Category Archives: River

GWC Dirty Dozen and Sabal Trail pipeline drilling mud leak on WALB 2016-11-16

People and news media turned out from Florida and Georgia at the Withlacoochee River US 84 bridge in cross-state-line solidarity about the Sabal Trail pipeline and its recent drilling mud leak. They heard the Georgia Water Coalition announce that Sabal Trail is, for the third year running, on the Dirty Dozen 2016.

Ashlyn Becton, WALB, 16 November 2016, Environmentalist raise awareness about Sabal Trail Pipeline,

Folks from North Florida and South Georgia held a protest at the Withlacoochee River Wednesday and listened to a news conference announcing the Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen.

The report highlights the worst offenses and greatest threats to Georgia’s bodies of water.

And the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline is on the GWC Dirty Dozen 2016, as Chattahoochee, Flint, Withlacoochee Rivers and Floridan Aquifer: Gas pipeline company, federal agency run roughshod over state, local residents property rights, with this What Must Be Done: Continue reading →

WWALS: “It did happen”, Sabal Trail: “inadvertent”, WUSF, Tallahassee

Do you think Sabal Trail’s excuse that it was “inadvertent” is enough? Come on down to the US 84 bridge 9:30 this morning, hear more, and have your say.

Turbidity curtains with human for scale (Chris Mericle) Nick Evans, WUSF, 14 November 2016, Drilling Mud Leak In South Georgia Raises New Sabal Trail Pipeline Concerns,

Water activists are raising the alarm over a South Georgia drilling leak in the Withlacoochee River. Sabal Trail is drilling beneath the river to build a more than 500-mile natural gas pipeline stretching from Alabama to Florida.

WWALS Watershed Coalition works to protect Continue reading →

Cook County Landing (GA 76) to Folsom Bridge (GA 122), Little River 20162017-01-14

Not a great boat ramp but public access it is. In January the water should be up like a year ago at this three-hour tour of the idyllic Little River between Brooks County and Cook and Lowndes Counties, Georgia. There should be no need to drag boats, like there was in July.

When: 10 AM Saturday January 14th 2017

Put In: Cook County Landing (GA 76) between Adel, Cook County and Barney, Brooks County, Georgia

GPS Coordinates: Continue reading →

GWC Dirty Dozen Press Conference at US 84 Withlacoochee River Bridge with tour of Sabal Trail HDD #NoDAPL #NoSabalTrail #WaterIsLife 2016-11-16

Update 2016-11-22:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Turbidity curtains Hahira GA, November 14th 2016 (updated with directions and detail Nov 15th) — WWALS is holding an in-person press conference at the US 84 Withlacoochee River bridge to hear and participate in the announcement Wednesday morning of the Georgia Water Coalition (GWC) Dirty Dozen 2016: a dozen of the worst threats to Georgia’s waters. WWALS will then offer a hike up the riverside to the Sabal Trail pipeline crossing location, where Sabal Trail leaked drilling mud leak up into the river.

Please arrive by 9:30 to be ready for the GWC teleconference at 10AM. On the phone call, details of the Dirty Dozen will be announced, with WWALS members assisting for one of them, and another also directly relevant to WWALS watersheds.

After the phone call, people from Florida and Georgia will have an opportunity to speak, because the Withlacoochee flows downstream into Florida, where Sabal Trail also plans to drill under the Suwannee River, as well as the Santa Fe, where 14 people got arrested recently protecting, and the other Withlacoochee (south) River. Let’s see a little cross-state-line solidarity against this unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous fracked methane pipeline boondoggle. Call your local press before you come, and bring signs.

When: 9:30 AM Wednesday November 16th 2016

Where: US 84 bridge, east side, between Quitman and Valdosta, GA, 30.793747, -83.450167
It’s in the median of a busy highway, so be careful.

Screenshot 2016-11-14 15-14-56 What: Press Conference for Georgia Water Coalition Dirty Dozen, with hike up the river.
It’s a rough hike, so come prepared with sturdy shoes and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.
Or just participate at the bridge. Bring signs if you’ve got them, or make them on the spot.
This is a completely peaceful nonviolent first-amendment press conference.

Event: facebook

Directions: from Live Oak or Gainesville, FL or farther south, or from Albany, Tifton, or Macon, GA or farther north, take I-75 Continue reading →

Sabal Trail still leaking drilling mud into the Withlacoochee River at US 84 in GA 2016-11-12

Update 2016-11-22:

Update 2016-11-14: GWC Dirty Dozen Press Conference at US 84 Bridge with tour of Sabal Trail HDD 2016-11-16

Steve Patterson, Jacksonville.com, 14 November 2016, Gas pipeline project headed to Suwannee River leaks into Georgia waterway; sparks environmental worries

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Turbidity curtains with human for scale (Chris Mericle) Hahira, GA, November 13th 2016 — Apparently Sabal Trail continues to leak drilling mud into the Withlacoochee River, three weeks after it admitted to GA-EPD that its pilot hole under the river had leaked up into the riverbed.

WWALS members Deanna and Chris Mericle went to the US 84 bridge between Quitman and Valdosta, Georgia, and walked up the river to the site, about 2000 feet upstream. You can clearly see the water inside Sabal Trail’s turbidity curtains is not the same color as the river water.

“I am so angry because this is what we said would happen and we were assured the rivers wouldn’t be affected because they were drilling under them. The head woman at FDEP said exactly that! We told them it was likely because of our karst geology and we got patronized and patted on the head. You can guarantee they will downplay it and just drill another hole. I am pissed,” said WWALS member Deanna Mericle, who drafted the WWALS petition for last year’s four-month legal case and three-day hearing in WWALS v Sabal Trail & FDEP. Continue reading →

Water Is Life Camp protecting Santa Fe River against Sabal Trail

It’s come to this: Protesters Arrested at Sabal Trail Construction Site, by Jim Tatum for Our Santa Fe River 13 November 2016, from Cindy Swirko, Gainesville Sun, 12 November 2016,

Protesters of the Sabal Trail pipeline were arrested at the Gilchrist County construction site Saturday, and opponents of the gas transmission line said protests will continue.

The Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office arrested 14 people, including one who had locked himself to a tanker truck that was delivering water needed for the construction, said Cara Jennings, a pipeline opponent.

The others who were arrested were on the roadside holding signs, she added.

Gilchrist County Sheriff car guarding Sabal Trail HDD site Jennings said the 14 remained Continue reading →

Sabal Trail Contractor Yard in Brooks County, GA 2016-11-10

Did Sabal Trail’s contractor have a permit to scrape off that topsoil in this contractor yard in Brooks County, GA? Are those bags of stuff the drilling mud Sabal Trail is leaking up into the Withlacoochee River only a few miles from there? Are those temporary buildings setting up for supplying Sabal Trail across all of Spread Three from Mitchell County, Georgia across the Suwannee River to Suwannee County, Florida?

Backhoe and materials

Troy Access Thanks to a WWALS ally for taking these pictures late Friday afternoon. The evening gloom seems appropriate.

The “Troy Access” sign presumably indicates Troy Construction, as in Pipeline News, March 2016, Sabal Trail Pipeline lands contractors,

“Troy Construction has been awarded a contract for spread three;”

Spread Three starts in Mitchell County and runs Continue reading →

Sacred Water Camp protecting the Suwannee River from Sabal Trail 2016-11-06

Gregory and Debra: Water is Life! Water is Life, at Sacred Water Camp, and everywhere else.

New logo and new location, now on the Suwannee River east of US 129 in Suwannee County, Florida. Last Sunday afternoon when we visited was a slow time for the camp.

Felipe, seated in the blue shirt, brought the bus and the cooking gear. Continue reading →

Pictures: Alapaha and Dead River Sinks 2016-11-06

the Alapaha River sink, 30.5855189, -83.0528064 A very scenic hike to some of the most unusual geological features in all of Florida: the Alapaha River Sink and the Dead River Sink. We walked over beds of 50-million-year-old fossilized oysters, above all our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. See many pictures and a few videos of the sights, and a google map of the sites.

Practicing Geologist Dennis Price led us by the scenic route on this hike, explaining the karst geology on display, which underlies all of north Florida and south Georgia, containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. Dennis and hike organizer Chris Mericle recommend making this very unusual area a state park.

The Alapaha River goes underground here unless it has a lot of water, which usually this time of year and right now it does not.

[Don't fall into the Devil's Den, 30.5855189, -83.0528064]
Don’t fall into the Devil’s Den, 30.5855189, -83.0528064

Update 2022-11-17: The Jennings Gauge read 61.70′ NAVD88.

Until recently nobody knew for sure Continue reading →

Drilling mud oozing up into the Withlacoochee River from Sabal Trail HDD

Update 2016-11-14: GWC Dirty Dozen Press Conference at US 84 Bridge with tour of Sabal Trail HDD 2016-11-16

Update 2016-11-13:Sabal Trail still leaking drilling mud into the Withlacoochee River at US 84 in GA 2016-11-12

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, GA, November 11th 2016 — Sabal Trail leaked drilling mud up from their HDD pilot hole into the Withlacoochee River. Turbidity curtains and black pipe from the north bank They knew this before WWALS asked two weeks ago what is that yellow thing in the river? They did not tell WWALS or the public that this thing they testified could not happen did happen. The evidence is in writing from Sabal Trail’s contractor to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

This wasn’t even the actual horizontal directional drilling (HDD) borehole: it was just the smaller pilot hole. What will happen to the Withlacoochee River (or nearby water wells) with the main borehole? What will happen to the Ochlockonee River west of Moultrie, GA? What will happen to the Santa Fe River, where Sabal Trail is drilling now, or the Suwannee River, where it will drill soon, both Outstanding Waters of Florida, supposed to have extra measures of environmental protection? What about the Tallapoosa, Chattahoochee, or the other Withlacoochee (south) River?

“Why should we accept any risk to our waters, or eminent domain to take our lands, for an unnecessary pipeline, now that Continue reading →