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Tag Archives: FERC
Water and family farms more precious than Sabal Trail Sinkhole Pipeline: citizens to FERC in Moultrie 2015-09-29
“Water is our most precious commodity, not pipelines, not Sabal Trail,”, said
WWALS member
Alton Burns, and both
he and WWALS president
John S. Quarterman spoke twice, about safety, water, conflicts of interest, the Floridan Aquifer, lack of transparency, Okapilco Creek, the Withlacoochee River, and the Suwannee River, all of which Sabal Trail is trying to drill under.
Local landowners were the most blunt: the FERC process is
a farce
and
a hoax,
they said.
See for yourself in these
LAKE videos from Moultrie last night.
But it’s still important for you to come speak up, to be on the record, so the news media will hear, and so your neighbors will hear. The FERC meetings continue tonight in Valdosta and Continue reading
Proposed Sabal Trail River Permits –USACE and GA-EDP
An opportunity for more and different public hearings!
The Withlacoochee River doesn’t even rate a mention, nor the Ochlockonee River.
Nor any county other than Stewart, nevermind the ones that have passed
resolutions against the Sabal Trail pipeline: Terrell, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties, Georgia and Hamilton County, Florida, plus the
cities of Albany, Moultrie, and Valdosta, Georgia.
This is the Savannah Army Corps of Engineers Public Notice,
issued the same Friday September 11th 2015 as the ones from
Mobile
and
Jacksonville,
each slightly different.
So is that one, two, or four possible new public hearings? Continue reading
Soon down to the wire to oppose Sabal Trail invasion
The fracking that drives new pipelines was a crime until ten years ago, and it should be again: injecting poisons into the ground under our water supply was always a bad idea.
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson and Jim Tatum, Suwannee Democrat, 14 September 2015,
The FERC flexes its muscles on Sabal Trail,
The time frame is coming down to the wire as to Sabal Trail and its invasion of our riverbeds and springs systems. They have met with nothing but negative comments throughout Georgia and Florida. People have turned out in droves to express their dissent. In spite of this, they move onward with their plan to install a 36” pipeline under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, and through the center of this fragile spring system. Our springs heartland is a regional identity unlike any in the world, but vulnerable to developers and oil and gas companies.
Many environmental groups have been active in resisting. Our Santa Fe River Inc. was consistently Continue reading
WWALS in Albany, GA newspaper
Sabal Trail opposition aware across Georgia and Florida.
Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald, 13 September 2015, FERC Sabal Trail ruling comes amidst protest: Group holds fasting vigil outside federal agency’s offices,
Photo: TONY CASSADY, 31 May 2015, in Arkansas River pipeline blowout occurred on Sunday morning, cause still unknown, by Benjamin Hardy, Arkansas Blog, 3 June 2015Meanwhile, in Florida an environmental group has filed a petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to stop development of the pipeline over concerns about the safety record of Spectra Energy, the Houston-based company that will build the pipeline. The group points to a May pipeline rupture under the Arkansas River that forced two miles of the river to be shut down after an estimated 3.9 million cubic feet of natural gas was released.
Nope, WWALS doesn’t want that Arkansas River rupture to be repeated under the Suwannee River in Florida, the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, or any other river. The reporter seems to have heard about WWALS via Continue reading
GA-EPD plans to certify Sabal Trail within 30 days unless public comments; ditto USACE
People can request a hearing by the state of Georgia or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to stop GA-EPD or the USACE
from rubberstamping
Sabal Trail’s use of wetlands within 30 days from Friday.
USACE explicitly asks for public comments on
“cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest”,
unlike
FL-DEP’s attempts to narrow the issue.
Presumably this includes crossings of the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ochlockonee, and Withlacoochee Rivers in Georgia (and the Suwannee, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee (south) Rivers in Florida and other rivers in Alabama), although
this USACE Jacksonville office public notice
about the Clean Waters Act and the
Rivers and Harbors Act
doesn’t specify.
It was released Friday September 11th
just like the one USACE Mobile District released that same day on
Proposed Discharge of Sabal Trail Fill Material.
Apparently you can ask for a public hearing by USACE in Alabama or Florida
as well as in Georgia.
Here’s the Jacksonville USACE public notice: Continue reading
Proposed Discharge of Sabal Trail Fill Material –U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Late on a Friday, in a USACE public notice:
The USACE has not verified the adequacy of the applicant’s avoidance and minimization statement at this time….
The USACE has not verified the adequacy of the applicant’s proposed off-site mitigation plan at this time.
After how many years has this Sabal Trail project been going on? And still no verification?
PUBLIC HEARING REQUESTS: Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider this application. Requests for public hearings shall state with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing.
How about as a reason somebody needs to examine Sabal Trail’s mitigation plans?
This Friday USACE release frequently mentions Continue reading
Sabal Trail in most vulnerable area of the Floridan Aquifer –Orlando Sentinel
Orlando is just as affected as the Suwannee River by risks of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline proposed by Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas. You can protest to FL-DEP, FERC, and your local, state, and federal elected and appointed officials, and to the news media.
Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel, 9 September 2015, Natural-gas pipeline to Florida draws environmental concerns,
The Sabal Trail Pipeline has drawn opposition from a Florida group affiliated with WWALS Watershed Coalition Inc., which is based in Georgia. A chief concern is that the pipeline could impact Florida waterways and the drinking-water supply, said John S. Quarterman, director of the Florida and Georgia WWALS groups.
This is according to evidence FL-DEP itself sent to FERC in March 2014, showing the proposed pipeline path going through the most vulnerable area of the Floridan Aquifer, which as you can see on the map they included continues down to Orlando. Continue reading
AES Port of Palm Beach LNG export at end of Transco → Sabal Trail → FSC pipeline chain
A company
from Wyoming based in Chicago
was rubberstamped in November 2013 to export liquid natural gas (LNG) from
the Port of Palm Beach,
and it can transport LNG
“over highways and/or by rail”.
Advanced Energy Solutions (AES) intends to get its fracked methane
from
Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company (FLiNG),
which is conveniently located right where the
Transco → Sabal Trail → FSC pipeline chain goes in Martin County, FL.
This LNG approval was done without public hearings, with public input hidden,
and with a clause to hide LNG export contract details.
This they claim is “consistent with the public interest”.
And this only one of
four LNG export operations right where
this pipeline chain goes.
Yet
neither Sabal Trail nor FERC ever said anything about LNG export
until questioned by local citizens.
And then they had little or no comment.
This AES LNG export operation was approved for Martin County, Florida 14 November 2013, one month after Continue reading
Sabal Trail faces opposition in Florida and Georgia –Palm Beach Post
The evidence stacks up against the three-part pipeline, Sabal Trail, Florida Southeast Connection, and Hillabee Expansion Project, despite rote denials by FPL and Sabal Trail. And this article ties the WWALS petition against drilling under the Suwannee River with the Georgia opposition to a compressor station in Albany.
Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post, 31 August 2015, Gas pipeline slated to supply FPL’s plants faces opposition,
A proposed $3.5 billion natural gas pipeline is either essential to Florida’s energy future or a looming disaster that has the potential to damage the iconic Suwannee River and the state’s fragile limestone Floridan Aquifer on its way to Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast….
In recent months, concerns have been raised Continue reading