In today’s Sunday April 10th 2016 Valdosta Daily Times:
The Georgia House on March 22nd by an unprecedented 34 ayes to 128 nays rejected easements for Sabal Trail
to drill our Withlacoochee and other Georgia Rivers. This was a historic victory by the Georgia Water Coalition, including Georgia Sierra Club, WWALS, Flint Riverkeeper, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, plus SpectraBusters, and thanks to all of you who called their state reps.
That same day, Continue reading
Update 10 April 2016: And Moultrie, GA April 15th.
Update 9 April 2016: And Albany, GA April 21st.
Sabal Trail plans to entice locals by offering jobs week after next in Ocala and Live Oak,
ignoring river easements slapped down hard by the Georgia legislature,
and both Hamilton and Suwannee Counties, Florida, inviting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come see what Sabal Trail didn’t tell FERC,
Sabal Trail admitted two years ago in Gilchrist County that it had already retained the main contractors for pipeline installation. Should a few temporary leftover jobs for local people be enough to outweigh taking local property by eminent domain and gouging under our rivers and through the most sensitive area of the Floridan Aquifer, source of all our drinking water?
Those are private venues, but they have public roads outside.
You can send a message to your member of Congress asking them to support
a petition from hundreds of organizations and even more individuals
asking them to:
Help secure an independent investigation by the Government Accountability Office into the abuses of power, process and law by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) when it comes to interstate natural gas pipelines and LNG export facilities. Write your congressional representative now to urge their help in securing this necessary independent review.
Abuses like Continue reading
Other counties in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama can follow this example from Hamilton County, now emulated by Suwannee County. Coming on the heels of the historic 34 aye to 128 nay defeat of Sabal Trail river easements in the Georgia legislature, this invading Spectra Energy pipeline has run into some hard shoals, with sinkholes ahead.
Commissioner Wesley Wainwright proposed to send the letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
asking them to come see for themselves and do an indepedent report,
pointedly adding he still supports the pipeline, but he thinks
the discrepencies revealed by
the gelogical report by local Practicing Geologist Dennis Price
were worth asking the Corps to investigate.
Wainwright was the only Suwannee County Commissioner who did not
go on the 18 Febuary 2016 hike led by Chris Mericle.
Nonetheless he reiterated in the meeting, as he had told the Suwannee Democrat,
that through his own investigations he had also determined there were sinkholes
far closer to Sabal Trail’s proposed pipeline path than Sabal Trail had said.
Wainwright asked for only Commissioners to speak, saying he didn’t want to get into another session like the previous extensive citizen discussion, apparently referring to the December Commission meeting in which the future of energy was discussed.
Yet Florida law requires citizens to be able to speak, and Continue reading
Sent this morning to the Suwannee Board of County Commissioners. They meet 6PM tonight, 5 April 2016, at the Suwannee County Judicial Annex, 218 Parshley St. SW, Live Oak, FL, and Sabal Trail is on the agenda.
Dear Chairman Bashaw and Commissioners,
Thank you for coming to see with your own eyes at Suwannee River State Park and Falmouth Spring some of what Sabal Trail did not tell FERC. As you know, after that site visit, the Hamilton Board of County Commissioners sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers inviting them to come see for themselves, as well.
Despite what Sabal Trail and FPL will tell you, pipelines are not inevitable.
As you may be aware, Continue reading
Sent 5 April 20156. PDF.
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Continue readingOnce again, Suwannee County follows Hamilton County’s lead.
Carl McKinney, Suwannee Democrat, 1 April 2016, Suwannee County Commission to discuss Sabal Trail sinkholes,
At its next meeting, the commission will consider sending a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which must issue a permit for the pipeline project.
The letter would mimic one Hamilton County recently voted to send, said Suwannee County Commissioner Wesley Wainwright.
Wainwright asked Continue reading
Does FERC actually look at what counties and other people send it?
FERC made the figures illegible in its posting of
Dennis Price’s geology report
that Hamilton BOCC appended when it forwarded to FERC its
site visit request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
This reminds me of when FERC lost half of Dougherty County’s Sabal Trail resolution and just happened to lose page 3 of Bill Kendall’s letter, the page about lack of need, false pretense, and duress. Does FERC actually care what anybody thinks, other than the industries it “regulates” while they pay all its costs?
FERC Filing 28 March 2016, Accession Number 20160328-0091, “Correspondence from Board of County Commissioners of Hamilton, FL to U.S. Army Corp of Engineers re the Environmental Geology report under CP15-17.” Continue reading
