Reclaiming Florida’s Future, Tallahassee 2018-01-31

We visited every Florida statehouse member who represents any part of the Suwannee River Basin, Wednesday in Tallahasse, we the people attending ReThink Energy Florida’s event.

Banner, thanks Kristin Rubin, Waller Park
Suwannee Riverkeeper Banner in Waller Park; thanks Kristin Rubin.

And a primary goal of that lobbying was achieved: the fracking ban bill is sheduled for a committee vote Monday.

When: 4:30 PM – 6PM, Monday, February 5, 2018

Where: Mallory Horne Committee Room, 37 Senate Office Building,
400 Monroe Street, Tallahassee, Florida

Event: facebook.

Stand with us and Continue reading →

Court rebukes Sabal Trail in pivotal case, may shut it down next week 2018-02-01

Yesterday FERC rubberstamped Sabal Trail’s five-month construction delay, but that same day the DC Circuit Court rejected all arguments by FERC and the pipeline company, and could mandate vacating the pipeline’s permit next week. Meanwhile, Sabal Trail already has been shut down, shipping mostly zero gas since mid-November, when it apparently lost one of its only two customers.

According to an industry publication the case by Sierra Club, Flint Riverkeeper, and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is “the strongest legal rebuke of FERC’s oversight since the rush to build out natural gas pipelines began several years ago” and “a pivotal moment in the evolution of pipeline opposition and broader climate accountability.”

How much delay, lack of gas, loss of customers, and legal setback does it take for a pipeline’s financial backers to pull the plug? Reject, shut off, and revoke. Then go solar, like even Duke Energy is doing in Florida, starting with Hamilton County!

En banc rehearing, Orders
D.C. Circuit Court January 31, 2018, order denying petition for rehearing en banc.

Ellen M. Gilmer, E&E News, 1 February 2018, D.C. Circuit ruling could shut down pipeline, Continue reading →

Committee meeting: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2018-02-10

Singing Cedar Key in the summer? How many songs can you name about the Suwannee River, or the Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Alapahoochee, Little (which one?), Grand Bay, Banks Lake, the Okefenokee Swamp, Suwannacoochee Spring, Manatee Springs, or the Dead River Sink? Most people know only one song for all of that. Come on, songwriters, let’s hear more! WWALS members, come help organize the first Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest!

Update 2018-02-03: And you can join us afterwards for 5 Holes Cleanup and Site Exploration, at the Suwannee River but by land.

Sheet music cover of Way Down Upon the Swanee River, 1935, State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 1 Feb. 2018.
Sheet music cover of “Way Down Upon the Swanee River”. 1935. Color photoprint. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 1 Feb. 2018.

The WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee held its first meeting Sunday, January 28, 2018 at Crossroads Market & Grill in Hamilton County, Florida, with Eileen Box (Chair), Scotti Jay, Sara Squires, and John S. Quarterman. Numerous logistics were discussed, from submission format and content to venue: so far the leading contender is Cedar Key, in Levy County on the Gulf of Mexico.

When: 1PM, Saturday, February 10, 2018

Where: Crossroads Market & Grill, Inc., 5463 State Rd 6 West, Jasper, FL 32052

What: WWALS Songwriting Committee meeting to plan the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

Event: facebook, meetup Continue reading →

Hahira: against GA state fee diversions and for WLRWT 2018-01-30

Tonight, a resolution supporting the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, and a resolution for Georgia HR 158 against state fee diversions, (the one already passed by three counties and two cities in the Suwannee River Basin), on the agenda at the Hahira City Council Work Session (and Thursday at the Regular Session). Both will be introduced by Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.

When: 6:00 PM, Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Where: Hahira Courthouse, 301 W Main Street, Hahira, GA 31632

What: Work Session, Hahira City Council

Continue reading →

Hotchkiss Road Landing, Old State Road, and Naylor Boat Ramp

Common question: isn’t Hotchkiss closed? Answer: the old Hotchkiss Landing in Lowndes County is closed, private, and don’t go there! Caution! But Hotchkiss Road Landing in Lanier County is open as always, do go there to get to the Alapaha River. Boat landing And there’s a new park at US 84, with a Naylor Boat Ramp being built by Lowndes County, as urged by WWALS.

600x450 Bret Wagenhorst, Dave Hetzel, Gretchen Quarterman, at Hotchkiss Road, in Alapaha River Outing, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 24 August 2014
Bret Wagenhorst, Dave Hetzel, Gretchen Quarterman, at Hotchkiss Road (open, do go there Boat landing), in Alapaha River Outing, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 24 August 2014.

Previously there was some discussion of using a different name for Hotchkiss Road Landing in the Alapaha River Water Trail, but then nobody would know what we were referring to, since that’s what it’s always been called, down at the end of Hotchkiss Road off of US 84.

For those relatively new to WWALS, WWALS was heavily involved in Continue reading →

Gornto Road, Valdosta, access to Withlacoochee River 2018-01-24

It could use some markers to keep people on it and off private property, and maybe some loaner kayak wheels, but there is public access to the Withlacoochee River off of Gornto Road in Valdosta.

Tea-colored water, 16:22:37,, Withlacoochee River
Tea-colored water, 16:22:37,, Withlacoochee River 30.8623900, -83.3224600

And a very nice blackwater river it is. Continue reading →

Biggest city in Suwannee River Basin passed resolution for dedicated state fees @ VCC 2018-01-25

Hear it from the Mayor, Acting City Manager, and Council of Valdosta, Georgia, and just in time for them and the Lowndes County Chairman, Manager, and Commissioners to attend their annual Bird Supper in Atlanta to discuss it with state legislators: fees collected by the state of Georgia should be dedicated to the purposes for which they were collected. Below are LAKE videos are from the Valdosta City Council, Thursday, January 25, 2018, including a few words I said about which local governments already passed this resolution.

Biggest county in Suwannee River Basin passes resolution against Georgia state fee diversions 2018-01-23

Monday the Lowndes County Chairman spoke for it, Tuesday the Lowndes County Manager spoke for it, and then they passed it: a resolution to stop the Georgia legislature from diverting funds collected by state fees. This was the fourth such local resolution in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia. Thursday Valdosta also passed it (video to come) and more after that.

5.f. Resolution Supporting HR 158 to Stop Diversion of State Fees 5.f. Resolution Supporting HR 158 to Stop Diversion of State Fees

Video. County Manager Joe Pritchard said the resolution “really is supporting Continue reading →

No five-month extension for Sabal Trail, FERC 2018-01-26

Instead of giving Sabal Trail a five-month extension, FERC should revoke Sabal Trail’s Certificate of Convenience and Necessity, as the U.S. District Court already ordered. Sabal Trail no longer has the customers for 90+% of its gas on which that FERC’s February 2 Order depended, not since Sabal Trail dropped Duke Energy Florida (DEF) from its customer index on New Year’s Day.

Tillerson and Czaputowicz
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) and Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz shake hands during a joint press conference after their meeting in Warsaw on January 27, 2018. / AFP / Wojtek RADWANSKI

It’s time to stop the fossil fuel industry using Sabal Trail as a political tool to undermine the overall energy stability and security of the U.S. southeast for the profit of a few companies from Texas and Canada. Just like the U.S. State Department recommends for Europe, FERC should seek to diversify energy supplies by getting on with solar power onshore and wind power offshore in the Sunshine State, Georgia, and everywhere else.

Suwannee FGT M&R Yard KMI JEP, Suwannee County
Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS on Southwings flight June 21, 2016, of site of Sabal Trail Suwannee County M&R Station connecting to Florida Gas Transmission (FGT).

What’s that “one additional M&R facility,” Sabal Trail? Is it the one in Suwannee County to feed your fracked gas through Continue reading →

Critical Notice of Sabal Trail Hildreth Compressor outage 2018-01-24

Why are you having an outage at your Hildreth Compressor Station in Suwannee County, Florida, Sabal Trail? And are there continuing stink leaks at your site without a compressor at Dunnellon, Florida in Marion County? Meanwhile, you’re still shipping nothing. For that $3 or $4 billion, much more electricity from solar power could be online right now in Florida, shutting down gas power plants instead of building them.

Hildreth Compressor Station,
Photo: by anonymous, of Sabal Trail Hildreth Compressor Station site, 2016-12-12.

Thanks to eagle-eye WWALS member Janet Barrow for spotting Continue reading →