In today’s Sunday April 10th 2016 Valdosta Daily Times:
The Georgia House on March 22nd by an unprecedented 34 ayes to 128 nays rejected easements for Sabal Trail
to drill our Withlacoochee and other Georgia Rivers. This was a historic victory by the Georgia Water Coalition, including Georgia Sierra Club, WWALS, Flint Riverkeeper, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, plus SpectraBusters, and thanks to all of you who called their state reps.
That same day, Continue reading
Your calls are working!
Sabal Trail’s allies failed three times to whip up
enough votes to pass this travesty.
Now please keep calling your state legislators and ask them to stay strong voting against SR 954 until Sabal Trail and Transco easements are taken out of it. It’s currently postponed until next Tuesday, March 22nd, so there’s time to call them through the weekend.
If Georgia Power, the EMCs, and GDOT want their easements, they should also be helping us strip Sabal Trail and Transco out of this bill. A fracked methane pipeline drilling under Okapilco Creek and the Withlacoochee, Ochlockonee, Flint, and Chatthahoochee Rivers is no advantage to anybody in Georgia. Or the Suwannee River in Florida: if you’re in Florida, you probably know somebody in Georgia you can ask to call their Georgia legislator.
Update 2016-10-27: A Picture from the event.
Family fun with boats, birds, and fishing at the Little River Fest at Reed Bingham March 28th,
where WWALS will talk about
the
BIG Little River Paddle Race in May
(also at Reed Bingham),
the
Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (with three access points at Reed Bingham),
and the many
other upcoming WWALS outings and events, as well as
watershed issues.
When: 10 AM to 4PM Saturday 26 March 2016
Where: Reed Bingham State Park
542 Reed Bingham Road
Adel, GA 31620
Off of GA 37 between Adel and Moultrie
I-75 exit 39 (Adel)
Volunteer: WWALS members can help at the table!
What: According to Reed Bingham’s announcement:
The festival will include live bird of prey shows, Easter Egg hunt, bounce houses, pontoon boat tours, fishing, fire trucks, animal adoption event, an imagination station for kids, food vendors, arts and crafts, and music.
The first Little River Fest was in 2014, according to Continue reading
If you missed it in Live Oak last night, or in one of the previous premieres along the Georgia coast,
you can see the movie online:
At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South,
by Mark Albertin.
And yes, he’s happy for it to be shown elsewhere; just ask.
Thanks to Push Back the Pipeline for getting this movie made about Kinder Morgan’s proposed petroleum products pipeline from South Carolina across the Georgia coast to Jacksonville, Florida. Special thanks to Eileen, Lori, and Debra and the Woman’s Club of Live Oak for the movie showing last night, and to SpectraBusters, Our Santa Fe River, and Gulf Restoration Network for helping promote it. Don’t forget the hike to the Suwannee River Sabal Trail crossing 8:15 AM Thursday 28 February 2016 with Suwannee and Hamilton County Commissioners.
Most of the issues are the same for the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline which Continue reading
Please join us for a documentary about property rights and the environment vs. pipelines (PDF; facebook event; meetup event). Yes, FERC has issued certificates for Sabal Trail, but the fight is not over.
When: 6:30 PM Friday February 12th
Where: Live Oak Womans Club,
1308 11TH St SW, Live Oak, FL 32064
What:
View the film:
“At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the
Rural South”
A documentary film by Mark Albertin
Video Trailer
Thanks: to Push Back the Pipeline for getting this movie made
This film is about the Kinder Morgan petroleum products Palmetto Pipeline proposed across coastal Georgia to Jacksonville, but the issues are the same for Spectra Energy’s proposed fracked methane Sabal Trail pipeline from Continue reading
EPA stepped back, while opposition ramps up against Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline
Hahira and Albany, Georgia, December 18, 2015— (PDF) Mysteriously contradicting a substantive October letter from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 in Atlanta, a different EPA branch last Friday sent a brief and sketchy letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uncritically accepting what Sabal Trail’s attorney’s told it, even as multiple environmental and landowner organizations filed objections with the Corps and multiple state agencies against that invading natural gas pipeline.
Tim Carroll, Valdosta City Council member, said, “I don’t understand how EPA and FERC can say there will not be a negative impact on our environment, aquifer, streams and rivers. A number of experts testified and spoke up saying the likelihood is very high that there could be damage to the aquifer and the environment. Why would we want to allow this to happen, to run the risk of seriously degrading one of the best water resources in the world.,” Valdosta, Moultrie, and Albany, the three biggest cities along the pipeline path in Georgia, all passed resolutions against Sabal Trail, as did the counties of Terrell, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes, in Georgia, and Hamilton and Suwannee Counties in Florida.
“The one government agency actually defending our drinking in the Floridan Aquifer and the many rivers in Georgia and Florida just stifled itself,” Continue reading
The closest FERC meeting is actually in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 September 2015. And remember, sinkholes don’t matter, says FERC.
Amber Vann, Jasper News, 24 September 2015,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Sabal’s proposed pipeline impact ‘less than significant’ on environment,
According to the EIS, “constructing and operating the Sabal Trail Project in South Georgia/North Florida could induce sinkhole development, alter spring characteristics and impact local groundwater flow and quality.” However, the study finds that Sabal Trail’s proposed impact minimization measures and construction methods would cause the project to not “significantly impact karst terrain, springs or the Floridian aquifer.”
The EIS goes on to state the Floridian aquifer is the “most productive aquifer Continue reading
In addition,
J. Mark Mobley, Jr. of Moultrie, Colquitt County, GA, is Vice Chair
of the Land Committee that meets first.
If that Committee doesn’t recommend the Sabal Trail give-away, the full
DNR board probably won’t vote on it.
You can
send the GA-DNR board members comments,
or go to the meeting
Wednesday morning 9AM in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, this LTE (PDF) just went to the Albany Herald.
Jeff Sinyard represents southwest Georgia on the Board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. He is our voice on that very important and powerful Board.
Sabal Trail Pipeline needs easements granted by the DNR Board to pass under key southwest and south-central Georgia rivers and creeks. Elsewhere in Georgia, over to the east and on the coast, Governor Deal’s DOT recently blocked the use of eminent domain for a gas and diesel pipeline. The Governor does not have the same power over natural gas pipelines under Georgia law. However, the Governor’s DNR Board does have the power Continue reading
Giving away state land rights under the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ochlockonee, and Withlacoochee Rivers Wednesday in Atlanta,
far from any of the rivers or counties affected,
that’s what GA-DNR has on its agenda.
Land Committee – Tab D
Dwight Davis, Chairman
Members: Mobley, Vt Chairman, Bagwell, Evans, Jones, Leebern, Phelps, Sawhill, Shailendra
- Granting of Revocable License Agreements and Permanent Easements totaling 0.27± acres by the State Properties Commission and General Assembly to Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC to install and maintain a natural gas pipeline under navigable waters of the State, Stewart, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties
When, where, and who (PDF): Continue reading
The main point:
“I’ve got an independent route: let’s cancel this pipeline, and the Sunshine State should go directly to solar power.”
Here’s the video: Continue reading