See if you can do it without spilling into One Mile Branch, Valdosta. Also, despite the date on the PR on the city’s website (see below), WWALS got it via email a day later at 4:01 PM 11 July 2018, the day before the work started this morning.
Ashlyn Becton, Valdosta, Press Release, 4:17 PM, 10 July 2018, Sewer Main Repair / Road Repair at 1522 N Oak St starting Thursday July 12,
The City of Valdosta Utilities Department will be closing Continue reading
Once again the kayak raffle winner was a surprise, this time with a twist.
The winner of the draw for the Perception Swifty Deluxe 95 Angler Sit Inside Kayak at the WWALS Annual Member Meeting, Sunday, July 8, 2018, in Valdosta, Georgia is…
The raffle kayak
at the BIG Little River Paddle Race, April 28, 2018.
Just one day before FERC admitted Sierra Club won in D.C. District Court, and a week after Sabal Trail Sabal Trail lost a jury trial in the U.S. Middle District of Georgia in Valdosta, something else at FERC put pause to further pipeline and LNG export rubberstamps.
Ellen M. Gilmer, Rod Kuckro and Sam Mintz, E&& News, 2 July 2018, Powelson’s departure means fallout for pipelines, policies,
Photo: FERC, of Robert F. Powelson, via E&E News
Robert Powelson’s decision to exit the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission less than a year into his term could leave natural gas pipeline developers in the lurch and policy critics scrambling for how to approach the commission’s coming 2-2 partisan split.
That’s the consensus among Continue reading
The traditional annual WWALS Sheboggy Georgia Adopt-A-Stream cleanup at Sheboggy, plus an upstream paddle, from this most upstream of the access points on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT). Oh, and we still want those Sheboggy road signs back.
When: 1 PM, Sunday, September 9, 2018
Put In: Sheboggy Boat Ramp, 11004 US Highway 82, Alapaha, GA 31622, a few miles east of Alapaha, Georgia, in Berrien County.
Take Out: Sheboggy 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.
Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members for the paddle (the cleanup is free to everyone). We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
Sheboggy road signs last seen, April 27, 2018.
Photo:
Jack Hickox;
we still
want them back.
One week after losing a jury trial in the U.S. Middle District Court of Georgia, the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and its purveyor of federal eminent domain, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), declined to appeal their huge DC District Court loss of last August.
Sierra Club, Press Release, 3 July 2018, Fracked Gas Pipeline Company and Federal Regulator Will Not Seek Supreme Court Review of Landmark Ruling: Existing Decision Means FERC Must Consider Downstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions,
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Neither the builders of the fracked gas Sabal Trail Pipeline nor the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will ask the Supreme Court to review a landmark ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from last year. That decision required FERC to consider the effects of downstream greenhouse gases when deciding whether to approve proposed pipelines that transport gas.
In response, Sierra Club Staff Attorney Elly Benson released the following statement:
Elly Benson, Sierra Club Staff Attorney“We are glad to see FERC accept its responsibility to consider greenhouse gas emissions from burning transported gas at downstream power plants. These dirty, dangerous, and unnecessary pipelines pose a threat to our communities and climate. They should not be proposed, much less built, at a time when clean, renewable energy sources are abundant and affordable. We will continue to monitor the pipeline permitting process to ensure the law is followed.”
The pipeline industry press was not thrilled. Charlie Passut, Natural Gas Intelligence, 5 July 2018, FERC Declines to Appeal Landmark GHG Case to Supreme Court, Continue reading
Following the WWALS Annual Member Meeting
Dial-in Number: (641) 715-3580
Meeting ID: 855-676
facebook event
Election of officers, Annual Financial Report, Budget, Alapaha Quest, festivals, projects and programs, water trails, water quality monitoring, pipelines, phosphate mines, and more.
Invited to attend: WWALS members, especially committee members, and the general public.
All WWALS Board Members are expected to attend in person or by telephone.
The more done on the board list, the less time we’ll have to spend on them in this meeting.
Board Members (will change at the immediately preceding WWALS Annual Member Meeting): Continue reading
What sort of oversight can the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) be performing for Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals when it says that: “DOE has stated that it ‘cannot precisely identify all the circumstances under which such action would be taken.’” Further:
DOE/FE has never rescinded a longterm non-FTA export authorization for any reason. Further, DOE has no record of ever having vacated or rescinded an authorization to import or export natural gas over the objections of the authorization holder.
This is all from a recent DoE article in the U.S. Federal Register, in which DoE manages to come up with only one example:
Louisiana LNG Energy LLC, in google cache
DOE has rescinded (or “vacated”) one long-term LNG export authorization to FTA countries (see supra note 2)—DOE/ FE Order No. 3482, issued to Continue reading
Previously you saw the overall winner of the 6th Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race, organized by WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) and Friends of Reed Bingham State Park (FORB), Saturday, April 28, 2018. Update 2018-07-16: Plus pictures of all the paddlers.
Here are all the winners:
The prize category is included for each winner.
Somebody asked recently whether it is possible to paddle a week on the Withlacoochee River in Georgia in June. Sure, as long as you start not too far upstream on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT), you can paddle past shoals and little-known Georgia springs into the Florida springs heartland, and then continue a day or two on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail (SRWT). WWALS has paddled many of the most interesting stretches multiple times, often in June.
Troupville to Suwannee River Rendezvous
Here’s some history of the Withlacoochee River: fishing weirs, shoals, ghost towns, and springs.
Here is a list of access points on the Withlacoochee River with recommended water levels.
Your first put in will actually be on the Little River, slightly upstream from its confluence, at Troupville Boat Ramp.
27 April 2016, GA 122 Hahira Little River Gauge 70.9′ (140.6′ NAVD88).
Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA)
fixed the Troupville access road back in April 2016.
Photo: Julie Bowland
21 April 2018, GA 122 Hahira Little River Gauge 7.2′ (140′ NAVD88).
WWALS did a cleanup at Troupville, in which you can see our water trail signs.
See also some history of
Troupville, the previous county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia.
At Troupville Boat Ramp,
by the
signs for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)
that
Phil Hubbard planted yesterday (2018-04-20).
Three of the six second-magnitude springs in Georgia used to be in Brooks County, Georgia, before somebody apparently tried to Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Valdosta, GA, July 2, 2017 —
In a good time with good food and good music, at the Salty Snapper in Valdosta, Saturday afternoon, June 23, 2018, three judges from Georgia and Florida deliberated a long time after six songwriters from Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida sang, and selected winners of the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2018.
The WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee met many times to plan for the first annual contest. The purpose of the contest was to raise awareness of the WWALS watershed and its accomplishments. Will Eason of the Salty Snapper welcomed us, WWALS Ambassador Dave Hetzel spoke about the origins of WWALS, Board member Bret Wagenhorst spoke about Outings, Committee Chair Eileen Box spoke about the Committee, and WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman was the M.C.
Winners and Judges (Sharon Yeago), left to right:
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, WWALS E.D. and contest M.C. Gretchen Quarterman, ? (JJ), ? (JJ), Jay Jourden (JJ), Judge J.J. Rolle, Emmett Carlisle, Laura D’Alisera, Mike Tappan, Judge Cindy Bear, Dave Pharr, ? Tom Shed (JJ), Don Austin (JJ), Hollin Gammage, and the small child is next year’s contestant (JJ marks members of Jay Jourden’s band).
The finalists, who played in random order, selected by drawing straws, with sound by Will Eason and other help by Scotti Jay, were: Continue reading