FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(See also PDF and previous blog post.)
Live Oak, FL, October 5, 2017
— Sabal Trail, operating without a permit, is at risk from a new
sinkhole within 60 feet of its 36-inch diameter, high-pressure,
fracked methane pipe under Suwannee River State Park (SRSP),
between the Suwannee River and the drill site in Hamilton County.
Such sinkholes are among the geological risks WWALS warned about
that have happened in the fragile karst limestone containing our
drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. We were assured in October
2015 by Sabal Trail and the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection (FDEP) that sinkholes and frac-outs would not happen or
would be detected and fixed. They keep happening, and Sabal Trail
has done nothing about this one. Sabal Trail should not even be
continuing operations after the DC Circuit Court vacated its
permit six weeks ago.
Suwannee
Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman at new sinkhole in Suwannee River
State Park, 2017-10-03.
Photo:
Christopher J. Mericle, Chair, N. Florida Working Group,
Suwannee-St. Johns Group, Sierra Club Florida.
In WWALS
vs. Sabal Trail & FDEP (October 2015),
FDEP’s one witness, Lisa Prather, said under oath (see
https://wwals.net/blog/?p=27799):
“Well, the Suwannee
River crossing doesn’t, in fact, have any impacts to an
outstanding Florida water, because
the directional drill commences in uplands and terminates in
uplands. So there are no surface water impacts at that crossing
that would affect the 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.”
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S.
Quarterman says:
“Email to Ms. Prather’s address now comes
back with an error message, while the rest of us are left Continue reading →
