention of elected officials and the public.

The Mericles were the prime movers in getting Sabal Trail to move off the Withlacoochee River in Florida. In August 2014 Chris Mericle told the Hamilton BOCC he was trying not to be emotional. Continue reading →

Stop Sabal Trail fracked gas pipeline; invest in solar –John S. Quarterman in Citrus County Chronicle 2016-12-25

Here’s a Christmas present for pipeline opponents and solar power proponents.

John S. Quarterman John S. Quarterman, Citrus County Chronicle, other voices, 25 December 2016, Stop gas pipeline; invest in solar,

Sabal Trail and FDEP assured us there would be no problems drilling a 36-inch natural gas pipeline through the fragile karst limestone under the Suwannee River and the Withlacoochee (south) River in Florida, yet already Sabal Trail’s pilot hole under the Withlacoochee (north) River in Georgia caused a frac-out of drilling mud into the river and a sinkhole. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should halt construction and do a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

When I happened to fly over the Withlacoochee (north) River frac-out, I also saw Continue reading →

Sabal Trail is overbuilt Florida gas infrastructure

Even FPL admits Florida needs no new electricity until 2024, so what is Sabal Trail really for? Could it corporate profit and LNG export? Meanwhile, solar power prices keep going down as deployments rocket up.

Larry Buhl, DeSmogBlog, 9 December 2016, Sabal Trail Opponents Say Pipeline Is Part of Florida’s ‘Overbuilt’ Gas Infrastructure,

John Quarterman, president of [… WWALS] Watershed Coalition, recalled that Sabal Trail representatives, when pressed at public hearings, maintained that, as a pipeline company they had no idea where gas going through their pipes might end up, a claim that he and other activists find hard to believe.

Chris Pedersen, writing for the industry publication OilPrice.com in October 2014, wrote that Transco and Sabal Trail pipelines could be used to explore new overseas markets for Utica and Marcellus Shale gas.

Sabal Trail opponents say gas flowing through the Sabal Trail pipeline could easily end up at export terminals on the Florida coast. For example, Continue reading →