Category Archives: Pipeline

Hamilton Solar Farm by Duke Energy at Sabal Trail pipeline

Irony: Duke Energy is building a 75 megawatt solar farm right next to the Sabal Trail pipeline, of which Duke is a 7.5% owner.

Dust no more! The same place Chris Mericle reported having a dust storm little more than a week ago, last week he discovered Duke Energy is replacing the center pivots with solar panels.

SW 69th Drive and SW 40th Avenue, in Sabal Trail path digitized by WWALS.

The little red dot near the center of the above map is where Duke Energy says this solar farm will go. The red line is the Sabal Trail pipeline, next to the power line Duke will be using for the solar electricity. How about turn off the pipeline, Duke, and put solar panels along its right of way? As I computed using Sabal Trail’s own figures three and a half years ago, half that RoW acreage could generate just as much electricity from the sun as that pipeline would ever produce, and solar panel prices have gone down since then.

Duke Energy Florida, unknown date, Hamilton Solar Plant, Continue reading →

Bonus paddle to Spook Bridge on Withlacoochee River, 2017-11-11

After the One Mile Branch Cleanup at VSU, let’s head west on US 84 to the Withlacoochee River and paddle (or hike) downstream to Spook Bridge: if you’ve seen the locally-made movie, come see the bridge! In between we may see the river part of Wade Spring, and we will see the railroad bridge and the old, closed, Blue Springs road bridge, aka Spook Bridge. Then we will paddle (or hike) upstream to the Sabal Trail pipeline crossing, also less than a quarter mile. If you don’t want to do either, we will tell you how to get to Spook Bridge by land to greet us when we get there.

When: 1PM, Saturday, November 11, 2017

Put In: US 84, park between the bridges on the Lowndes County side.
We will climb down the steep rocky embankment between the bridges, seen from the Brooks County side in this picture:

Photo: John S. Quarterman, From Brooks County to Lowndes County, under the US 84 bridge, 85.2 on the Quitman Gauge, May 22, 2017.

Anyone in reasonable shape can climb it.

GPS: 30.793608, -83.451435

Bring: mud boots, plus the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Free: This outing is Free! And we recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup Continue reading →

Eric Draper from Audubon Florida to FL State Parks

Noah Valenstein, formerly SRWMD, now FDEP Secretary, has appointed Eric Draper of Audubon Florida to head Florida State Parks. The same Eric Draper who twice endorsed Sabal Trail in writing, and did nothing to stop Sabal Trail from drilling under the Suwannee, Santa Fe, or Withlacoochee (South) Rivers, nor under the Suwannee River State Park that he will now oversee.

Walton Outdoors, Blog, 2 November 2017, Audubon Florida’s former executive director Eric Draper now director of Florida State Parks,

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein today announced three key appointments to DEP’s leadership team, as part of its continued focus on the protection of Florida’s prized properties through the management of Florida’s world-renowned state park system and land acquisition and conservation. Eric Draper will join the DEP team as the Director of Florida State Parks, effective Nov. 28, and Callie DeHaven will serve as Interim Director of the Division of State Lands effective Nov. 27, subject to Governor and Cabinet confirmation. David Clark, who has previously served as Director of State Lands and has been acting Deputy Secretary of Land and Recreation, has officially been appointed Deputy Secretary.

Aerial west across FL 200, down Withlacoochee (South) River, across Sabal Trail Marion County drill site, and Halpata Tastanaki Preserve. Photo by Jim Tatum on WWALS Southwings flight 7 February 2017.

As Florida State Parks Director, Draper will Continue reading →

FERC alleged SEIS for Sabal Trail and Sierra Club Petition

The agency most responsible for pushing new greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) is “not aware of” and “could not find a suitable method to attribute discrete environmental effects to GHG emissions.” That epitomizes the lack of seriousness of the five-page Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) FERC issued last month for Sabal Trail and the rest of the Southeast Market Pipelines (SMP) Project. If “the ability to determine localized or regional impacts from GHGs by use of these models is not possible at this time,” FERC should take Sabal Trail out of service and stop approving any more pipelines until such models are possible.

Maybe the agency pushing the most GHG should create such a model if it does not exist.

Maybe it could at last get the history straight about which coal plants FPL claimed Sabal Trail was needed to “modernize”.

Until then, this alleged SEIS is junk and Sabal Trail should be shut down.

You can sign Sierra Club’s petition against this fake SEIS, even though FERC can’t be bothered to hold public hearings. If you need reasons, read on below.

Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post, 1 April 2014, FPL’s Riviera Beach plant goes online Tuesday.
It’s already built, even though in 2013 FPL said Sabal Trail was needed to do that.
Now FERC’s SEIS names different plants as excuses.

Fracked methane emissions divided by Solar Power zero emissions

The SEIS explicitly mentions solar power: Continue reading →

Rubio should do solar panels for jobs and resilience, not LNG

Senator Rubio’s small-scale LNG export bill risks more Florida sewage spills in the next hurricane while getting in the way of good solar jobs and reduced power bills for Floridians.

It seems like they never intended to listen. Two days after WWALS submitted comments at the deadline for the Department of Energy’s small-scale LNG exports, Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced legislation to implement that rule.

Solar power for the Sunshine State will generate jobs right where they’re needed, in rural planning, delivery, and installation. That will also reduce everybody’s power bills, while making Florida much more resilient to hurricanes.

Crowley Maritime is already exporting LNG from Jacksonville to Continue reading →

WWALS Against Small-Scale Natural Gas Exports

Submitted by WWALS in Public Comment Concerning Unregulated Small Scale LNG Processing Facilities.

Duke and two canals to the Gulf, Crystal River, FL, 28.9420800, -82.7818000

From: Wwals Watershed Coalition <wwalswatershed@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 4:21 PM
Subject: RIN 1901-AB43 and FE Docket No. 17-86-R
To: fergas@hq.doe.gov
Cc: WWALS Watershed Coalition <wwalswatershed@gmail.com>
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. Against Small-Scale Natural Gas Exports

The path to U.S. energy independence is to finish the conversion of energy production from obsolete fossil fuels and nuclear power to clean, safe, renewable, solar, wind, and water power. Any resources spent on LNG would be better spent on getting on with real renewable power.

Proponents of pipelines often claim new pipelines will reduce the amount of natural gas shipped by road or rail. The Sabal Trail pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, under the Withlacoochee, Suwannee, and Santa Fe Rivers, demonstrates that is not the case.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has already authorized: Continue reading →

Permit-less Sabal Trail pipeline risked by new sinkhole

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(See also PDF and previous blog post.)

Live Oak, FL, October 5, 2017 — Sabal Trail, operating without a permit, is at risk from a new sinkhole within 60 feet of its 36-inch diameter, high-pressure, fracked methane pipe under Suwannee River State Park (SRSP), between the Suwannee River and the drill site in Hamilton County. Such sinkholes are among the geological risks WWALS warned about that have happened in the fragile karst limestone containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. We were assured in October 2015 by Sabal Trail and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) that sinkholes and frac-outs would not happen or would be detected and fixed. They keep happening, and Sabal Trail has done nothing about this one. Sabal Trail should not even be continuing operations after the DC Circuit Court vacated its permit six weeks ago.

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman at new sinkhole in Suwannee River State Park, 2017-10-03.
Photo: Christopher J. Mericle, Chair, N. Florida Working Group, Suwannee-St. Johns Group, Sierra Club Florida.

In WWALS vs. Sabal Trail & FDEP (October 2015), FDEP’s one witness, Lisa Prather, said under oath (see https://wwals.net/blog/?p=27799):

“Well, the Suwannee River crossing doesn’t, in fact, have any impacts to an outstanding Florida water, because the directional drill commences in uplands and terminates in uplands. So there are no surface water impacts at that crossing that would affect the outstanding Florida water.”

“Well, any work within, or could have adverse effects on OFW, is considered.In this case, we determine that there would be no impacts to the OFW.”

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman says:

“Email to Ms. Prather’s address now comes back with an error message, while the rest of us are left Continue reading →

Sinkhole at Sabal Trail path through SRSP, Hamilton Co., FL 2017-10-03

Update 2017-10-05: Press Release.

Yesterday we found a fresh sinkhole within 60 feet of Sabal Trail’s pipe under Suwannee River State Park (SRSP), between the Suwannee River and the drill site in Hamilton County.

These pictures are by Christopher J. Mericle. He is a WWALS member, and also the Chair of the North Florida Working Group of the Suwannee-St. Johns Group, Sierra Club Florida.

You can see the sinkhole extends underground to the south, on the far side in this picture, towards the pipeline: Continue reading →

Videos: Not so Fast, Sabal Trail: Suwannee and Flint Riverkeepers in Live Oak 2017-09-07

Thursday before the storm, Suwannee and Flint Riverkeepers updated on Sabal Trail in Live Oak, about the recent court win against FERC, plus LNG export.

WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman explained Continue reading →

GA DNR responds about Sabal Trail at Okapilco Creek 2017-09-21

Not the answer I was looking for, but GA-EPD is still by far the most responsive agency regarding Sabal Trail.

Lisa Myler of GA-DNR called back Friday about 7PM saying Tom Fowler had been to the Okapilco Creek Sabal Trail sinkhole site I reported.

I called her back Monday, and after DNR’s web server came back up she forwarded Tom Fowler’s report today: Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.