Category Archives: Quantity

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc., Petitioners, vs. SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC and STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Respondents 2015-08-28

Filed 28 August 2015 (PDF). -jsq

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STATE OF FLORIDA

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

 

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.,

Petitioners,

 

vs.

 

SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC and

STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION,

Respondents.

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OGC Case No.: 15-0468

Petition for Administrative Hearing:

Florida Department of

Environmental Protection’s intent to issue Environmental Resource Permit

Petitioner:   

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.   

P.O. Box 88

Hahira, GA 31632

wwalswatershed@gmail.com

WWALS Watershed Coalition Florida Inc.
Chris and Deanna Mericle
(386) 938-5943 or (321) 431-3204 or (386) 855-5096
7712 SW 32nd Lane
Jasper, FL 32052
mericle.deanna@gmail.com
cjmericle@gmail.com

Stamped cover pagePermit applicant: Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC.

400 Colonial Center Parkway, Suite 300

Lake Mary, FL 32746

Department Permit file number: 0328333-001

Counties affected by the permitted activity: Hamilton, Suwannee, Gilchrist, Alachua, Levy, Citrus, Marion, Sumter, Lake, Polk, Orange, Osceola. Affected counties represented by WWALS: Hamilton, Suwannee, Madison.

Date Petitioner became aware Continue reading →

Filing petition with Florida Friday against Sabal Trail

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 27th, 2015, Hahira — Continuing to oppose the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous invading Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline, WWALS Watershed Coalition will file Friday an amended petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FL-DEP) opposing that agency’s intent to issue a permit for Sabal Trail Transmission to bore its 36-inch pipeline from Hamilton County to Suwannee County under the Suwannee River in Florida.

Update 2015-08-28: Here is the amended petition filed today.

WWALS originally filed a petition on August 7th. FL-DEP denied that petition on August 14th, giving a list of reasons and fourteen days to amend. WWALS will file an amended petition at the end of that fortnight, on Friday August 28th. Numerous residents of Florida have become WWALS members, and some will be named in the new filing.

Deanna Mericle, of Hamilton County, Florida, notes, Continue reading →

FL Gov. Scott’s blind trust isn’t opaque

Federal disclosure laws require revealing some information Florida’s blind trust law supposedly hides, and there are other cracks in that state law that let a reporter see some of what’s in Florida Governor Rick Scott’s blind trust, including last year that he owned stock in Spectra Energy and its subsidiary DCP Midstream Partners LP, as well as in Williams Co. and a flock of other pipeline and fossil fuel companies.

Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org, 19 August 2015, You don’t need X-ray vision to see through Gov. Rick Scott’s blind trust, Continue reading →

Back in Douglas: Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Council 2015-08-31

According to GA-DNR, 17 August 2015,

The Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Council will meet on Monday, August 31, 2015 at 10:00am in the meeting room of Aniston’s Restaurant, located at 1404 W. Baker Highway, Douglas, GA. Registration begins at 9:30am. The Council will be hearing presentations on surface water supply and agricultural water-use forecasting. The Council will also be discussing items for consideration in the revision and update of the 2011 Regional Water Plan.

Here are the LAKE videos of their June meeting and here is the announcement for their July meeting; the LAKE videos for that last one will be available soon.

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Bill Gates land purchases, Florida Springs Council, and Adams Spring

The Florida Springs Council (FSC) is concerned about Bill Gates, 300x200 Still, in Adams Spring and Bill Gates, by Chris Mericle, for WWALS.net, 13 August 2015 Lakeland Sands and others investing in Florida and south Georgia Land for industrial farming operations, reports Chris Mericle, WWALS delegate to FSC. FSC, like WWALS, would like to know more, and is trying to contact Bill Gates to start a dialog about sustainable farming practices.

For example, Chris reports:

300x225 Land farmed all the way around the clump of trees and spring., in Adams Spring and Bill Gates, by Chris Mericle, for WWALS.net, 13 August 2015 There is a 300 acre parcel of Lakeland Sands property here in Hamilton Co. that has been cleared of the forest that was there except for a small island of trees in the center. Within this island of trees is a true hydrogeological wonder. A beautiful spring boils from the ground, the spring pool is Continue reading →

AJC video: Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline Through 9 Counties

Most people are opposed to the Sabal Trail pipeline, as the Colquitt County landowner says. Drilling in our fragile karst limestone “could potentially carry any contamination down into our groundwater source”, as VSU Geology Prof. Don Thieme says. Why should we risk that for profit for companies from somewhere else and no benefit for here?

Atlanta Journal Constitution, Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline Through 9 Counties, Continue reading →

Please join the opposition to the Sabal Trail watershed invader –WWALS to SSRWPC

This letter is for today’s Monday 20 July 2015 SSRWPC meeting, at Aniston’s Restaurant, 1404 W. Baker Highway, Douglas, GA. See also the LAKE videos of last month’s SSRWPC meeting. -jsq

PDF

Dear Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council,

WWALS Watershed Coalition is the WATERKEEPER® Affiliate representing the watersheds of the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers, which are in the proposed paths of the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline through Lowndes, Brooks, and Colquitt Counties Georgia.

WWALS has long opposed that pipeline from Alabama to Florida, which is funded by NextEra Energy of Florida and Duke Energy of North Carolina for construction by Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas. WWALS is an intervenor against it with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on docket CP15-17.

Please ask FERC to deny a permit for Sabal Trail

Continue reading →

Typical USGS streamgage costs with example near Okapilco Creek

Update 2021-03-09: The funding cost per gauge has gone up, to $22,500, of which usually the USGS contributes about $900.

How much would it cost to fund the Okapilco Creek gage so it won’t go offline July 31st? 300x342 Pie: Percentages of funding in various activities, in Streamgage Operation and Maintenance Cost Evaluation, by U.S. Geological Survey, for WWALS.net, 1 June 2010 About $13,600/year, more or less, mostly for field and office labor and administration, with only 10% for the field equipment. Since this gage is located in Brooks County, Georgia, the most likely funding body (after USGS itself) would be the Brooks County Commission. Yes, it’s in WWALS watersheds; no, WWALS doesn’t plan to take on funding streamgages. If some funding organization appeared that wanted to pass the funds through WWALS, which is a 501(c)(3) educational institution, that would be possible. But this seems more like a government issue.

Costs

Continue reading →

Funding needed for Okapilco Creek gage

In USGS Groundwater Data for Georgia:

The following streamgage will be shut down on July 31, 2015 unless alternative funding can be found:

  • 02318700 Okapilco Creek at Georgia Highway 333, near Quitman, Georgia

For questions regarding this threatened streamgage, please contact Tony Gotvald at (678) 924-6648 or agotvald@usgs.gov.

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Douglas again for Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council 2015-07-1520

From Leigh Askew Elkins of UGA via GRN, same city as last month, different venue:

The Suwannee — Satilla Regional Water Council will convene on Monday, July 20, 2015 at 10:00am in the meeting room in Aniston’s Restaurant, 1404 W. Baker Highway, Douglas, GA. Registration will begin at 9:30am. Among other things, the Council will affirm its plans for enhancing inter-council planning and for engaging key implementing actors. The Council will also discuss its recommendations for plan revisions.

Seems like it’s time for them to say something about the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, and about the shale basin under our Floridan Aquifer. Maybe WWALS will send something to them about that.

-jsq