Tag Archives: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Please choose wisely about phosphate mine vs. water: Suwannee Riverkeeper to Union County, FL 2017-08-21

The biggest asset any of us, all together, will ever own, is water.
Phosphate mining is complicated, but your choice is not.
Please choose wisely and make your moratorium on phosphate mining permanent.

Sent to Union BOCC this afternoon as PDF along with copy of previous letter to Bradford BOCC.

August 21, 2017

To: James Tallman, Chairman
Union County Board of County Commissioners
15 NE 1st Street, Lake Butler, FL 32054
(386) 496-4241
ucbocc@windstream.net

Cc:
Scott R. Koons, Executive Director
North Central Florida Regional Planning Council
2009 NW 67th Pl, Gainesville, FL 32653
(352) 955-2200
koons@ncfrpc.org

Re: Phosphate Mine zoning and land use
Continue reading →

Sabal Trail says hazaradous Mercaptan leaks are no danger to the public 2017-08-17

OSHA says the Mercaptan that was smelled miles from the leak “can cause problems for the respiratory system and the central nervous system” but Sabal Trail’s Andrea Grover says “there is no danger to the public”. Which do you believe?

Hint: this is the same Andrea Grover about which the newspaper of record in Valdosta, Georgia wrote four years ago:

Letters submitted to the Valdosta Daily Times and to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could contradict a recent statement by Sabal Trail’s Andrea Grover.

Looks like we have Pinocchio with her nose growing doing PR for the Three Stooges.

Jessica Lipscomb, Miami New Times, 17 August 2017, Stinky Leaks From Florida’s Controversial Sabal Trail Pipeline Scares Residents, Continue reading →

Please accept assistance to choose wisely about phosphate mine –Suwannee Riverkeeper to Bradford BOCC 2017-08-16

Sent to Bradford BOCC this morning as PDF. You can send a letter, too, or come speak at the Commission meeting in Starke Thursday afternoon.

August 17, 2017

Danny Riddick, Chairman
Bradford County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners
P O Drawer B, Starke, Fl. 32091
(904) 966-6327
bocc@bradfordcountyfl.gov
Re: HPS II Phosphate Mine proposal
Dear Chairman Riddick, Commissioners, and Staff,
Thank you for your warm welcome at your meeting of July 20, 2017. The videos I took of the entire meeting are on YouTube as promised: /?p=35374

I look forward to seeing you all again this Thursday at your meeting of August 17, 2017.

In that meeting and in others, I urge you not to limit your review Continue reading →

Senate confirmed 2 FERC nominees with no discussion 2017-08-03

The Senate took less than two minutes to confirm Neil Chatterjee and Robert F. Powelson as FERC Commissioners, taking it up even earlier than we suspected. The only voice heard voting was Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that had forwarded their names. It’s not clear any other Senators were even in the room; certainly none spoke up at any point. She praised the new Commissioners and added that they would “help facilitate the buildout of an aging infrastructure and the add-on of new infrastructure”, which of course means more pipeline boondoggles when the country and the world need to get on with sun and wind power.

Worse, there are not one but two more FERC nominees in the pipeline, including a proposed Chair very friendly with pipelines and fossil fuels.

CSPAN, Senate Session, August 3, 2017, Continue reading →

Call Senators now to stop FERC nominees 2017-08-03

Update 2017-08-03: The Senate already did it. But there are more nominations to oppose and other things you can do.

FERC could suddenly get a quorum. Another FERC nominee went to the Senate Wednesday: Richard Click, general counsel to the minority party, the Democrats, on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Even the two nominees already forwarded to the full Senate June 6, 2017 if confirmed, added to the one still at FERC, would produce a quorum of 3 out of 5. So please call your Senators now and ask them not to vote to confirm any FERC nominee who does not vow to turn the agency to solar and wind power on a smart grid.

No, this won’t stop or turn off Sabal Trail. But it could stop further pipeline boondoggles from being confirmed. That’s good in itself, and could also erode the credibility of Sabal Trail with its creditors.

Here are telephone numbers for Georgia and Florida Senators, and there’s a script farther down. Continue reading →

State and local responses to Dunnellon Sabal Trail stink

Sabal Trail did not notify state or local officials about their “odorant” leak at the Dunnellon Compressor Station site, and Sabal Trail’s response to WWALS failed to mention local people called the same stink in to 911 two days in a row. FDEP said there’s no need so long as Sabal Trail follows various permits, but gave no indication of who is checking to see if Sabal Trail does that. Apparently we the people have to keep doing what the state and federal agencies still aren’t doing: watch Sabal Trail like a hawk.

Google map of locations of Dunnellon High School and Sabal Trail Dunnellon Compressor Station. You can see most of the 100-foot Sabal Trail right of way.

Below are responses from FDEP and more details from Marion County Public Relations and Fire and Rescue, and from Dunnellon Fire and Rescue: none of them were notified by Sabal Trail, and FDEP seems OK with that. For the rest, an emergency plan would be prudent: “Run like hell” as in Spectra compressor station incidents elsewhere, is probably not adequate. Continue reading →

Enbridge about Sabal Trail stinks 2017-07-28

No gas leak, just a stink leak, said Spectra Energy’s new owner Enbridge in an emailed response yesterday to the WWALS 19 questions about the Dunnellon Compressor Station leak.

These are apparently the “two odorant tanks and equipment” mentioned by Sabal Trail, visible from FL 200.

That response was no more substantive than we used to get in the bi-weekly reports: no indication of who notified Sabal Trail; no indication that they worked on it more than one day, even though multiple witnesses attest to that; no indication of who Sabal Trail notified, if anybody; no indication of what they were doing working in a different part of the site a week later when I took the pictures in the WWALS submission; no answer as to whether they are feeding methane to the Citrus County Pipeline; etc.

The responses from FERC and from USACE are the same as usual: nothing at all. We did get a reply from FDEP; more on that in a later post.

Previously Sabal Trail has provided its non-answers to WWALS and others in Continue reading →

Kaithleen Hernandez gets a few minutes in court 2017-07-27

The attorney got the judge’s attention for a few minutes, after waiting an hour, then the defendant was sent away until August 8, 2017 at 1PM at the same Suwannee County Courthouse.

Attorney Steven Glazer with Notices

Here is Kaithleen Hernandez’ attorney Steven Glazer looking puzzled afterwards, because he came for a hearing and the judge said this was Continue reading →

Kaithleen Hernandez waiting for her case

Starts at 9am, Suwanee County Courthouse

Rescheduled; details here.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Kaithleen Hernandez case in Suwannee County Courthouse 8AM Thursday 2817-07-27

While many Sabal Trail pipeline protesters’ charges have been dropped, at least one, Kaithleen Hernandez, has a court date this Thursday morning, 8AM, at Suwannee County Courthouse in Live Oak, Florida. She says, “We are not outnumbered, we are just outorganized.”

When: 8AM Thursday, July 27, 2017

Where: Suwannee County Courthouse, 200 S Ohio Ave, Live Oak, FL

Event: Probation case against Kaithleen Hernandez

Photo: Ebyabe, Dual-licensed under the GFDL and CC-By-SA-2.5

Kaithleen Hernandez was arrested in 16 January 2017 at Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.