Tag Archives: FGT

Eight Riverkeepers oppose FERC’s inaccurate and inadequate Sabal Trail SEIS and request pipeline shutdown 2017-11-20

Filed today as FERC Accession number 20171120-5130, “Opposition to the incorrect and inadequate FERC Sabal Trail SEIS and request for pipeline shut down by Suwannee Riverkeeper (WWALS) and Apalachicola, Ogeechee, Grand, Choctawhatchee, Chattahoochee, Indian, and Flint Riverkeepers.” (Or see WWALS PDF.)

From: The undersigned Waterkeepers

Date: November 20, 2017

To: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE, Room 1A
Washington, DC 20426

Re: We oppose the incorrect and inadequate FERC Sabal Trail SEIS
FERC Docket Numbers CP14-554-002, CP15-16-003, and CP15-17-002

On September 27, 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published a draft Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS).^[1] That SEIS was in response to the August 27, 2017 DC Circuit Court decision^[2] regarding FERC’s previous approval of Certificates of Convenience and Necessity for the three parts of the Southeast Markets Pipeline Project (SMPP), which are the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC’s (Transco) Hillabee Expansion Project in Docket No. CP15-16-000; Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC’s (Sabal Trail) Sabal Trail Project in Docket No. CP15-17-000; and Florida Southeast Connection, LLC’s (FSC) Florida Southeast Connection Project in Docket No. CP14-554-000. The judges ordered:

“The orders under review are vacated and remanded to FERC for the preparation of an environmental impact statement that is consistent with this opinion.“

The draft SEIS issued by FERC is clearly not consistent with the court’s opinion for the following reasons:

The SEIS is factually incorrect in stating that: Continue reading →

Rubio should do solar panels for jobs and resilience, not LNG

Senator Rubio’s small-scale LNG export bill risks more Florida sewage spills in the next hurricane while getting in the way of good solar jobs and reduced power bills for Floridians.

It seems like they never intended to listen. Two days after WWALS submitted comments at the deadline for the Department of Energy’s small-scale LNG exports, Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced legislation to implement that rule.

Solar power for the Sunshine State will generate jobs right where they’re needed, in rural planning, delivery, and installation. That will also reduce everybody’s power bills, while making Florida much more resilient to hurricanes.

Crowley Maritime is already exporting LNG from Jacksonville to Continue reading →

WWALS Against Small-Scale Natural Gas Exports

Submitted by WWALS in Public Comment Concerning Unregulated Small Scale LNG Processing Facilities.

Duke and two canals to the Gulf, Crystal River, FL, 28.9420800, -82.7818000

From: Wwals Watershed Coalition <wwalswatershed@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 4:21 PM
Subject: RIN 1901-AB43 and FE Docket No. 17-86-R
To: fergas@hq.doe.gov
Cc: WWALS Watershed Coalition <wwalswatershed@gmail.com>
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. Against Small-Scale Natural Gas Exports

The path to U.S. energy independence is to finish the conversion of energy production from obsolete fossil fuels and nuclear power to clean, safe, renewable, solar, wind, and water power. Any resources spent on LNG would be better spent on getting on with real renewable power.

Proponents of pipelines often claim new pipelines will reduce the amount of natural gas shipped by road or rail. The Sabal Trail pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, under the Withlacoochee, Suwannee, and Santa Fe Rivers, demonstrates that is not the case.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has already authorized: Continue reading →

From pipelines to renewable energy and efficiency –Sierra Club 2017-08-29

“Once the court officially returns the matter to FERC, the pipeline should cease operations while FERC undertakes the new analysis,” wrote Elly Benson, lead attorney for the case Sierra Club just won against Sabal Trail.

She summed up: ”Instead of sacrificing our communities and environment to build unnecessary pipelines that “set up surefire profits” for pipeline companies at the expense of captive ratepayers, the focus should be on transitioning to clean renewable energy and energy efficiency—especially in the Sunshine State. Forcing federal agencies to grapple with the true climate impacts of dirty fossil fuel projects is a big step in the right direction.”

She leads off this fourth in a WWALS news roundup series (1, 2, 3) about that case, followed by Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper, another party to the case.

WWALS is not a party to that case and does not speak for the parties, so I can be a cheerleader for them. Shut it down! Let the sun rise!

How many pipelines do we want? None! When do we want them? Never! —WWALS at the Sabal Trail Suwannee River crossing, 15 August 2015.

Elly Benson, Sierra Club, 28 August 2017, In Major Climate Decision, D.C. Circuit Rejects Federal Approval of Sabal Trail Pipeline, Continue reading →

FGT natural gas pipeline through HPS II site

Update 2017-08-31: More maps and other information in the Phosphate Mining page.

A couple of 24″ and 30″ natural gas pipelines run west to east across the New River right through the HPS II mine site, turning at the Brooker FGT compressor station to head northeast as 16″ and 20″ pipelines to Jacksonville, carrying Sabal Trail fracked methane from Suwannee County for export from Duval County through Eagle LNG and Crowley Maritime. What could possibly go wrong there with massive mining equipment?

FGT drawn on HPS II annotated map

I’ve drawn Florida Gas Transmission (FGT)’s pipeline routes in blue onto the HPS II map Citizens Against the Phosphate Mine (CAPM) already annotated.

Those FGT routes came from the maps below of Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) through Union and Bradford Counties from the Public Map Viewer of the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

FGT through Union County

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 →

Hard data on lack of need for Sabal Trail –SeekingAlpha

An analyst on a leading stock blog confirms what we’ve been saying for years: there is no need for Sabal Trail’s fracked methane pipeline. Instead, Sabal Trail is taking gas away from FGT and Gulfstream. The article does not mention all those LNG export operations right where this pipeline chain goes. It does get to the heart of what even FPL admits:

“The challenge is natural gas in Florida faces growing competition from residential, commercial and utility scale solar resources as well as power forecasts that are revising lower despite a growing population and customer counts….”

You can help fight Sabal Trail even now that its gas is on, and reform FERC so we don’t get any more pipeline boondoggles.

BTU Analytics, SeekingAlpha, 20 June 2017, Sabal Trail Adding Pipeline Capacity But Not Demand, Continue reading →

Sabal Trail to export through Jacksonville, FL

Let’s connect the dots from Sabal Trail to LNG export through Jacksonville. To cut to the chase: Crowley Maritime’s Carib Energy is already exporting LNG from Jacksonville, and is authorized to get LNG from both Floridian Natural Gas (FLiNG) in Martin County at the end of the Transco → Sabal Trail → FSC pipeline chain, and from Florida Gas Transportation (FGT)’s Jacksonville Expansion Project from Sabal Trail in Suwannee County to Jacksonville.

KMI FGT TECO JEP

Working backwards, look at Jaxport’s own website, Corporate, Major Growth Projects, Liquifed Natural Gas:

EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES

Crowley-owned Carib Energy has already begun small scale exports of LNG to Puerto Rico and has plans for expansion to a number of countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.

That JAXport page links to Crowley Maritime’s LNG Overview web page, which brags: Continue reading →

Suwannee M&R Construction Permit Application to FDEP

Sabal Trail proposes a metering and regulation (M&R) station about 10 miles from Ichetucknee Springs State Park or the Santa Fe River, to connect with Florida Gas Transmission and FGT’s proposed Jacksonville Expansion Project.

The permit notification says “in Suwannee County near the intersection of State Road 247 South and County Road 49 South in Lake City, Florida.” That’s at 30.031970, -82.852732, which according to the Suwannee County Property Appraiser is Parcel Number 19-05S-15E-0110100.0020,
Owner’s Name: SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC
Mailing Address: 5400 WESTHEIMER CT, HOUSTON TX 77056

Which is about 15 miles by road across from Fort White, FL.

Suwannee Democrat, 4 May 2016, PUBLIC NOTICE OF INTENT TO ISSUE AIR PERMIT, Continue reading →

Where pipelines already cross rivers into Suwannee County, Florida

Update 2017-03-31: Newer version of PHMSA pipeline maps.

Two pipelines, one by Southern Natural Gas (SONAT), and one named Florida Gas Transmission (FGT), both owned by Kinder Morgan (KMI), already cross under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers into Suwannee County: FGT does so twice under the Suwannee River and once under the Santa Fe River. All these pipelines carry “natural” gas, which is to say fracked methane. When they were originally built, economically they made some sense. Now that solar power is cheaper, easier and faster to build, and far safer and cleaner, there is no excuse for any more such pipelines, neither Kinder Morgan’s Jacksonville Expansion Project (JEP), nor Spectra Energy’s Sabal Trail.

SONAT