The ant continues against the dinosaur this morning!
When: 10 AM Tuesday 20 October 2015
Where: Hamilton County Board of Commissioners Chambers,
207 NE First Street
Jasper, Florida 32052
What: WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP
Defending the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, the Floridan Aquifer, the Florida Springs Heartland, and our water, land, and air
against the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline
Remember: Continue reading
Update 2017-05-18: Salt water intrusion inland is worse than you think, including the “Apalachicola salinity feature” up to the GA-FL line and east through Lowndes County, with a special additional brackish Valdosta feature. See Revised Hydrogeologic Framework of the Floridan Aquifer System 2016-03.
Update 2016-02-22: Fixed URLs for DEP files.
Salt water and other solids are coming up in Florida wells far inland from the sea,
right up to the state line, and it probably doesn’t stop there.
The problem is worse on the coasts and in south Florida, but
north central Florida is not immune, judging by these
preliminary maps by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Likely culprits would seem to include overpumping. Continue reading
The main point:
“I’ve got an independent route: let’s cancel this pipeline, and the Sunshine State should go directly to solar power.”
Here’s the video: Continue reading
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
You’ve mostly been hearing about WWALS v. Sabal Trail lately because
of all the
news coverage
related to the petition to FL-DEP, which is great.
But of course WWALS does a lot more than that
and WWALS has been around before anybody ever heard of Sabal Trail.
Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post, 4 September 2015, State regulators grant hearing to anti-pipeline group,
WWALS Watershed coalition and WWALS-Florida which advocate for conservation of Suwannee River and other rivers in south Georgia and North Florida believe the proposed pipeline is not in the public interest and could have severe adverse effects on fish, wildlife, public recreation and navigation.
The pipeline would also go through the fragile karst limestone containing Continue reading
WWALS is about environmental issues such as
those FL-DEP said could proceed.
However, environmental issues extend far beyond
FL-DEP’s narrow view.
A pipeline sinkhole could affect springs
or wells miles away, and that could affect property values,
insurance rates, and of course eco-tourism.
Tourism brings in
$67 billion a year to Florida.
Why would any Florida state agency want to risk that for a pipeline when the Sunshine State can go straight to solar power?
Christopher Curry, Gainesville Sun, 4 September 2015, Part of Sabal Trail challenge will proceed, Continue reading
September 4nd, 2015, Jasper, Florida —
Yesterday the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FL-DEP)
asked for an administrative law judge (ALJ)
“to conduct all necessary proceedings required by law and to submit a recommended order to the Department”.
FL-DEP apparently interprets its Order of the previous day as dismissing only
the petition of WWALS-FL, a Florida nonprofit corporation, and not that of
the parent corporation, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS).
So it seems WWALS gets a hearing after all.
WWALS president John S. Quarterman remarked:
“Everyone told us we’d never get a hearing, so apparently we interpreted the previous day’s FL-DEP dismissal too broadly. But sometimes if you try, you succeed. And WWALS continues to try to stop the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous Sabal Trail pipeline.”
And it seems FL-DEP is reading the news about this case, because Continue reading
2015-09-04: New DEP message, new press release.
September 3rd, 2015, Jasper, Florida —
Despite the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FL-DEP)’s
Order of yesterday dismissing WWALS’ amended petition with prejudice on a technicality,
including an attempt to deny FL-DEP’s responsibilities to the citizens of Florida,
WWALS and WWALS-FL continue to point out the obvious:
Spectra Energy’s
proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline is not in the public interest,
would interfere with property rights far beyond the crossing of the Suwannee River,
would not maintain natural conditions,
and could have severe adverse effects on fish, wildlife, public recreation, and navigation, especially if it blew up like a Spectra Energy pipeline
did in May under the Arkansas River.
Hamilton County, FL resident Deanna Mericle, who wrote much of the WWALS amended petition that was dismissed, responds,
“DEP is doing a disservice to the citizens of Hamilton and Suwannee Counties by not hearing the legitimate argument and hiding behind a questionable technicality. I am sorely disappointed but not surprised.”
Yesterday WWALS received Continue reading
Filed 28 August 2015 (PDF). -jsq
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
STATE OF FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
|
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc., Petitioners,
vs.
SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC and STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION,
Respondents. |
: : : : : : : : : : : |
OGC Case No.: 15-0468 |
Petition for Administrative Hearing:
Florida Department of
Environmental Protection’s intent to issue Environmental Resource Permit
|
Petitioner: |
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. P.O. Box 88 Hahira, GA 31632 wwalswatershed@gmail.com |
WWALS Watershed Coalition Florida Inc.
|
Permit applicant:
Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC.
400 Colonial Center Parkway, Suite 300
Lake Mary, FL 32746
Department Permit file number: 0328333-001
Counties affected by the permitted activity: Hamilton, Suwannee, Gilchrist, Alachua, Levy, Citrus, Marion, Sumter, Lake, Polk, Orange, Osceola. Affected counties represented by WWALS: Hamilton, Suwannee, Madison.
Date Petitioner became aware Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27th, 2015, Hahira — Continuing to oppose the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous invading Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline, WWALS Watershed Coalition will file Friday an amended petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FL-DEP) opposing that agency’s intent to issue a permit for Sabal Trail Transmission to bore its 36-inch pipeline from Hamilton County to Suwannee County under the Suwannee River in Florida.
Update 2015-08-28: Here is the amended petition filed today.
WWALS originally
filed a petition on August 7th. FL-DEP
denied that petition on August 14th, giving a list of reasons and fourteen days
to amend. WWALS will file an amended petition at the end of that
fortnight, on Friday August 28th. Numerous residents of Florida have
become WWALS members, and some will be named in the new filing.
Deanna Mericle, of Hamilton County, Florida, notes, Continue reading