PHMSA LNG by rail car exception 2019-06-06

Alachua County, New Jersey legislators, WWALS, and the U.S. House of Representatives oppose this PHMSA LNG-by-rail exception, and you can, too.

[Special Permit- Draft-0001]
Special Permit- Draft-0001

PHMSA proposes to authorize LNG in ordinary cryogenic rail cars, in an exception for a subsidiary of the company that owns Hialeah LNG and already sends LNG in containers by rail for export. “In most cases, ETS would expect that the ultimate end-users of this LNG will be foreign generators of power for residential, commercial and industrial purposes,” says the Draft Environmental Assessment. Why should we risk our homes, schools, businesses, hospitals, etc. for private export profit from New Fortress Energy’s Hialeah LNG plant near Miami? Or for a liquefaction plant in Pennsylvania or New Jersey?

PHMSA posted this extension request on June 3rd, and the deadline for comment is this Monday, July 8, 2019. WWALS signed onto an extension request by Physicians for Social Responsibility. You can still send in a copy of that request or other comments by Monday. WWALS will be filing another comment letter, as well.

The only ETS google maps finds in Doral, FL, is Continue reading

Air Force Accidentally Bombs Florida –People.com; Happy Fourth of July!

Maybe Moody AFB forgot the bombs were supposed to burst in air, and the pyrotechnics were meant as Fourth of July fireworks.

A BDU-33, U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY AIRMAN 1ST CLASS EUGENE OLIVER
A BDU-33, U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY AIRMAN 1ST CLASS EUGENE OLIVER

“There is a safety investigation that is ongoing to see what caused it,” an air base spokesperson tells PEOPLE. “We’re also trying to look into any lessons that we can learn from it and mitigate the situation to prevent it from happening in the future.”

The spokesperson says the investigation’s results will be released after it is finished.

That’s according to Char Adams, People.com, 3 July 2019, Air Force Accidentally Bombs Florida in Botched Training Exercise Continue reading

Moody dummy bomb report from Suwannee Springs –WCTV 2019-07-02

Will Moody AFB find the dummy bombs an A-10C Warthog dropped near Suwannee Springs the other day?

[Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't]
Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t

Moody AFB said sometimes they search for them, and sometimes they don’t, depending on an ongoing safety examination.

[Location Map]
Location Map

That is as reported by Emma Wheeler, WCTV, 2 July 2019, Moody jet hits bird, drops 3 dummy bombs over N. Florida.

She also interviewed me.

What else is in it? What are the pyrotechnics? What kind of environmental damage could it cause? We don’t really know. We’d like to know.

[Doesn't encourage people to get on the rivers]
Doesn’t encourage people to get on the rivers

Continue reading

Dummy bombs dropped by Moody AFB near Suwannee Springs 2019-07-01

If you see this, don’t pick it up, call 229-257-4146 (Moody AFB), or 911.

[BDU-33, 22.5 inches long, blue, 25 pounds, do not handle]
Photo: Moody AFB: “The BDU-33 is a 25-pound training munition used to simulate the M1a-82 500-pound bomb. It is approximately 22 and a half inches long and is blue in color. Although the training munition is inert, it is equipped with a small pyrotechnic charge and should not be handled.”

One of those A-10 Warthogs we see flying overhead all the time dropped three of those dummy bombs yesterday, at a location that sounds very near Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. Just as well this didn’t happen last week while we had 300 people paddling on the Suwannee River downstream.

Moody A-10 dropped object reported, By 23d Wing Public Affairs , 23d Wing Public Affairs / Published July 01, 2019. Continue reading

Judges Selected for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, Georgia, July 1, 2019 — Three judges are ready to pick the winners at the Second Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest: two from Georgia and one from Florida. Tony Buzella, J.J. Rolle, and Tim Teasley will mark finalists on originality of lyrics and music, musical consistency, showing the integrity and value of the waters, historical value, performance, and more. Radio personality Chris Beckham of Tifton will M.C.

[Three]
Three Judges

Continue reading

Banks Lake Full Buck Moon Paddle, 2019-07-16

Join us for our monthly leisurely sunset paddle and watch the full moon rise over Banks Lake, our mini-Okefenokee in Lanier County, Georgia, with ospreys, fish, turtles, birds, and bats in the cypress trees. Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge is in the Grand Bay–Banks Lake ecosystem, which comprises the second-largest freshwater wetland system in Georgia.

Remember to BRING A LIGHT for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow stick, head lamp, or flashlight) so other boaters can see you in the dark.

When: Gather 7:30 PM, Launch 8:00 PM, Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Sunset: 8:37 p.m.; moonrise: 8:41 p.m.

Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635.

GPS: 31.034824, -83.096725

Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp

Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.
And a light! It’s going to be dark.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

[Among paddlers]
Photo: John S. Quarterman, May 2019 Banks Lake Full Moon Paddle.

Continue reading

Kayak Raffle drawing at WWALS Annual Member Meeting 2019-07-14

WWALS banner 2019 Draft Agenda
WWALS Annual Member Meeting
2:00-2:30 PM, Sunday, 14 July 2019, followed by the WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting
South Georgia Regional Library,
2906 Julia Dr, Valdosta, GA 31602

Dial-in Number: (712) 770-5505
Meeting ID: 855-676
facebook event

Presentation of annual report, election of board members and selection of kayak raffle winner!

Kayak, Raffle
The Hobie Mirage Outback raffle kayak, donated by Dr. Tom Phillips.

WWALS members can vote in this annual meeting, and the public is invited to observe.

Board members are listed in www.wwals.net/board.

  1. Call to Order, Welcome, and Introductions Continue reading

Troupville, Little River Confluence, shoals, creeks, and Spook Bridge 2019-06-15

Update 2019-07-05:: Some WWALS videos on YouTube.

The first day of #PaddleGA2019 was a fun day, with a confluence, greetings by VIPs, creeks, small rapids, a limpkin, Valdosta’s notorious Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant Outfall, one bad water quality reading (not there), swimming, an even more notorious fracked methane pipeline, and Spook Bridge, with a pet deer across the river. Thanks to The Langdale Company for that takeout and the Port-A-Potty location, and thanks to the Battery Source for the loan of the golf cart to WWALS.

Here’s Gwyneth Moody, Georgia River Network Water Trail coordinator, getting her orange kayak in the water.

[Load 'em up, 07:51:54, 30.8515032, -83.3476099]
Load ’em up, 07:51:54, 30.8515032, -83.3476099

Somebody was flying a drone. Continue reading

Hagan Bridge Halberd Rosemallow 2019-06-24

Tom H. Johnson Jr. and Mary Caroline Pindar wanted to see what the Withlacoochee River looked like upstream. So we took them to Hagan Bridge Landing, on GA 122 east of Hahira.

[Mary, Tom, Gretchen]
Mary, Tom, Gretchen

Swamp hibiscus, tea colored river water, and dogs running around. Continue reading

Testing One Mile Branch after Sewage Spill 2019-06-24

Pretty clean at the bottom of Vallotton Park (33.3 cfu/100 ml), but rather dirty at the top of Drexel Park (533 cfu/100 ml), on Onemile Branch, with the site of last week’s FOG sewage spill in between; that’s what WWALS water quality testers Sara Squires Jones and Scotti Jay found Monday. These numbers are for the disease-causing bacteria E. coli. The state limit is 200 colony-forming units per 100 mililiters of water (cfu/100 ml). That 533 reading is still below the state’s 1000 limit for real alarm, but it’s still not good.

[#1: 6 colonies]
Downstream #1: 6 colonies

This map shows in red the spill location on Ashley Street near La Jalisco Supermercado, with the testing locations in blue, at North Lee Street near Mr. B’s IGA at Vallotton Park, and at Williams Street at the east end of Drexel Park.

[Spill and testing locations]
Map: Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT), with added Spill and testing locations. Continue reading