Why is the SRWMD Executive Director on the Columbia County agenda a few days before the SRWMD board meeting with the Falling Creek Aquifer Recharge project?
Under
“Presentation of Ministerial Matters Not Requiring Public Comment”,
on the
February 4th agenda for the Columbia Board of County Commissioners:
Noah Valenstein, Executive Director, Suwannee River Water Management District
(1) Introduction
Introduction of what? Of the Continue reading
Even as
Our Santa Fe River and others held a
demonstration in Gainesville yesterday against fracking bills in the Florida
legislature, especially Senate Bill 318 now that
House Bill 191 passed,
Audubon Florida published a letter concluding:
“So my request to you right now: hold off of the emails to the committee, they know you are paying attention.”
This has not sit well with many opponents of fracking in Florida. WWALS is among the members of Floridians Against Fracking that call for Floridians to call their state legislators.
WWALS remembers when Continue reading
On the agenda for 6PM Monday 1 Feb 2016 in Live Oak:
9. Consider Agreement with Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC for temporary use of county owned property located on CR 252.
14. Discuss, scheduling a workshop to evaluate the proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline route near State Park on US 90 West. (Chairman Jason Bashaw)
17. Additional Agenda Items. The Chairman calls for Continue reading
Is less than 50 cents per person in Lowndes County enough to risk drinking water for all?
Noelani Mathews, 27 January 2016, Lowndes County Leaders Vote 4-1 for Sabal Trail,
A 4-1 vote Tuesday night has paved the way for the pipeline to run through part of Lowndes County, but some are upset about the Board’s decision.
“They’re suppose[d] to represent the people of the County, not the salesman for a pipeline company from Houston, Texas”, says John Quarterman, president of WWALS Watershed Coalition.
Continue reading
Update 2023-01-31: Fixed image links that broke when the reference documents vanished from the web.
Public Hearing about the $48 million Falling Creek Aquifer Recharge project and its 48-inch 11-mile pipeline, and several others also involving the upper Suwannee River, 9AM Tuesday, February 9th, 2016, at SRWMD headquarters in Live Oak. Wouldn’t limiting withdrawals make more sense? And why is this the only project listed that’s joint with the St Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), and why is drawdown from Jacksonville prominently featured in slides about why this project?
![[Project Location and Potential Pipeline Alignment]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2015-01-29--falling-creek-aquifer-recharge/50dcffe5ebd5ecaad9e46d02f682ec68.jpg)
Project Location and Potential Pipeline Alignment
On the SRWMD front page under CALENDAR, Continue reading
Update 2016-02-02: Dropoff locations and other updates.
It’s time to get local, state, and federal elected officials to put a stop
to the Sabal Trail boondoggle that risks our property rights, rivers, aquifer, and air.
You can sign a petition to Florida (or Georgia or Alabama) elected officials by
printing out the
PDF
for you and your neighbors.
See below for where to send them.
Or, to sign online, Gulf Restoration Network has put up a handy online form that will send your signature and personalized message directly to your members of Congress.
Here’s the text of the PDF: Continue reading
Apparently fracked methane is Sierra Club Georgia’s next fight now that Keystone XL is dead, since almost its entire January/February/March issue of Georgia Sierran is about opposing natural gas: PDF.
See for example “Why Natural Gas Is Not a Climate Solution”, by Joshua Hanthorn. And “LNG Puts Savannah at Risk”, by Karen Grainey and Stacey Kronquest. Karen is chair of the Coastal Group of Sierra Club Georgia. Pretty much everything in that article also applies to Jacksonville, and quite likely to Palm Beach and other locations in Florida very soon.
Mentioning WWALS is “Pipeline in Southwest Georgia and Central Florida Risks Drinking Water,” by Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper,
The Sabal Pipeline, a joint venture of Spectra Energy, Duke Energy, and NextEra Energy, poses threats to Georgia and Florida communities on multiple fronts. For southwest Georgia and north Florida residents it’s all risks and no rewards. However, so far federal and state authorities have thus far been unmoved by arguments against it.
During the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) public comment period, the agency received more than 1,000 written comments, mostly opposing the project, including resolutions against it from seven counties in Georgia and Florida, and three of the largest cities in its path (Albany, Moultrie and Valdosta).
The article talks about FERC’s FEIS, EPA, GA-EPD, and other matters, before turning to WWALS and Florida. Continue reading
Update 2016-01-17: Report with pictures.
This Saturday, 11AM to 1PM, come to Suwannee River State Park for an educational and organizational meeting about why and how to stop the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and to promote solar power instead, hosted by Suwannee-St Johns Group, Florida Sierra Club. At 1PM the media are invited to a hike to the river with signs!
Do we want
a fireball like a mere 4″ FGT spur made in Bell, Florida in 2012 when a tree fell on it?
Sabal Trai would carry 80 times as much fracked methane.
Or like FGT’s 2009 explosion between the Florida Turnpike and I-95, flying a 104-foot piece of 18-inch pipe through the air, shutting down both roads, and fortunately missing a high school?
Or like
Spectra’s pipeline blowout under the Arkansas River in Little Rock last May?
The same Spectra Energy that wants to drill a 36″ pipeline under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers.
The same industry that’s caused Los Angeles County and the state of California to declare a state of emergency after four months of the Porter Ranch fracking well blowout causing sickness and evacuations near Los Angeles.
When: 11AM-1PM, Saturday, 16 January 2016
Where: Continue reading
Does this sound like a level playing field to you?
Basically Sabal Trail claims “reasonable assurances” mean the pipeline can be completed and that’s a public good for the state of Florida, nevermind any destruction or hazards, while WWALS would have had to demonstrate specific direct damages to many of its members because of pipeline installation just to get standing.
A Spectra Energy executive from Houston, Texas automatically has standing to claim safety using evidence from other pipelines and even other pipeline companies,explicitly referencing the U.S. Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, while WWALS and its local members in Florida are precluded from introducing any evidence about safety in the same case, or so Sabal Trail seems to say in its objections filed today 4 January 2016
(PDF) to
the
judge’s Order in WWALS v Sabal Trail & FDEP.
Seems like the limestone underlying the Floridan Aquifer are not the only cracks and fissures in Florida.
-jsq
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Valdosta has a water treatment byproduct over the recommended limit in its drinking water. Janet McMahan supplied the image below of part of a notice, which says there’s no cause for alarm at the moment:
There is nothing you need do at this time. These violations do not pose Continue reading