WWALS encourages people to participate in
Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB)‘s
event:
Georgia’s Fifteenth Annual River Clean up
Saturday, October 4, 2014
8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Multiple Lowndes/Valdosta Cleanup Sites:
“Please call or emaiI to volunteer so that you can be assigned to ane of the sites“
For More Information Contact: Continue reading
Second WWALS outing this month, this time on land;
facebook event.
If you enjoy paddling the Alapaha River, I hope you will consider coming out this Saturday to give back and help clean up along the river’s banks as part of a
GA Rivers Alive cleanup. Starts at 0900 at the boat ramp at the Hwy 82 bridge just east of the town of Alapaha. I anticipate the cleanup will last about an hour. Bring work gloves and good cheer.
It is much easier to pick up trash along the banks Continue reading
Update 2 Oct 2014: WWALS will have a table at the conference. See you there!
This conference coming up next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
looks quite interesting.
I wonder if they know they’re directly on the Sabal Trail fracked methane
pipeline Alternative 3
which would gouge through the Floridan Aquifer from Albany, GA through
Monticello and then east and south across the Ochlockonee, Aucilla, Ecofina, Suwannee, and Santa Fe Rivers?
Sharing Water:
The Floridan Aquifer in Alabama, Georgia and Florida Continue reading
Delivered on paper to Commissioner Joyce E. Evans a week ago, and sent by email to all the Lowndes County Commissioners today, with attached PDF. -jsq
WWALS Watershed Coalition
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
11 September 2014Re: Alapaha Water Trail
Dear Lowndes County Commissioners,
WWALS Watershed Coalition is implementing a small grant from Georgia River Network (GRN) to establish an Alapaha River Water Trail.
In addition, a grant application opportunity has come up that could result in funding to Lowndes County for related facilities, and perhaps to extend that Water Trail into a system of Blueways also including the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers. In addition to improving local quality of life, either or both could contribute to the economy of Lowndes County by bringing in boaters on the rivers who would buy locally, and providing features attractive to knowledge-based businesses and their employees. All at little or no cost to the county plus grant funding.
The GRN grant involves Continue reading
Will Sabal Trail actually move off the Withlacoochee River in Florida?
That depends on how you interpret which version of what Sabal Trail has said
about its seven (7) different proposed fracked methane pipeline
routes through Suwannee County, Florida.
And all but one of the five proposed Georgia routes still would
cross the Withlacoochee River in Lowndes County, Georgia.
Beware that no matter what Sabal Trail says, FERC could pick any of these
routes or some other.
And no matter what FERC says, other agencies, including state and local,
also have to approve permits and other evaluatios of any route,
plus both Spectra Energy and Williams Company have recently “suspended”
or cancelled pipelines as uneconomic.
There is something you and your local elected bodies can do.
Amber Vann wrote for the Suwannee Democrat 19 September 2014, Gas pipeline concerns continue, Continue reading
Update 2014-11-13: This is actually the Dead River Sink. See also the Alapaha River Sink. -jsq
Received 16 September 2044:
I just saw the photos on WWALS web site of Bret’s trip to find the sink, Very nice.
Here are some photos of the sink you may want to add.
-Chris Mericle
Plus this Sunday, 10AM 21 September 2014, Chris and Deanna Mericle will be our local hosts at the WWALS outing on the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers in Florida.
-jsq
Continue readingFiled with FERC 16 September 2014 as Report of Christopher J Mericle , On site meeting with local property owners, FERC and Sabal Trail at the proposed Withlacoochee river crossing Hamilton Co. Florida under PF14-1. Chris and Deanna Mericle are our local hosts for the WWALS outing at that same affected location 10 AM this Sunday, September 21st 2014. -jsq
9-10-14
Local property owners met with FERC and Sabal Trail to voice concerns with the proposed Natural Gas pipeline route where it crosses the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, Florida. We had a great turnout of local support. Also in attendance, supporting our cause, was David Brown, Florida Certified Geologist, Jessica Norfleet, Constituent Advocate representing U.S. Congressman Ted Yoho, and Louie Goodin, Hamilton Co. Coordinator representing Hamilton Co. Board of Commissioners.
Attendees for FERC included John Peconom, Project manager, James Martin, Chief-Gas Branch3 and at least 4 other people.
Sabal had over 10 people attending from all areas of expertise including Andrea Glover, public relations, and Greg Jones, Geologist.
There was discussion of Continue reading
Gretchen sent this letter to the Valdosta City Council last Thursday, and is going to read it to them tonight at their Regular Session (PDF. -jsq
Dear Valdosta City Council Members,
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. would like to draw your attention to some issues related to rezoning VA-2014-07 Brooks Turner LLC at the corner of Baytree and Azalea Drive. As you are aware, flooding in Sugar Creek has been a problem for many years. The proposed development of lots between Baytree and Pinetree will result in the removal of approximately seventy (70) mature pine trees, increase paving percentage (the lots are mostly grass with clearly less than 50% covered by rooftops and hard paved surfaces), and most dramatically replace Continue reading
Here’s the cover letter I sent to the Lowndes County Commission
about the
action letter to county commissions, text of which was appended.
They meet tonight at 5:30 PM.
-jsq
From: “John S. Quarterman”
Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:07:54 -0400
cc: wwalswatershed@gmail.com
To: “Joyce E. Evans”, Richard Raines, Crawford Powell, Demarcus Marshall, Clay Griner
Subject: Resolutions other counties have passed against Spectra pipelinesDear Lowndes County Commissioners,
With FERC’s recent instructions to Sabal Trail adding three more pipeline alternates that could go through Lowndes County, Lowndes has become even more of a key county regarding that pipeline. Please see the appended letter signed by many groups and individuals for resolutions and an ordinance that other counties have already passed.
Thanks,
John S. Quarterman, President, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. Continue reading
Update 20 September 2014: Now with a lunch stop at Chris and Deanna’s house! Bring your own lunch or snacks, but the Mericles have picnic tables and bathrooms. Chris reports the Withlacoochee is high enough that the shoals are no problem, and the weather report says clear all day tomorrow. See also his report on FERC and Sabal Trail’s recent visit to this same area and what Sabal Trail wrote to FERC the next day.
Sabal Trail may be thinking of moving their pipeline, but WWALS is
still padding past the original location 10AM Sunday September 21st.
All are invited to come see for themselves the springs, shoals, and sinkholes
that we value more highly than pipeline profit for a company from Houston.
Join us for a fine day on two of our fabulous southern blackwater rivers:
the Withlacoochee River and the Suwannee River, in Hamilton and Suwannee
Counties, Florida.
The meeting place is the CR 143 Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River near Jennings, Florida. For directions, please see the earlier post about this outing.
This event is FREE! All we ask is Continue reading