Tag Archives: Andrea Grover

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 →

Sabal Trail is surrounded in Live Oak

Update 2016-04-21: Longer report here.

See also Short-term jobs are not worth long-term Sabal Trail risk –Locals to Sabal Trail jobs-seekers at Contractor Fairs, which has a link to the PDF flyer we were passing out. Some of that PR was picked up by ValdostaToday; it begins:

LIVE OAK, Fla. — Local residents and half a dozen environmental organizations want applicants at Sabal Trail pipeline job fairs to know a job for a few weeks isn’t worth risking drinking water for all our families and children and grandchildren.

Opponents of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and supporters of solar power include the Suwannee-St Johns Sierra Club Group, St Johns Riverkeeper, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Our Santa Fe River, Earth Ethics, Gulf Restoration Network, and SpectraBusters.

As a group of students said in unison: No Fracking!

-jsq

PS: Hi, Andrea Grover. Good to see you as always, and looking forward to the end of this project.

It’s the most votes I’ve ever gotten on anything. –Neill Herring, about GA House against Sabal Trail easements

Pipeline invaders go home to Houston, signed, Georgia legislature.


Georgia Sierra Club’s Neill Herring and Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers at WWALS Watershed Conference in Tifton, 24 August 2013.

Kristi E. Swartz, EEnews, 28 March 2016, PIPELINES: Ga. lawmakers move to block 2 interstate projects,

ATLANTA — Georgia may be friendly to its own electric utility and natural gas companies, but the state Legislature sent a strong message last week to outside corporations that their pipelines are not welcome here.

Continue reading →

A 3-foot pipeline through the windows to our aquifer is a very bad idea –Debra Johnson on FirstCoastNews, 2016-02-11

“This is an outstanding waterway of America,” said WWALS member Debra Johnson. “It is the legendary Suwannee River.” And the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline drilling under it is a very bad idea. (Events: facebook or meetup)

Kenneth Amaro and Debra Johnson Kenneth Amaro, FCN, 11 February 2016, Suwannee residents face setback but vow to fight proposed natural gas pipeline,

They have already made their opposition known to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is Continue reading →

No pipeline! Suwannee County to FERC, Army Corps, and Florida

Suwannee County has waked up! Carl McKinney, Suwannee Democrat, 7 December 2015, Suwannee County seeks allies in pipeline fight,

County staff is writing a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state of Florida, requesting the pipeline not enter Suwannee County.

The commission will vote on whether to send the letters during its Dec. 15 meeting. Both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have to issue permits for the venture.

Commissioner Larry Sessions proposed Continue reading →

To protect the aquifer and to protect the river: Suwannee County against Sabal Trail 2015-12-01

Standing on their previous resolution against the Hildreth compressor station, SBOCC decided to vote next time on a much stronger resolution to keep the pipeline completely out of Suwannee County. Will Sabal Trail show up for that meeting, 15 December 2015, like Andrea Grover told Carl McKinney of the Suwannee Democrat they would if they had advance notice? I suggest all interested parties come to tha meeting to see, not to mention to counter any “information” Sabal Trail may supply.

Here is SBOCC’s own video of that meeting, in which you can see Commissioner Larry Sessions raise the issue:

Commissioner Larry Sessions I’d like to discuss one thing. Last meeting we discussed at length the Sabal Trail issues, possibly coming through our county and crossing the river a couple times.

I’d like to propose that staff make up a letter or a proposal to restrict the pipeline or maybe have the pipeline avoid all karst areas and wetlands coming through our county. We’re trying to 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 →

Sabal Trail can leak into rivers and cause sinkholes according to its own Karst Mitigation Plan

You can believe what Spectra’s Andrea Grover said in the VDT today, or you can believe more from Sabal Trail’s own Karst Mitigation Plan, which says they already lost drilling fluids from test drillings under the Withlacoochee River between Brooks and Lowndes Counties, and if they cause a sinkhole they can’t fill they’ll “monitor” it. How will they do that if a sinkhole forms under the pipeline under the river, or it breaks or explodes, like a Spectra pipeline did in Little Rock, Arkansas in May of this year?

As filed in the FERC DEIS, Karst Mitigation Plan, in Section 7.3.2., on page 31 of 31:

  • If drilling fluid loss downhole affects nearby springs or rivers and complete drilling fluid loss to the formation cannot be prevented, reaming operations will continue and the affected waterbody will be monitored in accordance with the Best Drilling Practices Plan for the Sabal Trail Project.

Not just for pilot holes: drilling fluid loss is quite possible during reaming for the actual pipe hole. And this drilling fluid can contain lubricants with unspecified ingredients.

Sabal Trail knows about fracture traces such as Continue reading →

Sabal Trail on Dirty Dozen again in VDT

In which Spectra Energy’s Andrea Grover claims “The pipeline will not contaminate water or aquifers,”, despite Spectra’s own SEC 10-K and Sabal Trail’s own Karst Mitigation Plan.

Joe Adgie, Valdosta Daily Times, 5 November 2015, Sabal makes Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen,

The proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline made the Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen list for the second consecutive year.

The proposed pipeline made the list for its path through sinkhole-prone regions in Georgia and Florida, including Lowndes County.

Here’s GWC Dirty Dozen 2015 #11: Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail.

John Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition president, said there is some hope for opponents of the pipeline, in the form of a strong letter from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will have the final say on construction of the pipeline.

“We got a federal agency actually doing its job, and I don’t mean FERC, I’m talking about the EPA,” Quarterman said. “They filed an amazing letter that validates pretty much everything the opposition’s been saying about this pipeline.”

Last week, the EPA recommended Continue reading →

Videos: More WWALS witnesses, rebuttal, Spectra speaks, and WWALS counsel summation in Day 3, WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP 2015-10-21

Willard Randall, expert welder Sabal Trail didn’t want to hear that Sierra Club is funding part of WWALS’ legal expenses and they really didn’t want to hear about Spectra’s speckled history of safety and compliance. The Respondents also didn’t expect the WWALS pipeline welder expert witness in this third and last day of the final hearing.

DEP tried to argue their own key applicant process substance person couldn’t qualify as an expert witness for WWALS. A sitting Suwannee County Commissioner testified. A fireman who lives near the proposed compressor station said a few words about Sabal Trail saying one thing and doing another. A string of WWALS witnesses talked about generations of use and enjoyment, joining WWALS because WWALS took in the upper Suwannee as territory, more new WWALS members, WWALS as a Waterkeeper® Alliance Affiliate.

The Respondents rebuttal witnesses were Continue reading →