The Bell brothers, Flint Riverkeeper, and John S. Quarterman of WWALS
all against Sabal Trail in an Atlanta publication.
Come on down to the Suwannee River Tuesday near Jasper, FL
or to the Withlacoochee River between Quitman and Valdosta, GA 9AM Saturday Sep. 17th to see
for yourself what we’re protecting and to say your piece on video.
Gloria Tatum, Atlanta Progressive News, 12 September 2016, Proposed SabaL Gas Pipeline runs through aquifer, wetlands, sinkhole territory, Continue reading
Hahira, GA, September 6th 2016 — Two Georgia brothers are stuck with paying almost ten times as much in Sabal Trail’s legal fees as they spent defending their property against that invading fracked methane pipeline, even though FPL apparently admitted this year that all three of its 2013 excuses for that pipeline are no longer valid. Two federal agencies and numerous state agencies issued permits based on those excuses. Sabal Trail used those permits to get eminent domain, including to drill under rivers in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama and through the fragile limestone containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. It is time for this unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous boondoggle to be shut down and its $3 billion in FPL ratepayer money to be used for solar power in the Sunshine State.
James Bell, one of the brothers stuck with having to pay Sabal Trail attorney fees, says:
"First and foremost, this is a multi-billion dollar company that is for profit. In my personal opinion I don’t see how a private for-profit company should be allowed eminent domain. I don’t understand that. That makes no sense to me. I might could understand it if it was for the greater good of the country but this is not. And it is certainly not the federal government or the state government building some road or highway."
Florida Power & Light claimed Continue reading
Update 2017-04-28:
Sandhills and wildlife at Alapaha WMA
WWALS is gratified that people are contacting us about the WMA,
but we’re just reporting on it, we do not run it.
Contact information for the Alapaha WMA:
Greg Nelms,
Wildlife Biologist, Game Management,
Wildlife Resources Division, GA-DNR
(229) 426-5267 | M: (404) 985-6424
Update 2016-10-20: WMA check-in hunt does not count towards Georgia bag limit.
Update 2016-10-18: Video of Deserter Lake in the Alapaha WMA and hunting dates and bag limits.
Halfway between Tifton and Ocilla on the Alapaha River in Irwin County,
apparently announced only by a public hearing in July about hunting reglations:
the new 7,000-acre Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
There’s an information kiosk off of US 319. , with the sign-in kiosk and campground across the WMA:
from Ocilla take US 319 S, left onto Hawthorn Ln, right onto Palm Rd, right onto Farm Rd.
Update 2016-08-30: According to Greg Nelms, Wildlife Biologist, DNR, the main entrance will be off of US 319; there is already a WMA sign there. It’s not quite open yet; they’re still working on roads. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for September 30th. The first hunting season will be an archery hunt on October 1st; hunters can go in at noon the previous day to set up stands.
Here’s the announcement of the public hearing: GA DNR/Wildlife Resources Division/Game Management, 6 July 2016, Proposed Regulations for Alapaha River WMA; Public Hearing Scheduled,
The new regulations, probably adopted unchanged, and which seem to consist of dates and conditions for hunting seasons for various game animals, are online here.
Several maps are linked in for Continue reading
Update 2016-10-10: Going beyond the ones named in FERC’s commence order, this blog post includes maps for ALL RIVER CROSSINGS IN ALL THREE STATES!
Update 2016-10-10: All 527 of Sabal Trail’s April 2016 alignment maps are now available in small, big, huge, and PDF formats, courtesy of Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE): follow this link to the LAKE website.
Nevermind that
historic 128 to 34 Georgia House vote against river-drilling easements.
The Georgia Attorney General’s office declined to defend lawsuits in
county Superior Courts (including Lowndes County, GA), and judges gave Sabal Trail the easements.
Then the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued its permit.
So Thursday John Peconom of FERC told Sabal Trail to start drilling under
Georgia’s Chattahoochee,
Flint, Ochlockonee, and
Withlacoochee Rivers,
as well as
Hannahatchee Creek.
They avoided Okapilco Creek by Continue reading
WWALS and Suwannee-St Johns Group of Sierra Club Florida are cooperating on outings now, and Sierra Club Florida is holding a Rural Office opening in October.
Water trails, wastewater, corporate agriculture, solar power, fracking, and pipelines: WWALS works with many issues in many ways,
as part of our advocacy for conservation and stewardship through education, awareness, environmental monitoring and activities such as our monthly paddle outings.
Here’s an introduction to WWALS for the many new members and even more people following WWALS on facebook and twitter.
WWALS Watershed Coalition, or WWALS for short, is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation about everything related to water in the watersheds Continue reading
0.03 acres under the Withlacoochee River sold by the State of Georgia to Sabal Trail, operated by Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas, for $5,000, or $166666.66/acre.
That easement must be very valuable to Sabal Trail.
But it’s more valuable to us who live here and swim, fish, and boat on that river
and drink from the Floridan Aquifer.
If we’d known this was going on, some of us might have filed other documents in this case.
Also, I would have thought 666 once would have been enough.
Here are some things you can do to help stop this boondoggle, and background about why this pipeline is a bad idea when there are already more solar jobs than in oil and gas extraction, and Georgia is the fastest-growing U.S. solar market.
Here’s the judge’s final order (PDF), followed by the other court documents in this case: Continue reading
Sierra Club Campaign Organizer Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson has taken the Lake City pipe yard ball and run with it. Monday she got TV coverage at that illicit Sabal Trail storage yard for 36-inch fracked gas pipe, and today she’s called a press conference and protest there. Plus Sierra Club has filed two legal actions. Here’s how you can help.
Haley Wade, WCJB-TV, Gainesville, Florida, 15 August 2016, New pipeline has protestors,
There is something you can do: you can say no.
PDF FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hahira, Georgia, August 16th 2016 — There is no excuse for $3
billion down this rathole of a 20th century dying fossil fuel
industry now that there are more solar power jobs than in all of oil
and gas extraction. One federal permit Friday and another federal
go-ahead impending for the Sabal Trail invasion of private property
and wetlands in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama stiffens the resolve
of the rapidly expanding opposition. WWALS Watershed Coalition
(WWALS) has revealed
apparent wetlands violations and
federal rule violations by Spectra Energy, the Houston, Texas pipeline company
that wants
to gouge under our Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers,
risking our water supply for its profit. Sierra Club has vowed to
use
“all legal means necessary to stop this fracked gas
pipeline.” Opposition across Georgia continues as dozens of new
groups joined the fight
a week ago in Gainesville, Florida. News
Friday
of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) wetlands permit has
inflamed opposition across the country to this latest fossil fuel
land and water grab.
Last month WWALS reported to USACE and to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that Sabal Trail already has Continue reading
They didn’t even bother to fill in the year on the date, and “File with original letter”. Here’s what the Corps wrote (PDF) in response to Madison County’s request for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) about Sabal Trail.
File with
original letterDEPARTMENT or THE ARMY
JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT CORPS 0F ENGINEERS
POST OFFICE BOX 4970
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32232-0019July 29, 201
Reply to attention of
Regulatory Division
North Permits Branch
Jacksonville Permits Section
SAJ-2013-03030Madison Board of County Commissioners
Attn: Mr. Brian Kauffman, County Coordinator
Post Office Box 539
Madison, Florida 32341Dear Mr. Kauffman:
Please accept this correspondence as Continue reading