Category Archives: Pipeline

Notice of Hearing in Jasper, FL October 19-22 2015 for WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FL-DEP

WWALS will argue for conserving the Suwannee River, the Floridan Aquifer, and other wetlands of Florida against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline at this hearing in Jasper (or Live Oak). WWALS asked for Jasper in November because that’s in the middle of the affected landowners, while Sabal Trail and FL-DEP asked for Tallahassee in October because that’s where their offices are; it looks like the judge split the difference.

If you want to be a witness for WWALS, please contact us ASAP; time is very short. If you want to help financially, you can contribute to the IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign. Or become a member of WWALS.

Yesterday Administrative Law Judge Bram D. E. Canter ordered (PDF) for DOAH Case No. 15-4975: Continue reading →

GA-DNR should not give away easements to Sabal Trail –FrK, WWALS, GA Sierra Club

In addition, J. Mark Mobley, Jr. of Moultrie, Colquitt County, GA, is Vice Chair of the Land Committee that meets first. LTE If that Committee doesn’t recommend the Sabal Trail give-away, the full DNR board probably won’t vote on it. You can send the GA-DNR board members comments, or go to the meeting Wednesday morning 9AM in Atlanta. Meanwhile, this LTE (PDF) just went to the Albany Herald.

Jeff Sinyard represents southwest Georgia on the Board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. He is our voice on that very important and powerful Board.

Sabal Trail Pipeline needs easements granted by the DNR Board to pass under key southwest and south-central Georgia rivers and creeks. Elsewhere in Georgia, over to the east and on the coast, Governor Deal’s DOT recently blocked the use of eminent domain for a gas and diesel pipeline. The Governor does not have the same power over natural gas pipelines under Georgia law. However, the Governor’s DNR Board does have the power Continue reading →

Grant license agreements and permanent easements to Sabal Trail? GA-DNR 2015-09-23

Giving away state land rights under the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ochlockonee, and Withlacoochee Rivers Wednesday in Atlanta, Board give-away to Sabal Trail far from any of the rivers or counties affected, that’s what GA-DNR has on its agenda.

Land Committee – Tab D
Dwight Davis, Chairman
Members: Mobley, Vt Chairman, Bagwell, Evans, Jones, Leebern, Phelps, Sawhill, Shailendra

  1. Granting of Revocable License Agreements and Permanent Easements totaling 0.27± acres by the State Properties Commission and General Assembly to Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC to install and maintain a natural gas pipeline under navigable waters of the State, Stewart, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties

When, where, and who (PDF): Continue reading →

Proposed Sabal Trail River Permits –USACE and GA-EDP

An opportunity for more and different public hearings! Joint Public Notice The Withlacoochee River doesn’t even rate a mention, nor the Ochlockonee River. Nor any county other than Stewart, nevermind the ones that have passed resolutions against the Sabal Trail pipeline: Terrell, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties, Georgia and Hamilton County, Florida, plus the cities of Albany, Moultrie, and Valdosta, Georgia. This is the Savannah Army Corps of Engineers Public Notice, issued the same Friday September 11th 2015 as the ones from Mobile and Jacksonville, each slightly different.

So is that one, two, or four possible new public hearings? Continue reading →

WWALS in Albany, GA newspaper

Sabal Trail opposition aware across Georgia and Florida.

Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald, 13 September 2015, FERC Sabal Trail ruling comes amidst protest: Group holds fasting vigil outside federal agency’s offices,


Photo: TONY CASSADY, 31 May 2015, in Arkansas River pipeline blowout occurred on Sunday morning, cause still unknown, by Benjamin Hardy, Arkansas Blog, 3 June 2015

Meanwhile, in Florida an environmental group has filed a petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to stop development of the pipeline over concerns about the safety record of Spectra Energy, the Houston-based company that will build the pipeline. The group points to a May pipeline rupture under the Arkansas River that forced two miles of the river to be shut down after an estimated 3.9 million cubic feet of natural gas was released.

Nope, WWALS doesn’t want that Arkansas River rupture to be repeated under the Suwannee River in Florida, the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, or any other river. The reporter seems to have heard about WWALS via Continue reading →

GA-EPD plans to certify Sabal Trail within 30 days unless public comments; ditto USACE

People can request a hearing by the state of Georgia or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop GA-EPD or the USACE from rubberstamping Southeast Market Pipelines Project Overview Sabal Trail’s use of wetlands within 30 days from Friday. USACE explicitly asks for public comments on “cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest”, unlike FL-DEP’s attempts to narrow the issue. Presumably this includes crossings of the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ochlockonee, and Withlacoochee Rivers in Georgia (and the Suwannee, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee (south) Rivers in Florida and other rivers in Alabama), although this USACE Jacksonville office public notice about the Clean Waters Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act doesn’t specify. It was released Friday September 11th just like the one USACE Mobile District released that same day on Proposed Discharge of Sabal Trail Fill Material. Apparently you can ask for a public hearing by USACE in Alabama or Florida as well as in Georgia.

Here’s the Jacksonville USACE public notice: Continue reading →

Proposed Discharge of Sabal Trail Fill Material –U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Late on a Friday, in a USACE public notice:

Sabal Trail Project Overview The USACE has not verified the adequacy of the applicant’s avoidance and minimization statement at this time….

The USACE has not verified the adequacy of the applicant’s proposed off-site mitigation plan at this time.

After how many years has this Sabal Trail project been going on? And still no verification?

PUBLIC HEARING REQUESTS: Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider this application. Requests for public hearings shall state with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing.

How about as a reason somebody needs to examine Sabal Trail’s mitigation plans?

This Friday USACE release frequently mentions Continue reading →

Sabal Trail right in the middle of the most vulnerable area of the Floridan Aquifer –John S. Quarterman for WWALS on Chris Beckham radio show 2015-08-31

The main point:

“I’ve got an independent route: let’s cancel this pipeline, and the Sunshine State should go directly to solar power.”

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Environment more important for economy than pipeline –Marihelen Wheeler

Marihelen Wheeler, Gainesville Sun, 9 September 2015, Stop the pipeline,

We must continue to resist the efforts of the Texas-based company, Spectra, to build the Sabal Trail pipeline through Alachua, Gilchrist, Suwannee, Levy and Marion counties.

The proposed pipeline will carry natural gas through a 36-inch pipe over 515 miles to serve Continue reading →

Sabal Trail in most vulnerable area of the Floridan Aquifer –Orlando Sentinel

Orlando is just as affected as the Suwannee River by risks of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline proposed by Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas. You can protest to FL-DEP, FERC, and your local, state, and federal elected and appointed officials, and to the news media.

Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel, 9 September 2015, Natural-gas pipeline to Florida draws environmental concerns,

The Sabal Trail Pipeline has drawn opposition from a Florida group affiliated with WWALS Watershed Coalition Inc., which is based in Georgia. A chief concern is that the pipeline could impact Florida waterways and the drinking-water supply, said John S. Quarterman, director of the Florida and Georgia WWALS groups.

This is according to evidence FL-DEP itself sent to FERC in March 2014, showing the proposed pipeline path going through the most vulnerable area of the Floridan Aquifer, which as you can see on the map they included continues down to Orlando. Continue reading →