All the Waterkeepers of Florida, on one map. Green is parts of Florida with no Waterkeepers. All the other colored areas are territories of one of the members of Waterkeepers Florida.
Thanks to Jen Lomberk, Vice-Chair, Waterkeepers Florida.
Same jurisdictions with names of the Waterkeepers: Continue reading
FDEP is analyzing DNA and human tracers such as sucralose monthly at at least three stations: on the Withlacoochee and Alapahoochee Rivers at the Georgia-Florida line, and at the Withlacoochee River Confluence with the Suwannee River at Ellaville. This is what Waterkeepers Florida (WKFL) heard in Orlando on April 15th from FDEP’s Tom Frick. I think he may have also said at the Alapaha Confluence with the Suwannee River.
FDEP, left to right: Tom Frick (DEAR), Ken Weaver (Standards), Dave Whiting (Laboratory), Darryl Joyner (WQSP).
I asked Tom Frick about that at the meeting FDEP requested with Waterkeepers Florida (WKFL) about the Florida Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards,
Unlike in Georgia, Continue reading
Yesterday, the Chair of Waterkeepers Florida received a resolution sponsored by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried and “signed by Governor DeSantis and the full Cabinet, recognizing the month of April as Water Conservation Month in Florida.” This is a good thing, but we should keep our eyes open about Florida’s current cabinet.
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Left to right: Lisa Rinaman for WKA FL, unknown, Gov. Ron DeSantis, FDEP Secretary Noah Valenstein,
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, unknown, Attorney General Ashley Moody,
and Chief Financial Office Jimmy Patronis.
Commissioner Fried presented the resolution to Lisa Rinaman, the St. Johns Riverkeeper and Chair of Waterkeepers Florida. Read the resolution declaring April as Water Conservation Month here.
“On behalf of Waterkeepers Florida, we thank Commissioner Fried, Governor DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet for designating April as Water Conservation Month. Water conservation is critical to the work we do to protect and restore Florida’s waters. We applaud this resolution and the Cabinet’s commitment to conserving Florida’s waters and the opportunity to partner with our leaders to protect our waters for future generations,” said Lisa Rinaman, St. Johns Riverkeeper.
On St. Johns Riverkeeper’s facebook page, yesterday: Continue reading
In one of its first actions at its first official board meeting,
FLORIDA voted to sign the
Resolution Against Phosphate Mines in Florida, December 19, 2018.
This opposition throughout Florida to phosphate mines anywhere in the state
is especially timely, with
public hearings and a vote coming up in January soon
in Bradford County on the HPS II phosphate mine application.
A dozen of its thirteen members had already signed for their individual organizations. According to its bylaws, all members of WATERKEEPERS Florida are now signed on with the organization. Besides, the thirteenth member, Continue reading
Seven of the fourteen Florida Waterkeepers visited the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to express our serious concern and a sense of urgency to protect and restore Florida’s rivers, coast, bays, estuaries, lakes, springs, and aquifer, especially about resiliency after hurricanes, harmful algal blooms, BMAPs, and phosphate mines. I congratulated Noah Valenstein on his meteoric rise: only two and a half years ago he was just starting as head of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), and now he’s the head of FDEP.
L-R: Andy Hayslip (Tampa Bay Waterkeeper),
Georgia Ackerman (Apalachicola Riverkeeper),
Marty Baum (Indian Riverkeeper),
Jen Lomberk (Matanzas Riverkeeper),
Drew Bartlett (Deputy Secretary for Ecosystem Restoration, FDEP),
Whitney Gray (Administrator, Florida Resilient Coastlines, FDEP),
Rick Frey (St. Marys Riverkeeper),
Lisa Rinaman (St. Johns Riverkeeper),
Noah Valenstein (Secretary, FDEP),
Shannon Blankinship (Advocacy Director, St. Johns Riverkeeper),
John S. Quarterman (hat, Suwannee Riverkeeper),
Tom Frick (back, Director, Division of Environmental Restoration, FDEP); Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hahira, Georgia, November 21, 2017 — Factually incorrect, failing to account for LNG export or solar power, and irresponsible for not finding or creating a method for attributing environmental effects to greenhouse gases, as the DC Circuit Court had instructed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to do: that’s what nine Riverkeepers called FERC’s Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) yesterday; see their letter to FERC. The nine include all the Riverkeepers in the path of Sabal Trail and all parts of the Southeast Market Pipelines Project (SMPP) plus others in all three states invaded by those pipelines, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, plus Oklahoma, where the SMPP instigator, Florida Power & Light (FPL), owns a fracking field, The nine, who support fishable, swimmable, drinkable water, pointed out that all of FPL’s original excuses for Sabal Trail have been proven incorrect, and asked FERC to shut it down.
Sabal Trail in green, Transco and FSC in black, in Sierra Club interactive map of gas pipelines.
The Riverkeepers weren’t buying FERC’s ignorance: Continue reading
Filed today as FERC Accession number 20171120-5130, “Opposition to the incorrect and inadequate FERC Sabal Trail SEIS and request for pipeline shut down by Suwannee Riverkeeper (WWALS) and Apalachicola, Ogeechee, Grand, Choctawhatchee, Chattahoochee, Indian, and Flint Riverkeepers.” (Or see WWALS PDF.)
From: The undersigned Waterkeepers
Date: November 20, 2017
To: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE, Room 1A
Washington, DC 20426
Re: We oppose the incorrect and inadequate FERC Sabal Trail SEIS
FERC Docket Numbers CP14-554-002, CP15-16-003, and CP15-17-002
On September 27, 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published a draft Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS).[1] That SEIS was in response to the August 27, 2017 DC Circuit Court decision[2] regarding FERC’s previous approval of Certificates of Convenience and Necessity for the three parts of the Southeast Markets Pipeline Project (SMPP), which are the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC’s (Transco) Hillabee Expansion Project in Docket No. CP15-16-000; Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC’s (Sabal Trail) Sabal Trail Project in Docket No. CP15-17-000; and Florida Southeast Connection, LLC’s (FSC) Florida Southeast Connection Project in Docket No. CP14-554-000. The judges ordered:
“The orders under review are vacated and remanded to FERC for the preparation of an environmental impact statement that is consistent with this opinion.“
The draft SEIS issued by FERC is clearly not consistent with the court’s opinion for the following reasons:
To cover the entire 600+ mile length of the Sabal Trail and FSC pipelines
from Alabama through Georgia and Florida to Indiantown will require probably
seven small plane flights, so we’ve started a crowdfunding campaign:
Spot Sabal Trail & FSC violations from the air
Flights will be handled by the participating Riverkeepers.
Please follow the link to learn more and to contribute.
If you have a small plane Continue reading
Taking it to the source: the headquarters of FPL, whose ratepayers are on the hook for $3 billion for the Transco → Sabal Trail → FSC fracked methane pipeline boondoggle through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, Sierra Club and Indian Riverkeeper are holding a Rush Hour Rally this Friday, October 14th 2016 in Juno Beach, Florida; see press release for details. If you can’t get there, there are other events all over Florida and beyond. Remember, FPL admits no need for new electricity until 2024, so there’s no more excuse for Sabal Trail.
The facebook page Protect Florida Against Sabal Trail attempts to keep track of upcoming rallies against Sabal Trail or its ugly stepsisters, which are popping up practically daily. Here are some events scheduled starting this weekend: Continue reading
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