Tag Archives: FERC

Sabal Trail can leak into rivers and cause sinkholes according to its own Karst Mitigation Plan

You can believe what Spectra’s Andrea Grover said in the VDT today, or you can believe more from Sabal Trail’s own Karst Mitigation Plan, which says they already lost drilling fluids from test drillings under the Withlacoochee River between Brooks and Lowndes Counties, and if they cause a sinkhole they can’t fill they’ll “monitor” it. How will they do that if a sinkhole forms under the pipeline under the river, or it breaks or explodes, like a Spectra pipeline did in Little Rock, Arkansas in May of this year?

As filed in the FERC DEIS, Karst Mitigation Plan, in Section 7.3.2., on page 31 of 31:

  • If drilling fluid loss downhole affects nearby springs or rivers and complete drilling fluid loss to the formation cannot be prevented, reaming operations will continue and the affected waterbody will be monitored in accordance with the Best Drilling Practices Plan for the Sabal Trail Project.

Not just for pilot holes: drilling fluid loss is quite possible during reaming for the actual pipe hole. And this drilling fluid can contain lubricants with unspecified ingredients.

Sabal Trail knows about fracture traces such as Continue reading →

Sabal Trail on Dirty Dozen again in VDT

In which Spectra Energy’s Andrea Grover claims “The pipeline will not contaminate water or aquifers,”, despite Spectra’s own SEC 10-K and Sabal Trail’s own Karst Mitigation Plan.

Joe Adgie, Valdosta Daily Times, 5 November 2015, Sabal makes Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen,

The proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline made the Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen list for the second consecutive year.

The proposed pipeline made the list for its path through sinkhole-prone regions in Georgia and Florida, including Lowndes County.

Here’s GWC Dirty Dozen 2015 #11: Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail.

John Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition president, said there is some hope for opponents of the pipeline, in the form of a strong letter from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will have the final say on construction of the pipeline.

“We got a federal agency actually doing its job, and I don’t mean FERC, I’m talking about the EPA,” Quarterman said. “They filed an amazing letter that validates pretty much everything the opposition’s been saying about this pipeline.”

Last week, the EPA recommended Continue reading →

Stop the Sinkhole Trail Pipeline tonight in Albany, GA: Public Hearing, Sabal Trail Compressor Air Quality Permit, GA-EPD 2015-11-05

FERC requires state permits, including an air quality permit from GA-EPD: no permit, no pipeline. You can help stop Spectra Energy’s the Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail pipeline 6:30 PM tonight, 5 November 2015 at Albany Technical College, Kirkland Conference Center, 1704 S. Slappey Boulevard, Albany, GA 31701. There will be a press conference by the opposition about 5:45.

Gretchen Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition and Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper
Gretchen Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition and Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper, last night with the banner he had made for the occasion.

Here are Press release and other details.

You can oppose this unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous pipeline in many other ways, including supporting WWALS opposition to an FDEP permit to drill under the Suwannee River in Florida.

-jsq

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

Sabal Sinkhole Trail back on GWC Dirty Dozen

WWALS submitted Sabal Trail again this year, Invading Sabal Trail, Withlacoochee River with even more support throughout the state for sending that fracked methane invader back down its Sinkhole Trail to Houston, Texas.

Brad McEwan, Albany Herald, 4 November 2015, Proposed Sabal Trail pipeline makes water coalition Dirty Dozen: Georgia Water Coalition says Sabal Pipeline risky for SOWEGA,

According to the Dirty Dozen report the biggest concern voiced by the coalition, which is a consortium of 228 conservation and environmental organizations, hunting and fishing groups, businesses and faith-based organizations, is that the proposed pipeline could negatively impact the Withlacoochee, Flint, and Chattahoochee rivers, as well as smaller streams and creeks, along with the Florida aquifer, which is considered the region’s most important water source.

The GWC writeup mentions the very recent Continue reading →

WWALS moves to enter EPA letter to FERC into evidence in Florida case

Everyone from the Atlanta Journal-Constition to the Palm Beach Post to the Ocala StarBanner Comes now, Petitioner... and moves.... considers the EPA letter to FERC to be of great significance. WWALS agrees, and has filed a motion to ask the judge to take notice in WWALS v. Sabal Trail & DEP.

§ 373.414 Florida Statutes, begins:

(1) As part of an applicant’s demonstration that an activity regulated under this part will not be harmful to the water resources or will not be inconsistent with the overall objectives of the district, the governing board or the department shall require the applicant to provide reasonable assurance that state water quality standards applicable to waters as defined in s. 403.031(13) will not be violated and reasonable assurance that such activity in, on, or over surface waters or wetlands, as delineated in s. 373.421(1), is not contrary to the public interest. However, if such an activity significantly degrades or is within an Outstanding Florida Water, as provided by department rule, the applicant must provide reasonable assurance that the proposed activity will be clearly in the public interest.

Not just “not contrary to the public interest”. For an Outstanding Florida Water applicant (Sabal Trail) “must provide reasonable assurance that the proposed activity will be clearly in the public interest.” The Suwannee River is an Outstanding Florida Water. And the EPA letter is pretty good evidence that Sabal Trail did not provide such reasonable assurance.

Filed October 30, 2015 4:43 PM Division of Administrative Hearings (also PDF on WWALS website): Continue reading →

Ocala StarBanner heard the EPA watchdog bark

Will the Suwannee County BOCC heed this call?

Editorial, Ocala StarBanner, 29 October 2015, A public watchdog when one’s needed

For more than two years opponents of the Sabal Pipeline have been denouncing the natural gas pipeline project as a threat to North Florida’s groundwater supply and sinkhole-prone geology, only to be waved off by state and federal regulators. It seemed those empowered to protect the people’s interests were not listening.

That is, until this week. At the 11th hour of the public comment [period, the U.S. Continue reading →

Get Sabal Trail out of vulnerable karst –EPA to FERC

Avoid the whole most vulnerable area of the Floridan Aquifer, you risk drinking water wells and environmental justice communities, you didn’t even identify Clean Water Act mitigations, neglect isn’t mitigation, and stop just tweaking Sabal Trail’s preferred route even if Sabal Trail is at risk by its contract: your process is broken, FERC! Furthermore, all agencies means you, too, FERC, about the December 2014 Revised Draft Guidance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change Impacts. This project is so bad EPA is setting aside its stance that natural gas is cleaner and demanding a full life cycle analysis of the Transco – Sabal Trail – FSC project.

Above I paraphrase, but I do not exaggerate the severity and extent of EPA’s criticisms of FERC’s DEIS for the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline. Read it for yourself below.

EPA specifically criticizes the proposed HDD drilling under the Withlacoochee River slightly upstream from Blue (Wade) Spring, and going anywhere through the eroded karst sinkhole-prone terrain of southern Brooks and Lowndes Counties, Georgia, as well as in Florida through the Cody Scarp with its springs, swallets, siphons, and merging sinkholes, under the Suwannee River, over Falmouth Cave, and under the Santa Fe River.

Florida Sierra Club did this: Continue reading →

Last Call to E-Comment to FERC about DEIS 2015-10-26

Speak up today and be heard by FERC and the whole world watching!

Update 4:30 PM 26 Oct 2015: I called FERC and was told e-comments or e-filings any time today or even tomorrow will be fine. Paper mail postmarked today will be fine. I was told they’re more interested in getting the comments than in exactly when they’re sent. But don’t wait very long.

Here’s how to e-comment.

Simple is good: “I love the Withlacoochee River (or the Suwannee River, or Okapilco Creek, or….) and I don’t want a huge pipeline drilled under it.”

Or: “We’ve got enough sinkholes without risking more with a pipeline that doesn’t even benefit us.”

Just write what you mean and send it in.

If you want inspiration, here’s what many other people have said.

But don’t get hung up on trying to review all the background: just say what you mean. Say it today!

-jsq

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

E-comment to FERC ASAP, especially experts

Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson says: “Please consider saying something and be counted.” Here’s How to send an ecomment to FERC.

You can ecomment today on FERC docket number CP15-17 against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline invading Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

Until December 11, 2015 you can also send comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers against Sabal Trail’s use of rivers and wetlands. You can do this for any of Florida, Georgia, or Alabama.

In Georgia, you can send comments to Continue reading →

Sinkholes, toxins, and terrorism are not insignificant: WWALS members to FERC in Valdosta 2015-09-30

The Valdosta newspaper wrote about two, and two more WWALS members also spoke to FERC in Valdosta last Wednesday.

Joe Adgie, Valdosta Daily Times, 2 October 2015, REgulators hear from Valdosta about Sabal Trail,

Deborah Johnson of Suwannee County, Fla., spoke of the safety record of Spectra Energy, the parent company of Sabal Trail.

“Spectra Energy has what is considered one of the worst Continue reading →