A nice cloudy day on the iconic Suwannee River, with a ghost bridge. Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman on the November 22nd 2015 WWALS Outing from Florida 6 to Cone Bridge Road.
Click on any picture for a bigger one. Continue reading
Category Archives: River
Draft TMDL for Suwannee River Basin
Downstream from Valdosta and Tifton on the Withlacoochee River, and downstream from Fitzgerald on the Willacoochee River: room for improvement in fecal coliform,
said the Georgia Environmental Protection Division in a draft report issued Friday.
The comment deadline is January 20th, 2016.
On a quick read, the various wastewater treatment plants do not seem to be the main source of the contamination.
Other likely culprits include leaking septic tanks, concentrated livestock operations, and landfills and land application sites, both closed and operating.
Also notice the proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline would cross most if not all of these TMDL locations in Lowndes County.
Would drilling under the Withlacoochee River and open cuts in these areas help the TMDL problem?
Here’s the NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF PROPOSED TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS FOR WATERS AND POLLUTANTS OF CONCERN IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA November 20, 2015, which includes: Continue reading
Bellville Bridge, Withlacoochee River, Madison to Hamilton County, Florida, put in for WWALS outing 2015-10-24
We saw the ruins in October; here’s a picture when it was still standing.
Picture from
Hamilton County, by
Marsanne Petty,
on
page 13 (Richard McCulley); found by Chris Mericle.
The caption reads: Continue reading
Not one hand was raised for Sabal Trail before Suwannee BOCC voted against it –Suwannee Democrat
Sabal Trail’s excuse was they didn’t know in advance, even though their attorneys sent a letter beforehand, and they didn’t show up in Albany, GA, either, with weeks of notice. Spectra Energy’s Andrea Grover told the newspaper some other things that also don’t match the public record.
Carl McKinney, Suwannee Democrat, 20 November 2015,
Dozens gather in Live Oak to oppose gas pipeline, compress station,
Not one hand raised among the dozens in the room when a county commissioner asked who came to support the proposed Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline which would run through three states and dissect Suwannee County if approved.
Tuesday evening, every parking space at the county’s judicial annex building was full as O’Brien residents, people from Live Oak and activists and experts from as far as New Orleans gathered at the county commission meeting to voice their opposition to the project.
The commission was voting on Continue reading
Video of citizens and Commission against Sabal Trail in Suwannee County, FL 2015-11-17
The Commissioners
unanimously voted for that
resolution
to ask Sabal Trail to move the Hildreth compressor station,
as you can see on
Suwannee County’s own video of that meeting.
First, several people spoke against the compressor station, including:
- Dave Shields (WWALS member), who moved to Suwannee County with his family to run an organic farm, only to discover a compressor station planned for upwind,
- Joe Peurrung, President and Owner, Security Safe, who hinted his $3 million company Continue reading
Old wooden Cone Bridge over the Suwannee River, takeout for WWALS outing 2015-11-22
We’ll float down the Suwannee River to this spot Sunday afternoon: come join us!
Picture from
Hamilton County, by
Marsanne Petty,
on
page 12; found by Chris Mericle.
WWALS informal outing on the Suwannee –Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman 2015-11-15
A nice Sunday afternoon from Suwannee Campsites to Suwannee River State Park.
WWALS held an informal outing for visitor Johanna deGraffenreid, Coastal Campaign Manager for Gulf Restoration Network, where she’s so newly hired she doesn’t have a picture on their staff page yet. You’ll be able to see her in action when Continue reading
Resolution to move Sabal Trail’s Hildreth Compressor Station passed by Suwannee County BOCC
They wanted to pass this resolution, already in the handouts at the beginning of the meeting,
without even waiting for citizen comments.
They did listen first to a few people who had signed up to
to talk about the compressor station,
including WWALS member David Shields, whose family has an organic farm and discovered they’d be downwind of the compressor station,
and Johanna deGraffenreid, the new Gulf Coast Campaign Coordinator for Gulf Restoration Network. Everybody else got to speak later in the meeting.
David and Ginger Shields on left in audience;
Chris and Deanna Mericle directly in front of camera
Here’s what the Board of Commissioners of the one county targetted by every Continue reading
Sabal Trail pipeline challenged by recommended order, plus Suwannee County resolution tonight
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sabal Trail pipeline challenged by recommended order, plus Suwannee County resolution tonight
Jasper, Florida, November 17, 2015 — The day after WWALS filed its
Proposed Recommended Order (PRO) in WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP
saying FDEP didn’t do proper due diligence on what Sabal Trail’s application, especially for the Outstanding Florida Waters of the Suwannee River and the Santa Fe River,
the Suwannee County Commission is considering tonight a resolution against Sabal Trail’s proposed Hildreth Compressor Station.
Suwannee County resident Debra Johnson remarked,
“How about nowhere in our county. It’s like who wants this dangerous compressor station in Suwannee County ANYWHERE?”
David Shields testified at the hearing in Jasper that he had purchased land in Suwannee County because: Continue reading
WWALS files Proposed Recommended Order with DOAH 2015-11-16
DEP failed to sufficiently review or verify Sabal Trail’s application,
failed to timely place comments from affected landowners in the public record,
and disregarded heightened protection requirements of Florida Outstanding Waters.
Sabal Trail admitted Spectra Energy is its operator in perpetuity,
and that horizontal directional drilling could adversely affect water quality
of the Suwannee River, yet DEP failed to adequately consider such effects.
DEP professed to be unaware of other potential risks such as crossing existing pipelines, including the Southern Natural Gas pipeline.
Springs, fragile karst geology, leaks, LiDAR, and geologic collapse:
all insufficiently considered by DEP.
Sinkholes, springs, and gopher tortoises pointed out by landowners
never examined by Sabal Trail or DEP.
A Spectra Energy executive from Houston deigned to come to “the middle of nowhere” to tell us they’d use thinner pipe in low population areas such as Suwannee County. He testified at length about Spectra’s safety history, even Continue reading