Tag Archives: conservation

A Model Festival During Pandemic: The Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, Georgia, August 19, 2021 — “We regret to say that Dirty Bird and the Flu will not be one of our Headliners this Saturday, because two of their band members have caught COVID-19,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman. “But Scott Perkins and his band, Little Perks in Paradise, are coming from Atlanta to play as a Headliner.”

Tickets are on sale now, $10 online; they will be $12 at the door.
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/

VIP tables seating six in front of the stage are $150; inquire to song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.

Flyer
PDF

The Finals will be a fun festival for the whole family, 7-11 PM, Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.

“Yes, the show will go on, with all pandemic precautions, ” said organizing Committee Chair and WWALS President Tom H. Johnson, Jr. “There will be plenty of music: all nine songwriters will be Finalists! Their songs are all so good, the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee couldn’t bring itself to omit any of them.”

Continue reading →

Advisory lifted, Withlacoochee River 2021-08-18

Update 2021-08-20: Odd results, but mostly clean rivers 2021-08-19.

Madison Health yesterday lifted its Withlacoochee River Bacterial Advisory of June 22 after it got good water quality results at the state line for Tuesday, August 17, 2021. Apparently the spotty heavy rains over the weekend and Monday did not wash much E. coli down Sugar Creek or Okapilco Creek.

Lifted, Chart, Swim Guide

WWALS and Valdosta have gotten many good results in between, but Madison Health only goes by its own tests. Recent results from Valdosta are also good.

So, happy boating, swimming, and fishing in the Withlacoochee River!

WWALS testers are collecting samples today, so we can report results tomorrow. Continue reading →

Generator installed at Valdosta Gornto Lift Station 2021-08-16

~~Valdosta did not bother to send the PR to WWALS,~~ Gmail hid it under Promotions, but we’re publishing it anyway. It’s good to sometimes see good news from them.

This lift station is on the west side of the YMCA, slightly uphill from the Withlacoochee River, and across the Norfolk Southern Railroad from Sugar Creek.

Gornto Road Lift Station: background by Valdosta, sign picture by John S. Quarterman in 2017.

This Gornto Road Pump Station is not the one that spilled in December 2019. That one is upstream on Sugar Creek by Remerton. Although the problem then was not equipment failure, I have asked the City of Valdosta what their plans are for a similar generator at their Remer Lane Pump Station.

Subject: Press Release – Utilities Department Installs Generator at Gornto Lift Station
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2021
Release #08-16-113
Utilities Department Installs Generator at Gornto Lift Station
Continue reading →

Need Show Cause for NFE Miami LNG, Strom LNG, etc. –WWALS to FERC 2021-07-30

I wondered why we were suddenly getting media inquiries about a letter WWALS sent to FERC two weeks ago. Yesterday FERC got around to posting it. Weirdly for a letter about Florida, in the docket for a Puerto Rico Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) facility. Well, we did cite FERC’s March 2021 Order in that docket as a precedent.

Interestingly, it’s marked:
Non-decisional: No

Does that mean FERC is willing to entertain what we asked? Send SHOW CAUSE letters to all five Florida facilities? Or revoke FERC’s 2015 abdication of oversight over inland LNG export facilities?

As the letter says, we are not fans of FERC. But no FERC environmental oversight turns out to be worse than FERC.

WWALS to FERC 2021-07-30

Accession Number 20210817-4000 as “Comments of WWALS Watershed Coalition re NFE Miami LNG under CP20-466.”

The letter references the 2015 FERC decision that it did not have jurisdiction over inland LNG facilities. That decision is Pivotal LNG, Inc., 151 FERC ¶ 61,006, (2 April 2015). Then-Commissioner Norman Bay dissented, writing in part:

Here, the majority acknowledges that “liquefaction facilities operated by Pivotal and its affiliate … [will] produce liquefied natural gas that [will] ultimately be exported to foreign nations by a third party” and that such foreign sales must be made pursuant to an export license from DOE.⁵ There can be little doubt, therefore, that the facilities will be involved in the “exportation of natural gas in foreign commerce.”

Until FERC revokes that 2015 abdication of oversight over inland LNG export facilities, the least it can do is to send SHOW CAUSE orders to each such facility demanding to know why it should not be under FERC oversight.

Need Show Cause; Map of LNG export operations

Incidentally, FERC Hotline Support replied about Nathaniel Davis: “He no longer works at FERC.” I had to forward the letter to Janel Burdick, the Deputy Director, Office of Enforcement, who is now also Acting Director. Does anybody know what happened to cause that personnel change at FERC? Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2021-08-21 on Scott James Radio 2021-08-12

Tickets are $10 online or $12 at the door, for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, coming up at 7PM this Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park in Valdosta, Georgia. Scott James and I discussed it on his radio show a week ago: Nine finalists, three singing judges, and this year’s Master of Ceremonies is Big Country Wes James of WAAC Rivers Radio.

Get tickets to the Songwriting Contest here:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting

Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2018-08-21

Here are links to each video segment about the Contest, followed by a WWALS video playlist: Continue reading →

Two Withlacoochee River 360-degree transits by WWALS on Earthviews 2021-08-16

Thanks to Courtney Gallagher of Earthviews.com and WWALS Intern Bobby McKenzie, you can navigate down the Withlacoochee River from the comfort of your laptop or mobile phone.

Here’s the start of our WWALS fast August 7, 2021, paddle from Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp in Georgia to Sullivan Lanuch in Florida.

Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramp

To find this trip, go to https://www.earthviews.com/.

Then click on Atlas in the top menu, to get to https://arcgis.earthviews.com/home.html

In the map that appears, pan to south Georgia, and click on the blue dots on the Withlacoochee River that cross the state line.

That gets you to this first picture: https://arcgis.earthviews.com/public/withlacoochee-nankin-0821#6

But on Earthviews, you can pan 360 degrees around. And you can click on the forward or back arrows to move along. Or you can click on a location on the little map on the right to go there.

There’s even a play button down in the bottom left that animates the trip. You can press pause at any time and pan around.

Here’s a famous landmark in the middle of this trip, the abandoned Valdosta Railway Trestle. This still is panned around backwards, so you see Bobby McKenzie paddling the camera boat, with the trestle behind him. On his left is Georgia. On his right is Florida. The river bends right here, so we went back into Florida the second time.

If you click on the WWALS logo at the top left, that takes you to https://wwals.net/.

If you click on the logo next to it, for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, that takes you to its web page. Continue reading →

Red US 41, clean downstream 2021-08-12

Update 2021-09-19: Advisory lifted, Withlacoochee River 2021-08-18.

Bad water quality for Thursday at US 41 on the Withlacoochee River, presumably because of the almost 3 and a half inches of rain just upstream at Skipper Bridge. However, still below the 1,000 cfu/100 mL alert limit, and all downstream results were below the 410 one-time test limit. So apparently no bad E. coli washed out of Valdosta’s Sugar Creek. That’s good news for tomorrow morning’s Pop-up Sugar Creek Cleanup.

Plus, since Troupville Boat Ramp at the bottom of the Little River tested zero, that water should dilute anything coming down the Withlacoochee. So chances are the good results for Thursday farther downstream will hold.

Happy fishing, boating, and swimming!

Of course rains from Tropical Storm Fred could change things rapidly, but that’s what we know now.

Chart, upstream plates, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide 2021-08-12

Despite significant rain Wednesday on both sides of Brooks County (Dixie on the west and Withlacoochee River @ US 84 on the east), apparently nothing bad came down Okapilco Creek, and Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps all tested good for Thursday. Continue reading →

Pop-Up Sugar Creek Cleanup, 2021-08-14

Come help us clean up the Sugar Creek logjam for a fourth time before Tropical Storm Fred comes in.

Most of the trash from Hightower Branch at St. Augustine Road, no doubt plus much other trash, has already washed down Sugar Creek and is at the usual logjam. Let’s get it before it washes into the Withlacoochee River, then down the Suwannee to the Gulf.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:15 AM, end 12 PM, Saturday, August 14, 2021

Put In: Salty Snapper Landing, a private slope to Sugar Creek, below the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602

GPS: 30.862126, -83.31839

Take Out: Salty Snapper Landing

Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided, but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along.

Free: This outing is free to everyone!

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Canoe, floating trash, map

This cleanup is part of the Georgia Rivers Alive cleanups.

We are still talking to Valdosta about trash traps. And we are working on dealing with the problem at its sources. Those include not only these heaps of trash, but also the companies that make all this single-use garbage. We will probably need your help with those things, too, before long.

Meanwhile, if you find any trash heaps like this, please report them through Valdosta Click ‘n’ Fix and let WWALS know, too.

Event: facebook, meetup

St. Augustine Road, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River on the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.

Continue reading →

Massive Valdosta Litter Source Found 2021-07-12

Update 2021-10-07: A trash source success: parking lot on St. Augustine Road, Valdosta.

A month ago Bobby McKenzie found a motherlode of trash. He went upstream on Sugar Creek, then Hightower Creek, across St. Augustine Road, to the parking lot that contains Cook Out, Chick-fil-A, and Steak and Shake.

He reported it to Valdosta Code Enforcement. Since then, we’ve been having some fruitful conversations with the city and with business owners. More on that later.

Trash heap, St. Augustine Road, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River

From: bobby mckenzie
To: bcorbitt@valdostacity.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2021, 11:17:14 AM EDT
Subject: Massive Valdosta Litter Source Found
Good Morning,
I would like to report 2 locations within Valdosta for being a significant contributor to a recurring litter problem to Sugar Creek. Both locations can be reached on St Augustine Road. One location is the far south end of the parking lot that is home to Hobby Lobby, Tractor Supply and fast food places Cook Out and Steak and Shake. Continue reading →

November: Hike to Dead River Sink, Alapaha River, Jennings Bluff Launch, 2021-11-06

Update 2021-11-05: Rain reschedule: Hike to Dead River Sink, Alapaha River, Jennings Bluff Launch, 2021-11-07.

New date: November 6, 2021. October was overbooked, so we have again, for the last time we hope, rescheduled the Hike to the Dead River Sink.

Join us for an approximately three-mile hike down the Dead River to the Dead River Sink, where the Alapaha River goes underground much of the year. We will be led by Practicing Geologist Dennis J. Price of Hamilton County, Florida. He will explain the geology, and how unusual this place is: there’s nothing like it in Florida (or Georgia).

This is a hike: no boat is needed.

Karst limestone cracks by the Alapaha River, Dead River, Sink, Dennis J. Price

When: Gather 9:00 AM, launch 9:15 AM, end 12:15 PM, Saturday, November 6, 2021

Put In: Jennings Bluff Launch. From Jennings, Hamilton County, FL, travel south on US 41 to NW 25 Lane; turn left; travel east to NW 82 Court and the entrance into the Suwannee River Water Management District’s Jennings Bluff tract; turn left and follow road to canoe launch.

GPS: 30.567183, -83.038911
You’re aiming for the Jennings Bluff Tract entrance.

Jennings Bluff Tract sign, 11:42:18, 30.5670965, -83.0388653

Take Out: Jennings Bluff Launch

Bring: drinking water, snacks, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. You can pay the $10 at the outing, or online:
https://wwals.net//outings