Category Archives: Solar

Sabal Trail a month late and still sending the press disinformation

No, Ms. Grover, your pipeline is not a job generator for Florida, Georgia, or Alabama, and yes, you’ve slipped your schedule.

“Florida is swarming with protests, like an antbed stirred up by a 600-mile pipeline stick,” John S. Quarterman, president, WWALS Watershed Coalition

You know what would bring economic benefits to the Sunshine State? Solar power, which already employs more people than coal, oil, and natural gas combined, which produced 1 in 20 new jobs last year, and last year solar power produced more new electricity than any other source.

Ms. Grover is paid to picture that fossil-fuel cash-out in the best possible light. Yet once you know the actual facts, it looks more like the Picture of Dorian Gray.


“How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June…. If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that—for that—I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!” —Dorian Gray, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

Joseph A. Mann Jr., FloridaBulldog.org, 23 March 2017, With help from investor-Gov. Scott, Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline looks to open in June, Continue reading →

Videos: Water, Agriculture, and Forestry; WWALS @ VSU 2017-03-28

You can’t use traditional models for the karst Floridan Aquifer; new and harsher pesticides are expected this summer; but you can help raise native species; and later this month you can go see many of them in Berrien County, plus WWALS monthly outings, the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, and the Alapaha River Water Trail and some WWALS history.

Yeah, 2,4-D and Dicamba are head-scratchers --Tom Potter
Yeah, coming this summer, and they’re head-scratchers.

All this was at the quarterly WWALS public meeting, this one on Water, Agriculture, and Forestry at Valdosta State University, March 28, 2017.

Here are links to each WWALS video of each talk, with a few notes and a few extra pictures, followed by a WWALS video playlist. Continue reading →

Agenda: Water, Agriculture, and Forestry; public meeting @ VSU 2017-03-28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (PDF)

Valdosta, Georgia; March 28, 2017 — It’s a full agenda tonight about Water, Agriculture, and Forestry with in a public meeting at Valdosta State University, hosted by WWALS Watershed Coalition.

325x602 Suwannee Streamer, in Suwannee River Basin, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 25 June 2014 When: 6-8PM Tuesday March 28, 2017

Where: UC Theater, UC Center, Valdosta State University
1215 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31698

Event: facebook

Host: WWALS Watershed Coalition
the Waterkeeper® Alliance Member as Suwannee Riverkeeper®

Agenda:

Getting out on the rivers (5 minutes each):

  • About WWALS
    —Dave Hetzel, WWALS Ambassador
  • Outings: cleanups and monthly paddles
    —Phil Hubbard, WWALS Outings Committee Chair
  • Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail: signs, landings, and addresses
    —John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper

Science and practice (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A each): Continue reading →

Water, Agriculture, and Forestry: public meeting @ VSU by WWALS 2017-03-28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (PDF)

Valdosta, Georgia; March 23, 2017 — Suwannee Riverkeeper invites you to discuss Water, Agriculture, and Forestry with forestry and agriculture experts and WWALS board and committee members in a public meeting at Valdosta State University.

When: 6-8PM Tuesday March 28, 2017

Where: UC Theater, UC Center, Valdosta State University
1215 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31698

Event: facebook

Host: WWALS Watershed Coalition
the Waterkeeper® Alliance Member as Suwannee Riverkeeper®

Topics: including but not limited to: Watersheds (small), Suwannee Riverkeeper

  • Getting out on the rivers:
    • Outings: cleanups and monthly paddles
    • Water Trails: signs, landings, and addresses
    • Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail
    • Alapaha River Water Trail
  • Science and practice:
    • Geology: erosion and runoff
    • Agriculture: pesticides and fertilizer
    • Forestry: Best Management Practices
    • Botany: Invasive species and native species
    • Energy: solar power and pipelines

About: WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) advocates for Continue reading →

Solar Rocks for the Equinox @ SSJSCNFWG 2017-09-23

Suwannee Riverkeeper will be speaking at this event, about how Georgia moved ahead in solar power, Looking up what Florida has tried and still needs to do, and how solar power has already won the economic race, supplying more new solar power in 2016 than anything else (more than natural gas and more than wind), and employing more people than coal, oil, and gas combined. When even FPL is finally building solar power, including at showplaces such as Daytona International Speedway, the sun is starting to rise on the Sunshine State. There will be a WWALS table with information about all this.

Solar Rocks for the Equinox
March 7, 2017
Press Release: For Immediate Release

Solar Energy Expo
Save the Date

When: 9am-5pm Saturday, September 23, 2017

Where: Sierra Club North Florida Headquarters at
Rum 138 2070 SW County Road 138, Fort White, FL 32038 Continue reading →

Videos: Walk for Water, Speak for Springs, Dunnellon, FL 2017-01-28

See also some previous pictures of Walk for Water & Speak for the Springs, which was organized by Our Santa Fe River (OSFR), Sabal Trail Resistance, and Dylan Hansen.

Below are links to each of the WWALS videos (including the earlier android phone videos), with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Quarterman: Sabal Trail pipeline already damaging our area

Op-ed Tallahassee Democrat, today, Sunday 29 January 2017:

Floridians are withdrawing money from banks backing the Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail pipeline, and demonstrating daily from Miami to Jacksonville and Tallahassee, sometimes physically blocking pipeline destruction. Fossil fuel profits do not justify eminent domain takings of local lands nor any risk to our waters. Solar power is cheaper, faster, and far safer.

Image: Electric power generation employment by technology, U.S. Department of Energy

The solar industry provides more jobs than coal, oil, and natural gas combined. Sabal Trail’s own figures show Continue reading →

Solar power versus Sabal Trail –Suwannee Riverkeeper in VDT 2017-01-08

Op-ed, Valdosta Daily Times, today, January 8th 2017:

John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper Sabal Trail and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection assured us there would be no problems drilling a 36-inch natural gas pipeline through the fragile karst limestone under the Suwannee River in Florida, yet already Sabal Trail’s pilot hole under the Withlacoochee River in Georgia caused a frac-out of drilling mud into the river and a sinkhole.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should halt construction and do a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

When I happened to fly over the Withlacoochee River frac-out, I also saw Continue reading →

Stop Sabal Trail fracked gas pipeline; invest in solar –John S. Quarterman in Citrus County Chronicle 2016-12-25

Here’s a Christmas present for pipeline opponents and solar power proponents.

John S. Quarterman John S. Quarterman, Citrus County Chronicle, other voices, 25 December 2016, Stop gas pipeline; invest in solar,

Sabal Trail and FDEP assured us there would be no problems drilling a 36-inch natural gas pipeline through the fragile karst limestone under the Suwannee River and the Withlacoochee (south) River in Florida, yet already Sabal Trail’s pilot hole under the Withlacoochee (north) River in Georgia caused a frac-out of drilling mud into the river and a sinkhole. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should halt construction and do a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

When I happened to fly over the Withlacoochee (north) River frac-out, I also saw Continue reading →

WWALS at Suwannee River Roots Revival 2016-10-15

Music and advocacy on the banks of the iconic Suwannee River!

Gretchen Quarterman and Dave Hetzel by Leeann Drabenstott Culbreath WWALS outings, rivers, Valdosta wastewater, agricultural runoff, and the issue half the people wanted to talk about was the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline: nobody wants it.

Thanks to Leeann Drabenstott Culbreath for the great picture of WWALS Treasurer Gretchen Quarterman and Ambassador Dave Hetzel, who engages everybody who walks past. Thanks to WWALS member Bret Huntley for camping overnight last night and setting up this morning. Gretchen took the other pictures of Dave and Bret. WWALS president John S. Quarterman took the one of the Shook Twins on the Amphitheater Stage in Spirit of Suwannee Music Park at Suwannee River Roots Revival on the banks of the Suwannee River.

Come on down to these upcoming WWALS events and outings: Continue reading →