NOTICE IS GIVEN that the Board of County Commissioners of Madison County, Florida will
hold a special meeting, to which all persons are invited to attend, as follows:
March 6, 2020
6:00 p.m.
Madison County Courthouse Annex
229 SW Pinckney St., Room 107 Madison, Florida 32340
Review with Possible Approval of Draft Request for Proposals to
Engage the Services of an Environmental Law Firm.
MADISON, Fla. (WCTV) — Madison County Board of Commissioners
held a meeting Wednesday night to discuss the county’s high levels
of E. coli and other contaminants in the Withlacoochee River and
wells.
Already under the Withlacoochee River in Georgia there’s been
a frac-out and
a sinkhole at a drilling site, upstream from the Suwannee River in Florida, under which
FDEP told us it couldn’t happen:
“ Well, the Suwannee River crossing doesn’t, in fact, have any impacts to an outstanding Florida water….”
“Well, any work within, or could have adverse effects on OFW,
is considered.
In this case, we determine that there would be no impacts to the
OFW.”
Much more about WWALS v Sabal Trail & FDEP is on the WWALS website, including videos and transcripts
of the landowners who also tried to warn FDEP that sinkholes happen like
they already have including under at least two public roads in Suwannee County, Florida.
And more about what already happened is on the WWALS website,
plus
things you can do to stop this $3 billion dollar fracked methane boondoggle.
For example, you may want to ask the permitting agencies some of the questions WWALS asked, including this one:
Which of FERC, FDEP, GA-EPD, USACE, SRWMD are working to protect the health, welfare and
safety of the communities surrounding this pipeline and how are they doing that?
Given that I asked them for a prompt answer and two weeks later have gotten no answer at all, it sure looks like we the people will have to
find and report violations
and use other methods to stop this pipeline.
DEP’s only witness yesterday, today also a witness for WWALS, couldn’t find a document she needed in the Respondents’ cartload (literally) of documents, not even with the help of five Respondent attorneys, yet everyone could find items in the two WWALS exhibit books quite readily.
We also learned that concerns were irrelevant, only actual effects on WWALS members count,
which made it too difficult for
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson to get qualified as an expert witness, even though she has assisted DEP and SRWMD in environmental issues.
And we couldn’t talk about air quality issues, since DEP already issued an air quality permit for the Sabal Trail Hildreth compressor station in Suwannee County, so what
David Shields could talk about was very limited, even though
he and his family with their organic farm live downwind of that compressor station.
However,
WWALS expert witness Dennis Price hit geological questions out of the ballpark.
And
a cow did fall into a sinkhole.
Here are WWALS videos of each witness, followed by a video playlist.
See also much more about this case, including videos of the other two days, and how you can help WWALS defend our members, the Suwannee River, and the Floridan Aquifer.
Surprise WWALS attorneys and mounds of Sabal Trail and FDEP documents, yet missing documents, overlooked gopher tortoises, and springs that apparently none of the respondents went to see,
all in these WWALS videos of the first day of the case WWALS brought to defend its members, the Suwannee River, and the Floridan Aquifer against the invading Sabal Trail pipeline and the Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) and Easement to Use Sovereign Submerged Lands (Easement) the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
intends to issue to Sabal Trail.
Petitioner WWALS presented a surprise: two attorneys.
Respondents Sabal Trail and FDEP presented a mound of documents.
That was all in
preliminary matters.
Towards the end of the day, FDEP’s sole witness
Lisa Prather testified.
Here’s a link to much more information
including vidoes of the other two days of the hearing, and how you can continue to contribute to the IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign for legal expenses (there will almost certainly be an appeal) or join WWALS.
Below are WWALS videos of Day 1, followed by a video playlist.
It’s hard to qualify as an expert, but WWALS members count, too,
as we defend the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers and the Floridan Aquifer
against the Sabal Trail pipeline invader.
Continuing this morning at 10AM in Jasper, Florida!
When: 10 AM Wednesday 21 October 2015
Where: Hamilton County Board of Commissioners Chambers,
207 NE First Street
Jasper, Florida 32052
What: WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP
Defending the Suwannee River and our water, land, and air
against the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline Continue reading →
The ant continues against the dinosaur this morning!
When: 10 AM Tuesday 20 October 2015
Where: Hamilton County Board of Commissioners Chambers,
207 NE First Street
Jasper, Florida 32052
What: WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP
Defending the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, the Floridan Aquifer, the Florida Springs Heartland, and our water, land, and air
against the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline
Water issues strongly affect economic development, so I talked about
the new WWALS Watershed Coalition at the
16 April 2013 Board Meeting
of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority.
The VDT declined to speak, so I did.
After apologizing for no okra today,
I commended the Authority for talking about the missing agenda items
and for mentioning due diligence and flood control.
WWALS board meetings are every second Wednesday of the month,
usually at the IHOP in Adel because it’s centrally located.
WWALS is communicating with Valdosta and
various organizations about
flooding and other watershed-wide issues, which in my opinion
have to do with things like too much clearcutting without
consideration for where the water goes, too much development
without consideration for what the impervious surface would do,
(to my surprise, the Executive Director and several board
members nodded along with that)
so it was good to hear them mention flood containment.
Arsenic, Outings, and Flooding: WWALS Watershed Coalition
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland, Chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton, Attorney, Tom Davis, CPA, Allan Ricketts, Project Manager,S. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager,
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 16 April 2013.