Standing room only last night for
two hours of how to oppose Sabal Trail and help the sun rise on Florida and the southeast,
7 PM, Thursday, January 12, 2017
at The Woman’s Club of Live Oak,
called by Suwannee Riverkeeper.
Here are links to each of the videos, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Please share widely, and you can reuse any of these videos; just cite the source, WWALS Watershed Coalition. Continue reading
Suwannee RIVERKEEPER® invites you on
a brief paddle down the Suwannee River from the CR 141 ramp to the Sabal Trail pipeline path, and onwards to Suwannee River State Park (SRSP) Ramp,
preceded by speakers at SRSP.
The last time we paddled this route
we were live on the WCTV 6 o’clock news.
Like that time, this is a completely legal nonviolent protest event
against the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline,
right now drilling under the Suwannee River.
Bring the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. With bon-bons, of course.
Simultaneously another event NOT organized by WWALS is taking place: Mass Civil Disobedience to Stop the Suwannee River Crossing. If you want to do anything that might not be legal, go to that other, non-WWALS event.
To hear directly from the organizers of the various events, come to Rivers against Sabal Trail in Live Oak 7PM Jan 12 2017 —Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
The January 14th WWALS Suwannee River paddle is resolutely legal, on the navigable waters of the Outstanding Florida Water, the Suwannee River, or on its banks below the high water mark. There is no perfect guarantee, but this WWALS outing is about as safe legally as you can get.
When: Saturday, January 14th, 2017
10:30 AM deposit boats at CR 141 Ramp (the green map marker). The boats will be watched by a WWALS volunteer.
Shuttle to SRSP by 11AM for speakers there (the blue map marker).
Noon shuttle back to CR 141 Ramp to be on the water by 12:30 PM
to get to the pipeline crossing by 1PM (the red map marker).
Afternoon take out at SRSP and shuttle those who need it back to CR 141 Ramp.
Put In: Continue reading
Update 2017-10-13: WWALS Videos of all the speakers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Live Oak, Florida, January 4, 2017
—Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas is drilling its 36-inch fracked
methane pipeline under the Suwannee and Withlacoochee (south) Rivers
in Florida right now. It already caused a frac-out of drilling mud
into the Withlacoochee River in Georgia and a sinkhole, plus more
sinkholes where it drilled under the Santa Fe River in Florida. How
did this happen? What can we do to stop this unnecessary,
destructive, and hazardous corporate boondoggle?
Suwannee Riverkeeper calls water protectors to rally in Live Oak
against the Sabal Trail pipeline and for our property rights,
rivers, and the Floridan Aquifer.
When: 7 PM, Thursday, January 12, 2017
Where: The Woman’s Club of Live Oak, 1308 11th Street SW, Live Oak, FL 32064
Agenda: Continue reading
Update 2017-03-17: Yes, there’s plenty of water and the weather forecast is fine.
A long downstream paddle on the historic Suwannee River from Georgia into Florida.
In the winter-spring rainy season the water should be high and fast.
Bring the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. There is no good place to take out before the end point, so be prepared to paddle all day. With lunch, swim stops, and bon-bons, of course.
When: 7AM Saturday, March 18th, 2017
Put In: Fargo Ramp
GPS: 30.68297, -82.56105
Take Out: Roline Launch
Duration: 10 hours
Free: This outing is Free! And we recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
Continue reading
An anonymous informant sent these aerial pictures of what appear to be the
Sabal Trail drill sites at the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, plus the Hildreth
Compressor Station near O’Brien, apparently taken Thursday 22 December 2016.
The GPS coordinates were Continue reading
The pipe to go under the Suwannee RIver is laid out, welded, and has pressure test fittings at the Hamilton County side of the Suwannee River,
but the drill site itself has nothing but a generator.
So it looks like they’re drilling under from the Suwannee County side
Here are some pictures and videos taken in Hamilton County near CR 141.
Sabal Trail didn’t like that.
This is the site at 30.410381, -83.165874 that you see in the foreground in an aerial picture in a previous post.
Here’s a playlist of WWALS videos, and there are more pictures below. Continue reading
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
Sabal Trail only barely misses the Withlacoochee River in Florida, even though it no longer crosses over into Madison County. And it’s the same Floridan Aquifer on both sides of the river.
Springs and pipeline, 30.4828540, -83.2577470: The red line is Sabal Trail in Hamilton County. In the foreground in Madison County is Madison Blue Spring on the Withlacoochee River, and the P is Pot Spring farther downstream. The N is Nestle; you’d think they’d care about potential damage to the aquifer from which they suck water.
Withlacoochee River, pipeline, 30.4591650, -83.2224900: Close enough? Continue reading
The Alapaha River is dry much of the year in most of its Florida run, because it goes underground upstream and comes back up in the Alapaha Rise, which is actually upstream on the Suwannee River from the Alapaha Confluence. The Cody Scarp causes this underground river phenomenon. See also the WWALS Alapaha River Water Trail.
Tents full of thirty people in the morning sun, and happy campers starting to have breakfast, was what Gretchen and I saw when we stopped to visit Sacred Water Camp Sunway morning. They’re watching Sabal Trail, as it drills under the Suwannee River.
Gregory Payne and many campers
You don’t have to camp out to protect all our waters, land, and air. Georgians can sign a petition to Georgia state legislators. Anyone can demand their members of Congress rein in FERC, the rogue, captive agency that permitted Sabal Trail and gave it eminent domain to take local lands. If you see a possible environmental or legal violation, report it your self or contact WWALS. Lots more here.
Sacred Water Camp is not a project of WWALS. However, it is in WWALS’ watersheds and WWALS watches Continue reading