Tag Archives: Hamilton County

Hamilton County resolution to ban fracking in Florida

Chris Mericle reported yesterday:

The Hamilton Co. BOCC voted today to pass Resolution 2015-2, a resolution to support SB-166 and HB-169 to ban Fracking in the State of Florida.

For background, see previous post. Here is the text of the resolution:

RESOLUTION 2015-02

300x400 WHEREAS, in Resolution to ban fracking in Florida, by Hamilton County BOCC, for WWALS.net, 3 March 2015 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF HAMILTON COUNTY, FLORIDA, SUPPORTING PROPOSED LEGISLATION (SB 166 and HB 169) PROVIDING A STATEWIDE BAN ON HYDRAULIC FRACTURING, ACID FRACTURING, AND WELL STIMULATION PERFORMED FOR THE PURPOSES OF EXPLORATION OR PRODUCTION OF OIL OR NATURAL GAS IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

WHEREAS, well stimulation treatments may involve the use of hundreds of chemicals, some of which are known to be carcinogenic or could otherwise be harmful to human health; and Continue reading →

Anti-fracking on the agenda Tuesday in Hamilton County, Florida

Chris Mericle reports an anti-fracking resolution is on the agenda for the the Hamilton County, Florida Board of Commissioners Tuesday 3 March 2015.

The agenda for the March 3rd Hamilton Co BOCC meeting is published in the Jasper News this week. Listed Item #6 reads:

RESOLUTION — SUPPORTING SB-166/HB-169-BILLS IN OPPOSITION TO FRACKING IN FLORIDA

The meeting starts at 9am, Room 112, Courthouse, 207 Northeast First Street, Jasper, FL 32052.

It is unclear whether Continue reading →

No fracking in Hamilton County, Florida?

Chris Mericle reports from last night’s (17 Feb 2015) meeting:

Tonight at the Hamilton Co. BOCC meeting the chairman, Josh Smith, directed the county attorney to get copies of the Senate and House bills to ban Fracking in FL to supply to the board at the next meeting. Josh also asked the board to consider a resolution of support of those bills just as Alachua, Union and Miami-Dade Counties have done. This should be on the agenda for the next scheduled meeting.

-Chris Mericle

For those bills, see this WWALS blog post. For ongoing updates on Florida anti-fracking resolutions and laws, see the fracking category on Our Santa Fe River, which also leads you to reports on the Alachua County and Union County resolutions. And if you’re near Tallahassee today, there’s the noon rally on the steps of the old Capitol.

-jsq

WWALS Goals for 2014

A surprising number of the Board’s nine goals for 2014 have been accomplished, and some new ones have already been added. What goals should WWALS have for 2015?

Goals accomplished include becoming an IRS 501(c)(3) and raising money for and purchasing insurance. Some we’ve been doing right along: cleanups, including Rivers Alive. Some are so much the core of what WWALS does that we didn’t even list them as goals, but we’ve been doing them anyway: monthly outings and indoor events.

The later-added goal of the Alapaha River Water Trail is Continue reading →

Sabal Trail ignored springs and underground connections –TSE Plantation

300x388 Sabal Trail proposes to go through an area riddled with these conduits, in TSE Plantation against Sabal Trail pipeline, by Thomas S. Edwards, Jr., for WWALS.net, 29 January 2015 A Suwannee County, Florida landowner points to newly-discovered connections between springs under rivers and to other well-known springs Sabal Trail ignored, adding:

Note that the undersigned is a lay person attorney and NOT a karst expert. Basic research revealed the information contained herein and the omission of this infonnation by Sabal’s purported karst experts should raise serious questions as to the credibility of Sabal’s filings.

Filed with FERC 29 January 2015 as Accession Number: 20150129-5192, “Supplemental Information / Request of Edwards & Ragatz, P.A. under CP15-17. Supplemental Comments of Proposed Intervener, Thomas S. Edwards, Manager, TSE Plantation, LLC Opposing Portion of Sabal Trail Route and Related Motion to Accept Late Comments”, Continue reading →

Statenville to Sasser Landing on the Alapaha River, WWALS Outing, 2015-02-15

Expert Paddle on the Alapaha River Sunday, February,15th 12:00pm. facebook event

Update 2015-03-06: Summary and pictures.

Launch site: Statenville boat ramp on HWY 94 just west of Statenville, GA, 30°42’15.3″N 83°01’57.9″W 30.704260, -83.032750.
Take out:Alapahoochee boat ramp (Sasser Landing) HWY 150 a few miles east of Jennings, FL, 30°36’02.6″N 83°04’23.7″W 30.600710, -83.073260.


Picture by Michael Rivera,
used with permission.

We will meet at launch site at noon, unload boats and shuttle vehicles to the take out (25 miles Round trip), on the water by 1:00.

This event is FREE! All we ask is that Continue reading →

High school student logo contest for Alapaha River Water Trail by WWALS in Suwannee Democrat

Update 2015-03-10: Prizes to high school logo contest winners Saturday at Alapaha River Water Trail Conference.

Florida noticed the ARWT logo contest.

Joyce Marie Taylor, Jasper News, 19 January 2015, HamCo: High school student logo contest for Alapaha River Water Trail by WWALS,

HCHS [Hamilton County High School] invited to participate

Valdosta, Ga.— Willacoochee, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Little River System (WWALS) is excited to announce a contest among high school students in Echols, Lanier, Lowndes, Berrien, Atkinson, and Tift Counties in Georgia, and Hamilton County, Fla. to design a logo for the Alapaha River Water Trail. The logo will be used on the Water Trail website, on promotional brochures, and on information at access points along the river that will be posted on kiosks.

Our judges for the contest include:

The rest is verbatim from The WWALS press release of 14 January 2015.

-jsq

28 Bill Gates parcels in Madison County, FL

More than 1,000 acres through September 2014, in parcels already adding up to more than 250 acres, or in contiguous or nearby parcels that can be combined, all bought by Lakeland Sands LLC.

300x152 2335.52 acres of timberland, in Lakeland Sands in Hamilton County, FL, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 4 January 2015 On SE Farm Road and FL 63, between Madison and Lee, 30.423520, -83.353757, parcels 01-1S-09-0843-000-000 (374 acres), 06-1S-10-1192-000-000 (568.35 acres), 05-1S-10-1187-000-000 (363.161 acres), 07-1S-10-1197-000-000 (316.13 acres), 08-1S-10-1199-000-000 (259 acres) 12-1S-09-0892-001-000 (67.27 acres) 12-1S-09-0893-000-000 (224.68 acres), and 11-1S-09-0884-000-000 (162.93 acres), for 2335.52 acres total in just those eight parcels. All eight marked as timberland: we’ll see how long that lasts. Plus 12-1S-09-0892-002-0A2 (39.12 acres) of pastureland in between. These parcels surround a couple of City of Madison parcels Continue reading →

Old Bridge over Alapahoochee River

Nice to look at, but not for driving. Chris Mericle reports:

300x225 River and bridge, in Old Bridge over the Alapahoochee River, by Chris Mericle, for WWALS.net, 3 January 2015 Here are some photos of an old bridge across the Alapahoochee River that Deanna and I came across while out exploring the other day.

Driving or even walking across this bridge probably shouldn’t be recommended. Continue reading →