Tag Archives: Floridan Aquifer

International coverage of Sabal Trail opposition and Suwannee River water protectors –The Guardian 2017-01-24

For once a news story gives the last word to local water protectors, and it plays up our land and our water.

Richard Luscombe, The Guardian, 24 January 2017, Why a protest camp in Florida is being called the next Standing Rock: At first glance the quiet town of Live Oak seems an unlikely venue for a stand against Big Energy. But in recent weeks it’s become a centre of opposition,

A north Florida river that attracted the state’s first tourists a century before Walt Disney’s famous cartoon mouse is emerging at the centre of a fight against a contentious 515-mile natural gas pipeline that many are calling America’s next Standing Rock.

One section of the so-called Sabal Trail pipeline is being laid beneath the crystal waters of the Suwannee river, whose pure mineral springs were once fabled to cure anything from marital strife to gout.

The story quotes Continue reading →

Stop Sabal Trail Pipeline and Save the Floridian Aquifer on Maine radio

WWALS member Chris Mericle was on a radio show out of Maine last week, along with Shannon Larsen of AncienTrees and Bobby C. Billie of the Council of Original Miccosukee Seminole Nation Aboriginal People.

Sherri Mitchell and Rivera Sun, Love (and Revolution) Radio, 3 January 2017, Stop Sabal Trail Pipeline and Save the Floridian Aquifer, Continue reading →

Chris and Deanna Mericle win Sierra Club Cypress Award

WWALS members Deanna and Chris Mericle won an award for their activism against the Sabal Trail pipeline at the December 1st 2016 meeting of the Suwannee-St Johns Sierra Club Group.

Photo: Maryvonne Devensky, Vice Chair/Outings/ICO, Suwannee-St Johns Group Sierra Club

The Pelican, Sierra Club Florida, Fall 2016, Chapter Announces 2016 Award Recipients,

Congratulations to the following individuals who are being recognized with Chapter awards:
Cypress Award, Chris and Deanna Mericle, Suwannee St. Johns Group The couple is being honored for their diligent work to expose the faulty documentation of the Sabal Trail Pipeline LLC. Through their efforts, much information on the dangerous pipeline was brought to the attention of elected officials and the public.

The Mericles were the prime movers in getting Sabal Trail to move off the Withlacoochee River in Florida. In August 2014 Chris Mericle told the Hamilton BOCC he was trying not to be emotional. Continue reading →

Stop Sabal Trail fracked gas pipeline; invest in solar –John S. Quarterman in Citrus County Chronicle 2016-12-25

Here’s a Christmas present for pipeline opponents and solar power proponents.

John S. Quarterman, Citrus County Chronicle, other voices, 25 December 2016, Stop gas pipeline; invest in solar,

Sabal Trail and FDEP assured us there would be no problems drilling a 36-inch natural gas pipeline through the fragile karst limestone under the Suwannee River and the Withlacoochee (south) River in Florida, yet already Sabal Trail’s pilot hole under the Withlacoochee (north) River in Georgia caused a frac-out of drilling mud into the river and a sinkhole. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should halt construction and do a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
When I happened to fly over the Withlacoochee (north) River frac-out, I also saw Continue reading →

Why #NoSabalTrail #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife

Update 17 Dec 2016: What would you add? Comment here or send email to wwalswatershed@gmail.com. There will be a longer second version of this post.

Many new people and organizations are joining the opposition to the Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail fracked methane pipeline. Many of them ask me: why are we opposing this pipeline? It’s simple: our water, land, and air are more important than profit for a few utility executives and a few fossil fuel companies from Houston, Texas and Alberta, Canada. Solar power is now cheaper, faster to install, and far less destructive than any other power source, so the Sunshine State should turn directly to the sun.

Three years ago FPL said Sabal Trail was needed for new Florida electricity. FPL’s 2016 Ten Year Plan says Florida needs no new electricity until 2024 at the earliest. So why should we accept any destruction or risk for an unnecessary pipeline?

We were assured by Sabal Trail and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s one witness testified under oath in WWALS v Sabal Trail & FDEP: Continue reading →

Sabal Trail violations FDEP assured us would not happen are happening

Already under the Withlacoochee River in Georgia there’s been a frac-out and a sinkhole at a drilling site, upstream from the Suwannee River in Florida, under which FDEP told us it couldn’t happen:

“ Well, the Suwannee River crossing doesn’t, in fact, have any impacts to an outstanding Florida water….”
“Well, any work within, or could have adverse effects on OFW, is considered. In this case, we determine that there would be no impacts to the OFW.”

Apparently not only FDEP’s sole witness Lisa Prather believed Sabal Trail; according to a video yesterday by Cody Suggs at the Suwannee River, Sabal Trail’s own workers seem to believe their company’s propaganda.

Much more about WWALS v Sabal Trail & FDEP is on the WWALS website, including videos and transcripts of the landowners who also tried to warn FDEP that sinkholes happen like they already have including under at least two public roads in Suwannee County, Florida. And more about what already happened is on the WWALS website, plus things you can do to stop this $3 billion dollar fracked methane boondoggle.

For example, you may want to ask the permitting agencies some of the questions WWALS asked, including this one:

Which of FERC, FDEP, GA-EPD, USACE, SRWMD are working to protect the health, welfare and safety of the communities surrounding this pipeline and how are they doing that?

Given that I asked them for a prompt answer and two weeks later have gotten no answer at all, it sure looks like we the people will have to find and report violations and use other methods to stop this pipeline.

The transcript questions quoted below are Continue reading →

Less withdrawals, more water retention for North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan: WWALS PR 2016-12-06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jasper, Florida, November 6th 2016 — Better modeling and measurement of more water reuse and retention with fewer water withdrawals in both north Florida and south Georgia, WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) recommended yesterday in comments (PDF) on the North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP). WWALS also opposed the Falling Creek Aquifer Storage project and suggested a replacement, and recommended including threats to the FLoridan Aquifer and the Suwannee, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers such as pipelines and fracking.

WWALS applauded water supply projects involving reuse or stormwater, especially those in Jacksonvile and Gainesville, two of the sources of the general problem of falling water levels in the Floridan Aquifer. WWALS also applauded the plan to set minimum flow levels on the upper Suwannee River and WWALS expects to be involved with that.

WWALS recommended expanding the original study area, which stopped at the Suwannee River on the west and the Georgia-Florida state line on the north. WWALS president John S. Quarterman explained,

“Our rivers don’t stop because there’s a state line on a map, and there are three second-magnitude springs on the Withlacoochee River in Georgia south of Valdosta, one of them with a more than 4,000-foot cave system, that aren’t taken into account in this draft plan.”

Quarterman elaborated on a much larger concern: Continue reading →

Pictures: Alapaha and Dead River Sinks 2016-11-06

A very scenic hike to some of the most unusual geological features in all of Florida: the Alapaha River Sink and the Dead River Sink. We walked over beds of 50-million-year-old fossilized oysters, above all our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. See many pictures and a few videos of the sights, and a google map of the sites.

Practicing Geologist Dennis Price led us by the scenic route on this hike, explaining the karst geology on display, which underlies all of north Florida and south Georgia, containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. Dennis and hike organizer Chris Mericle recommend making this very unusual area a state park.

The Alapaha River goes underground here unless it has a lot of water, which usually this time of year and right now it does not.

Don’t fall into the Devil’s Den, 30.5855189, -83.0528064

Update 2022-11-17: The Jennings Gauge read 61.70′ NAVD88.

Until recently nobody knew for sure Continue reading →

Rush Hour Rally at FPL HQ to Stop Sabal Trail Pipeline 2016-10-14

Taking it to the source: the headquarters of FPL, whose ratepayers are on the hook for $3 billion for the Transco → Sabal Trail → FSC fracked methane pipeline boondoggle through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, Sierra Club and Indian Riverkeeper are holding a Rush Hour Rally this Friday, October 14th 2016 in Juno Beach, Florida; see press release for details. If you can’t get there, there are other events all over Florida and beyond. Remember, FPL admits no need for new electricity until 2024, so there’s no more excuse for Sabal Trail.

The facebook page Protect Florida Against Sabal Trail attempts to keep track of upcoming rallies against Sabal Trail or its ugly stepsisters, which are popping up practically daily. Here are some events scheduled starting this weekend: Continue reading →

Bill Gates, Suwannee Farms, Lakeland Sands, examples from the air 2016-06-21

Here are a few pictures of some Bill Gates properties from the MIDS Southwings flyover of June 21st, 2016, including Suwannee Farms which we previously discovered a Gates subsidiary had bought.

Notice how close these lands are to the Suwannee River or the Withlacoochee River and Madison Blue Spring. Some of them look freshly cleared. Many of them are probably also in Floridan Aquifer recharge zones. There is more identification work to be done. And we have more aerial pictures (and video).

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

Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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