Category Archives: Pipeline

Norman Bay resigns, leaving FERC without a quorum 2017-01-26

After Trump bumped LaFleur over his head today, former FERC Chairman Norman Bay resigned from the Commission this same day. That leaves FERC with only 2 out of five Commission slots occupied. I would guess that means no quorum, although what does it matter? The FERC Commissioners only ever rejected one pipeline in thirty years.

His resignation letter is a six-page pat on his own back that never once mentions solar power, eminent domain, landowners, water, river, aquifer, or environment. His biggest brag is: Continue reading →

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 →

Walk for Water, Speak for the Springs 2017-01-28

With speakers from the far south of Florida (Tim Canova from Miami) and north (Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman) and everywhere between, you can come to Dunnellon, Florida, and walk to Rainbow Springs to hear and speak about the destruction the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline is wreaking right now less than half a mile from Dunnellon High School before it gouges under the other Withlacoochee (south) River from Marion County into Citrus County down to Crystal River, in addition to its main path down past Orlando which with Florida Southeast Connection sends bomb trucks and trains to Miami and Jacksonville.

When: 10:30 AM, Saturday, January 28, 2017

Where: 11012 Williams St, Dunnellon, FL 34432-8319

Event: facebook 11012 Williams St, Dunnellon, FL 34432-8319

Please sign Tim Canova’s peition to 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 →

Tallahassee: Hold Regulatory Agencies Accountable for Sabal Trail and FSC fracked gas pipelines 2017-01-23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Live Oak, FL, January 20, 2017 — You are invited to the Historic Florida State Capitol steps Tuesday January 23rd noon to 3:30 PM to hear principal guest speaker Karenna Gore and others Hold Regulatory Agencies Accountable. Metal dam John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®, will talk about how we all fought the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and its extension Florida Southeast Connection for the past three years. Deanna Mericle will talk about what her personal experiences of moving Sabal Trail off the Withlacoochee River in Florida and continuing the fight with WWALS Watershed Coalition through a legal case, WWALS vs. Sabal Trail & FDEP. Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, Sierra Club Campaign Organizer, will present an extensive list of complaints and violations. The festivities will include #FLEXIT, the Florida Statewide Bank Exit, and delivery of a statement to Governor Scott.

When: 12 Noon- 3:30 pm, Monday, January 23, 2017

Where: Florida State Historic Capital Steps
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida

Event: facebook

Below is Continue reading →

Sabal Trail red pipe going into the ground in Hamilton County, FL 2017-01-14

Sabal Trail pipe going into the ground, 30.3841030, -83.1753430 The day of action against Sabal Trail at the Suwannee River saw hundreds turn out on land, water, and in the air and got a lot of press, but Sabal Trail continued to pound pipe into the ground in Hamilton County, Florida, going under Suwannee River State Park (SRSP) and the Suwannee River.

On the WWALS website are photographs by Beth Gammie for WWALS from a Southwings flight piloted by Roy Zimmer, navigated by Can Denizman, January 14, 2017. You may reuse these pictures provided you cite the source: Beth Gammie for WWALS Watershed Coalition.

For where they were taken, see the WWALS Google Map.

Lynn Buchanan posted a facebook video taken from the woods of Suwannee River State Park.

Panorama, Sabal Trail pipe going into ground, Hamilton County, 30.4113889, -83.1652778

Continue reading →

CR 141 Sabal Trail Troy Access, Hamilton County, FL 2017-01-14

Are those two sinkholes at Sabal Trail’s Troy Access off CR 141 in Hamilton County, Florida, on the way to to under the Suwannee River? Only three Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies was light law enforcement by Saturday’s protest day standards. What about those other sinkholes just outside the pipeline easement?

NE to CR 141 Sabal Trail entrance with 3 Hamilton Co. Sheriff, 30.4164450, -83.1765850

NE to CR 141 Sabal Trail entrance with 3 Hamilton Co. Sheriff,

SE to CR 141 Sabal Trail Troy Access, 30.4171760, -83.1768130

Continue reading →