The opposite of what I expected: just west of Hamilton County High School, Cat Creek under SW 55 Drive flows north, not south.
This matters for figuring out what is upstream and downstream from a site on Cat Creek.
![[Movie: Cat Creek south of SW 55 Drive, 14:56:38, 30.4736975, -82.9406837 (31M)]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-24--hamilton-county-creeks/20240824_145638.jpg)
Movie: Cat Creek south of SW 55 Drive, 14:56:38, (31M) 30.4736975, -82.9406837
Frequently there’s no flow in the Little Alapaha River at US 41, but Saturday there was.
In the Alapaha River where it is often completely dry under US 41, there was plenty of water, a bit west of Jasper, Florida, in Hamilton County.
![[Rivers at US 41, Hamilton County, FL, 2024-08-24, Alapaha River, Little Alapaha River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-08-24--alapaha-little-alapaha-rivers-hamilton-county-fl/fbmany.jpg)
Rivers at US 41, Hamilton County, FL, 2024-08-24, Alapaha River, Little Alapaha River
The Alapaha River Jennings Gauge was about 66.06 feet NAVD88 at 2:15 PM, Saturday, August 24, 2024. That’s well within the WWALS recommended water levels of low 65, high 76 at US 4 1 on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
Here’s a bit of video:
https://youtu.be/FWFsUfMSOP0 Continue reading
Cecile Scofield told the Martin County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners that Brightline passenger rail is owned and financed by the same New York hedge fund as the liquid natural gas (LNG) liquefication plants that are sending LNG by rail over Florida East Coast Railway (FECR), and the LNG export and passenger rail projects are mutually dependent, presenting “unique risks”, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Here is Cecile’s presentation, extracted from
Martin County’s own video:
https://youtu.be/KjjdDdb1HI8 Continue reading
In a rare huge win for conservationists, on February 15, 2024, St. Johns Riverkeeper, Miami Waterkeeper, and co-plaintiffs won their case to stop the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) from assuming wetlands permitting.
![[Florida panther, Waterkeepers Florida]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-15--epa-fdep-vacate/igmany.jpg)
Florida panther, Waterkeepers Florida
FDEP assumption was always a bad idea. “The toxic algae blooms that now plague Florida are a direct result of the state’s decades-long failure to protect our waterways from wildlife-choking pollution,” Jason Totoiu, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Now the state wants to make it even easier to dredge and fill wetlands that help filter these pollutants.”
Here’s the original lawsuit.
Jim Saunders, WUSF & News Service of Florida, February 19, 2024, A judge sides with environmentalists in wetlands permitting shift,
Continue readingIn a win for environmental groups, a U.S. district judge Thursday ruled that federal officials did not follow required steps in 2020 before shifting permitting authority to Florida for projects that affect wetlands.
Washington, D.C.-based Judge Randolph Moss, in a 97-page decision, found that actions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Endangered Species Act. Moss vacated the approval of the shift to the state.
Update 2024-07-01: Federal Railroad Administration 281-page FOIA response on FECR LNG by Rail request 2024-06-07.
The president’s decision on Calcasieu Pass LNG (CP2) in Louisiana is a huge win, comparable to the Keystone XL pipeline decision a decade ago. But what does it mean for Florida?
According to the New York Times:
Whatever new criteria is used to evaluate CP2 would be expected to be applied to the other 16 proposed natural gas terminals that are awaiting approval.
…
“This move would amount to a functional ban on new LNG export permits,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
The catch is that there are already LNG export operations in Florida and Georgia.
Plus Florida is a few hundred miles closer than Louisiana to Puerto Rico, which is one of the usual first destinations of LNG, and closer to most of the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America.
And some of the financiers of Louisiana LNG projects are involved in existing or potential projects in Florida.
![[Calcasieu Pass LNG in google maps]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-01-24--lng-climate/2024-01-24--calcasieu-pass-google-maps-cropped.jpg)
Calcasieu Pass LNG in
google maps
Here are excerpts from the NYTimes story. Coral Davenport, New York Times, January 24, 2024, White House Said to Delay Decision on Enormous Natural Gas Export Terminal: Before deciding whether to approve it, the Energy Department will analyze the climate impacts of CP2, one of 17 proposed LNG export terminals., Continue reading
Update 2024-01-16: SWFWMD ERP 43046299.000 for 3RT Sand Mine, Levy County, FL 2023-04-19.
According to local citizens and WCJB 20 ABC TV, yesterday the Levy County Commission failed to decide on the proposed special exception, even though the meeting went on for more than six hours.
![[Levy County Commission failed to decide if sand mine trucks could head for cows]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-05--levy-county-3rt-sand-mine/many.jpg)
Levy County Commission failed to decide if sand mine trucks could head for cows
This is about the proposed Special Exception for the 3RT Sand Mine.
Next it will be back at the Levy County Board of County Commissioners, 9 AM, Tuesday, February 6, 2024, in the Levy County Government Center Auditorium, 310 School Street, Bronson, FL 32621.
Meanwhile, you can still Continue reading
Update 2024-01-31: Huge win against LNG: feds require climate analysis; what about Florida? 2024-01-24.
Cecile Scofield got this op-ed into TCPalm, Sunday, November 13, 2023, “Liquefied natural gas issue on Brightline railroad”
According to a recent article, Brightline (Fortress Investment Group) is looking for land adjacent to existing tracks away from the St. Lucie River bridge in downtown Stuart. The property must also be able to support other development opportunities for Brightline.
In 2014, Florida East Coast Railway discussed moving liquefied natural gas on its network with the Federal Railroad Administration. On Sept. 24, 2014, AAF Holdings LLC filed an application with the Florida Development Finance Corp., for $1.75 billion in private activity bond financing for “All Aboard Florida.” About $440 million would be used to construct new track and rail between Cocoa and Orlando, the gateway to Tampa and the Panama Canal.
![[Brightline Route to Disney World and Tampa Bay]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-11-12--lng-brightline-rr/big/Brightline-768x896.jpg)
Brightline Route to Disney World and Tampa BayIn November 2014, James Hertwig, former CEO of FECR, said he thought the laws would change where double-stacked 10,000-gallon liquefied natural gas international standards organization containers would run from South Florida to Jacksonville, creating a virtual rolling natural gas pipeline. However, the single-tracked St. Lucie River railroad bridge presented a problem. Constructing an LNG production facility in Stuart or north of Stuart could be a solution.
Continue reading
Update 2024-01-15: Meeting: Outstanding Florida Springs Basin Management Plans 2024-01-23.
It’s back: the proposed Special Exception for the 3RT Sand Mine.
This time it will be at the Levy County Board of County Commissioners, 9 AM, Tuesday, December 5, 2023, in the Levy County Government Center Auditorium, 310 School Street, Bronson, FL 32621.
![[Cows, mining trucks, and Public Notice]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-05--levy-bocc-3rt-sandmine/many.jpg)
Cows, mining trucks, and Public Notice
Meanwhile, you can still sign on to this change.org opposition petition by Kim Wheeler:
https://www.change.org/p/no-special-exceptions-for-mining-in-rural-neighborhoods
And you can send written comments up to five days before the Public Hearing; see below.
The mine site is still in the springshed of Rainbow Springs.
You may not think that these are enough: Continue reading
There is little financial recourse for the extensive Hurricane Idalia damage to hoop houses, buildings, row crops, elevators, grain bins, irrigation systems, fences, and tree crops. Most of the insurers had already pulled out. FEMA will help with farmhouses, but not the rest. Many farmers will never recover.
![[Collage, Suwannee County Agriculture Meeting 2023-09-21]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-09-21--suwannee-county-agriculture-meeting/many.jpg)
Collage, Suwannee County Agriculture Meeting 2023-09-21
County Administrator Gregg Scott noted that almost $900 million revenue that comes to the county because of agriculture, and $60 million of tax revenue “that goes through you”. 97% of Suwannee County farms are owned by local farmers; family farms are important.
Wesley Wainwright, owner of Wainwright Farms, explained much of the damage. Continue reading
Update 2023-09-14: Now with Agenda.
Return of the massive 2017 North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP) that did nothing to stop lowering water levels or nitrates leaching into springs and rivers.
DATE AND TIME: Thursday, September 21, 2023, Posterboard Session starts at 5:45 p.m. and the Webinar Presentation starts at 6:30 p.m.
Where: SRWMD, 9225 CR 49, Live Oak, FL 32060
Or by webinar: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2570768570283041622
![[Potential evaporation map 2019-08-01 with joint SRWMD SJRWMD NFRWSP approval meeting 2017-01-17]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-09-21--srwmd-nfrwsp/many.jpg)
Potential evaporation map 2019-08-01
with joint SRWMD SJRWMD NFRWSP approval meeting 2017-01-17
As I wrote SRWMD and SJRWMD this January, “I have some issues with another level. I noticed repeated assertions in the public meeting that demand or projected demand are just taken as givens. So basically anybody who wants to build a golf course, or start another titanium mine, or plant almond trees that need lots of water, that’s just a given, that’s demand.”
I continue to agree with Dennis J. Price, P.G., of Hamilton County, Florida (now a WWALS Board member), Continue reading
![[FRA: FECR LNG export by rail & Brightline, Cecile Scofield @ Martin BOCC 2024-06-18, Fortress Energy Partners (FEP), Hialeah, Port Miami, Port Everglades, JAX]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-06-18--fra-lng-brightline-rr-martin-county-fl/fbmany.jpg)