Tag Archives: Colquitt County

CY3-6 full less than a day after FERC approval: Sabal Trail Moultrie contractor yard 2016-10-22

Less than a day after FERC rubberstamped (or did it?) Sabal Trail’s request for a new contractor yard on the east side of Moultrie, Georgia, WWALS saw that yard already full of materials. Did Sabal Trail really move everything in that fast, or were those things already there, like the notorious Lake City, Florida pipe yard that never has gotten any formal FERC approval that we’ve seen?

Here’s what we saw from the Southwings flight for WWALS on Saturday October 22nd 2016:

CY3-6 area of Sabal Trail overview map

Compare with the overview map Sabal Trail filed with its request to FERC of Monday October 17th 2016: Continue reading →

WWALS at Reed Bingham Fall Festival 2016-10-29

The wizard is in

Update 2016-10-30: Pictures and scouts.

WWALS will have a bean bag game at Reed Bingham State Park this Saturday. You may not be too old to win some candy! Come join us on the banks of the Little River, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia.

When: 1-5PM Saturday October 29th 2016

Where: Reed Bingham State Park, 542 Reed Bingham Rd, Adel, GA 31620

Handshake Facebook: event

Moultrie Observer, 26 October 2016, Reed Bingham to host Fall Festival, Halloween events,

All participants should give out individually wrapped candies or promotional items appropriate to families. Friends of Reed Bingham will give a prize for the best decorated “Trunk”

For more information or Continue reading →

Sabal Trail planting exotic invasive grasses

Landowners can ask for something else.

Right now in Mitchell and Colquitt County, Georgia, Troy Construction is heading south, covering up the pipe they planted with seed, which according to Sabal Trail’s documents is bermuda grass and bahia grass, both of which are exotic invasive species in Georgia. According to Sabal Trail’s documents, “Alternative seed mixes specifically requested by the landowner or required by agencies may be used.”

Now I’m told by at least one Georgia agency that both those grasses can be killed off with Roundup if they spread. But is that really what we want in and near our waterways and wetlands? And why should neighboring landowners have to fight exotic invasive species brought in by an invading pipeline?

So if you’re a landowner or Continue reading →

Sabal Trail requests variance to Colquitt County, GA creek 2016-10-17

Monday Sabal Trail asked FERC to add a contractor yard in Colquitt County, and to change routing under a small stream. No rush: Sabal Trail wants approval by tomorrow, Thursday, October 20th 2016. Presumably because they’re racing hell-for-leather to meet their May 2017 in-service drop-dead date, after which (according to FPL’s RFP) they could forfeit a $200 million bond or lose the contract.

Here, courtesy of Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), are Sabal Trail’s October 17th 2016 maps of that stream, plus Sabal Trail’s April 2016 maps of where it wants to cross the stream it flows into, Hog Creek and that stream’s downstream Okapilco Creek.

We’ve already seen where Sabal Trail is drilling under the Withlacoochee River between Valdosta and Quitman, Georgia and under the Suwannee River in Suwannee River State Park. Plus there’s an encampment of water protectors in Suwannee County.

Contractor Yard CY3-6

Continue reading →

Sabal Trail, Bell Bros, WWALS, Solar in APN 2016-09-12

The Bell brothers, Flint Riverkeeper, and John S. Quarterman of WWALS all against Sabal Trail in an Atlanta publication. Come on down to the Suwannee River Tuesday near Jasper, FL or to the Withlacoochee River between Quitman and Valdosta, GA 9AM Saturday Sep. 17th to see for yourself what we’re protecting and to say your piece on video.

Gloria Tatum, Atlanta Progressive News, 12 September 2016, Proposed SabaL Gas Pipeline runs through aquifer, wetlands, sinkhole territory, Continue reading →

WWALS Outings, Rivers, and Pipeline on Chris Beckham drive-time radio WVGA 105.9 FM 8:00 7:30 AM 2016-09-02

8AM Friday morning WWALS will be on Chris Beckham’s drive-time radio show. WWALS president John S. Quarterman will be talking about Saturday morning’s Suwannee River paddle outing and other outings upcoming on the Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers, along with other developments on the Alapaha River Water Trail and the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, along with many other things WWALS does. Plus what you can do about the FERC rubberstamp of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline drilling under the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers.

When: 8:00 7:30AM Friday September 2nd 2016

Where: Continue reading →

GWC win over Sabal Trail in Georgia Trend

Water and property rights are the same when fighting a natural gas pipeline: Georgia Trend understands what Georgia Water Coalition is doing to stop the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.

Ben Young, Georgia Trend, June 2016, Sustainable Georgia: Collecting Water,

…Nearly every county can claim scenic waterways — some 15 established water trails are highlighted by the Georgia River Network, with another 17 in the works.

But clean water is vital for more than tourism — as evidenced by the continuing news out of Flint, Mich., and the spectacle of that state utterly failing to provide basic services to residents in a way we are more used to seeing in the Third World.

Closer to home, Georgia lawmakers Continue reading →

Video of Chris Beckham radio show about BIG Little River Paddle Race 2016-05-21

You are invited this Saturday morning to Reed Bingham State Park (between Adel and Moultrie) for a morning of sun, fun, cypress, turtles, and don’t pet the alligator at the fourth annual BIG Little River Paddle Race. You can register online (follow the link) or at the site (also follow the link for details). And Phil Hubbard’s special offer is still open: he will pay for two free registrations. If interested, send email wwalswatershed@gmail.com; first two received win.

Lots of prizes in numerous categories, including $100 for first prize. Plus Phil Hubbard also made and we have available the WWALS Fallers Plaque, which you may win if you inadvertently fall into the water. Thanks again to Bret Wagenhorst of Tifton for organizing the paddle race.

Here’s video of me talking about that on Chris Beckhams’s radio show, WVGA 105.9 FM the morning of May 16th: Continue reading →

BIG Little River Paddle Race on Chris Beckham drive-time radio WVGA 105.9 FM 8:00 AM 2016-05-16

Update 2016-05-19: video of the radio interview, and don’t forget the paddle race is this Saturday!

Everybody listens to the radio in the car on the way to work, and Monday morning 8:00 AM I’ll be talking about the BIG Little River Paddle Race: community, water, trees, birds, fish, sunshine, and fun! $50 cash prize for first place, plus awards in numerous categories, or just paddle leisurely. It’s the fourth annual at Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, on the border of Cook and Colquitt Counties, only 40 minutes from Valdosta. The Paddle Race is weekend after next, Saturday, May 21st, and you can sign up online or at the event. Before that, a radio show to talk about the paddle race.

When: 8:00AM Monday May 16th 2016

Where: 105.9 FM WVGA, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia

What: Continue reading →

Sabal Trail Contractor Fair, Moultrie, GA 2016-04-15

Not just for compressor station counties, also apparently also for where Sabal Trail has promised side taps, including Moultrie, Georgia, as seen today in the Tifton Gazette and the Valdosta Daily Times.

Southern Regional Technical College, Seminar Center, 361 Industrial Drive, Moultrie, GA 31788 When: 11AM – 2PM Friday, April 15th 2016

Where: Southern Regional Technical College, Seminar Center, 361 Industrial Drive, Moultrie, GA 31788

This Moultrie job fair is scheduled one month after Colquitt County sent FERC exorbitant claims of benefits in property tax revenue, wildly high and out-of-context construction jobs claims, and discounted safety and environmental concerns, with no mention whatever of agriculture, nevermind Colquitt County’s letter to FERC two years before about agricultural concerns.

The Colquitt letter to FERC made no mention of lowered property values reducing tax revenue, cited no source, just “It is estimated that”. However, in the same paragraph: Continue reading →