Come help WWALS celebrate spring with 30,000 of our south Georgia and north Florida friends,
at the Azalea Festival in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
We will have information about our outings and advocacy (yes, including Valdosta wastewater),
and pictures for sale Gretchen took of our rivers,
plus a kayak raffle.
When:
10AM-6PM Saturday 9 March 2019
10AM-5PM Sunday 10 March 2019
In a March 3, 2016, letter, the Federal Railroad Administration
warned Florida East Coast Railway of the danger of transporting
Liquefied Natural Gas on the same tracks as high-speed passenger
rail. What could go wrong? Do the math…. If an LNG container is
breached, accidentally or intentionally, the liquid begins to warm,
resulting in a Flammable Vapor-Cloud that can be blown around by the
wind, igniting everything in its path. In Fernley, Nevada, the
Flammable Vapor-Cloud fire from a tanker truck loaded with 10,000
gallons of LNG appeared to have been caused by static electricity.
Flames shot 40 feet into the air and fire officials evacuated the
area. The fire burned for a couple of days, before eventually
burning itself out.
Photo: Howard Salmon, for Tahoe Daily Tribune, of Fernley, NV, LNG tanker truck fire, 2005-09-14
As
that facebook group says,
if you want to help stop fires like that from happening in Florida or Georgia,
you can contribute to the WWALS legal fund
for the pending case against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
for shirking its inland LNG oversight duty.
Update 2018-10-28:
Now at State Line Ramp!
Yes, we’ve moved downstream, to plenty of water, no deadfalls, plus shoals, in two states (Georgia and Florida) and four counties (Lowndes, Brooks, Madison, and Hamilton).
Hahira, GA, October 8, 2018 —
By popular demand at the Hahira Honeybee Festival,
WWALS has extended the deadline for early-bird $20 tickets through Saturday,
October 13, for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race, coming up Saturday, November 3, 2018.
This new event goes downstream and back again
on the Withlacoochee River and the west edge of
Valdosta, the largest city in the Suwannee River Basin, only a few miles
from Valdosta State University.
Someone from the Atlantic coast of Florida won our spring BIG Little River Paddle Race
this spring, and kayaks or canoes from everywhere are welcome at the Boomerang as well.
If you don’t have a boat, two outfitters so far have signed up to supply those.
There will be food and drink and music at this
WWALS fall paddling festival.
Boomerang paddlers will race from Langdale Park Boat Ramp,
just off of North Valdosta Road (US 41), down the Withlacoochee River to
Sugar Creek Landing, and back upstream.
If you don’t want to race, you can just paddle,
and if you don’t want to paddle upstream, you can take out onto Gornto Road.
Bobby’s four-year-old son finished our other paddle race, so paddlers
of all ages are welcome.
Thanks to
Steve Nichols for having me on
The Morning Drive with Steve Nichols, 105.9FM WVGA.
We talked about water trails, paddle races, and the Sabal Trail pipeline federal eminent domain jury trials,
which were being settled as we spoke.
Also we hear the Naylor Boat Ramp will be finished soon
by Lowndes County.
As I asked Steve about the three jury trials:
This is about federal eminent domain for the Sabal Trail pipeline.
SN: That’s right.
Now they already built the pipeline.
But for these landowners, they sued them for the eminent domain.
They do not have a written agreement with the landowners.
They have not paid them a cent.
But they already built the pipeline.
Does that sound right to you? Continue reading →
Thursday morning Suwannee Riverkeeper will
be on the
“top rated morning talk show in south Georgia”
with Steve Nichols,
talking about paddle outings, water trails, paddle races,
and the Sabal Trail pipeline federal eminent domain jury trials going on
right now in Valdosta.
In the spring we have the
BIG Little River Paddle Race at Reed Bingham State Park,
which next year will be April 27, 2019.
Plus we’re starting a fall paddle race,
WWALS Boomerang, from Langdale Park down to newly-rediscovered
Sugar Creek Landing (near the Y on Gornto Road) and back up.
The top rated morning talk show in south Georgia, Steve Nichols
offers both sides of every story from Berrien County to the Beltway,
and everywhere in between.
Should be fun. Do tune in.
More:
For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS calendar or
the
WWALS outings and events web page.
WWALS members also get an upcoming list in the Tannin Times newsletter.
Come hear good music this afternoon, new songs about the Suwannee,
Withlacoochee, and other rivers, said
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman
on the radio yesterday morning with
Scott James.
The M.C. for today’s finals of the
Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest,
WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, explained the raffles (kayak, swag,
and silent auction), and we mentioned
the buffet and cash bar at the
at the Salty Snapper, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602.
We listed the finalists in the
Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest,
and described the format: speeches (especially by Will Eason of the Salty Snapper), finalists play new songs about the rivers, judges score on music, lyrics, history, etc., and finally
the results of the raffles, and the prizes.
We showed off the First Prize plaque, just handed to us by WWALS
Board Member Phil Hubbard, who made it.
Videos: Songwriting Contest on Scott James Radio 2018-06-22
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS),
Once festival season is over today, we noted we’ll get on with the programs WWALS fundraising pays for.
Such as
water quality testing: Continue reading →
How you can hear new songs about our rivers while munching on a buffet
with a cash bar at the
First Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest,
1-5PM this Saturday, June 23, 2018,
at the Salty Snapper, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602.
“Finalists will play, and will be judged. The prizes will be awarded, and of course the acknowledgment of the sponsors.”
Plus a buffet of snacks prepared by the Salty Snapper,
including some vegetarian,
all for $10 in advance online,
and there will be a silent auction and kayak raffle tickets.
Gretchen Quarterman was on the radio with Steve Nichols, WVGA 105.9FM
(I was scheduled, but the flu said otherwise; I’m better now).
Gretchen said you don’t need to write a song, just come listen
to the finals this Saturday afternoon, with
judges
Cindy Bear from Jacksonville,
Dan Crews from Live Oak, and
J.J. Rolle from Valdosta
Plus the Outings Committee has organized a paddle 9AM Saturday morning
from Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Landing,
just across the railroad tracks from the Salty Snapper,
so you can paddle to the songwriting contest.
Steve Nichols remarked:
“As a kid, I used to go down that stretch of the river with my friends.
When I say as a kid, I was in high school in the early eighties.
It would be fun for me to do that trip as a nostalgic trip,
and going back and look at that beautiful stretch of river right there.”
Gretchen said the water is high so probably there will be no dragging,
and the river is different every time.
She showed the metal Sheboggy Boat Ramp signs Phil made to sell
so people maybe won’t keep stealing them off the GDOT signposts
for their man cave or woman cave.
Videos: Gretchen Quarterman about Songwriting Contest on Steve Nichols radio 105.9FM WVGA 2018-06-18
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS).
I’ll be on the radio Friday morning; stay tuned for a post about that.
Tomorrow morning, 8:30AM, Tuesday, June 19, 2018,
I’ll be on the radio with Steve Nichols, 105.9FM,
talking about the
Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest
coming up 1-5PM, this Saturday, June 23, 2018 at the Salty Snapper, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602.
When Gretchen was on his show last month,
he said he wanted to hear more, so tomorrow morning it is.
Update 2022-07-26:
You can comment or intervene on the Rulemaking on small inland Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) facilities that WWALS and six co-signers got started with FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
We don’t need more methane leaks and we don’t need highly compressed explosive LNG trucks rolling down I-75 and I-10 with no environmental oversight and no safety plans.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, D.C., June 13, 2018 — WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) prepares to sue the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for shirking its legally-required oversight of inland liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals. “LNG trucks barrel down I-75 right by my old high
school in Lowndes County, Georgia,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, after meeting with WWALS’ attorneys in Washington, D.C.
“Those trucks from LNG terminals in Alabama and Georgia pass a technical college, a conference center, motels, homes, and businesses, going to I-10 for Jacksonville, Florida, where that LNG goes at least as far on ships as Puerto Rico.”
Since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2015 abdicated its jurisdictional duties under the Natural Gas Act to regulate the siting, construction, operation and maintenance of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) small-scale inland export facilities,
instead these facilities operate with basically no Federal oversight.
“I am greatly concerned that an LNG commercial project of this magnitude is not only planned, but that apparently has slipped through the cracks of local and federal regulators,”
said WWALS member Harriet Heywood of Citrus County, Florida.
At the ends of the Sabal Trail pipeline chain in Florida, trucks go out from half a dozen LNG export operations authorized by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy (FE). If any of those trucks wrecks, federal standard everyone should be evacuated half a mile downwind, including high schools and hospitals. Very few local emergency responders know this and fewer have appropriate emergency plans.
“The unintended consequences of FERC’s abdication of Congressional jurisdictional authority are mind-boggling,” said WWALS member Cecile Scofield of Palm City, Martin County, Florida,
“They include
Continue reading →
Vulnerability of LNG by Rail