Tag Archives: karst

FERC and Sabal Trail at the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL

Filed 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.

600x300 John Peconom (center) Talking with Deanna & Chris Mericle, David Brown, and FERC Geologist Tony (1 of 2), in FERC and Sabal Trail at the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL, by Chris Mericle, for WWALS.net, 16 September 2014 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 →

FL State Rep. Elizabeth Porter objects to FERC about Sabal Trail pipeline in karst limestone

Chris Mericle’s Florida state rep., Elizabeth Porter, who also attended the recent GA EPD briefing to SRWMD about Valdosta’s plans to fix its wastewater overflowes into the Withlacoochee River, just objected to FERC about Sabal Trail’s fracked methane pipeline (PDF). Chris and Deanna Mericle are our local hosts for the WWALS Withlacoochee and Suwannee River paddle past the pipeline 21 September 2014.

FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Representative Elizabeth Porter
District 10
Elizabeth.Porter@myfloridahouse.gov

Continue reading →

Withlacoochee and Suwannee paddle: springs, shoals, and pipeline 21 Sept 2014

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 →

USGS warns Withlacoochee River already leaks into Floridan Aquifer

There’s a reason Valdosta’s water wells are 400 feet deep. Its earlier, shallower wells were sucking up Withlacoochee River water that still leaks into groundwater. Should we risk a fracked methane pipeline digging under that same river and possibly causing more sinkholes and underground movement of contaminants, some perhaps coming from the pipeline itself or its demands for pressure testing water?

Sustainability of Ground-water Resources, by William M. Alley Thomas E. Reilly O. Lehn Franke, 1 January 1999, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey – Publisher. In Box E on Page 63:

The Connection Between Surface-Water Quality and Ground-Water Quality in a Karst Aquifer


Figure E-1. Estimated percentage of Withlacoochee River water in ground water in the Upper Floridan aquifer, June 1991. (Modified from Plummer and others, 1998.)
The Upper Floridan aquifer, which is the sole source of water supply for Valdosta, Georgia, and much of the surrounding area, receives large volumes of direct discharge from the Withlacoochee River through sinkholes in the streambed or off-channel. A highly interconnected conduit system has developed Continue reading →

Resolution No. 14-10, Hamilton County, FL, 19 August 2014

Other Florida, Georgia, and Alabama counties could do what Hamilton County, Florida just did in this this resolution. Even before it got this resolution, FERC yesterday directed Sabal Trail to deal with what Chris Mericle had been saying, including proposing routes to minimize crossing the Withlacoochee River or to avoid crossing it entirely.

Chris Mericle sent a PDF copy of the resolution with its attached hydrogeological report. I’ve added links to the other referenced documents.

Chris is the local host for the September WWALS Outing on the Withalacoochee and Suwannee Rivers, where you can come float past that same area Sunday 21 September, and see many local springs, sinkholes and shoals that need to be protected from that pipeline.

RESOLUTION NO. 14-10

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
HAMILTON COUNTY, FLORIDA Continue reading →

Video: Withlacoochee River and springs where Sabal Trail pipeline would cross

Chris Mericle’s introducation says this video:

shows some of the springs, sinkholes, and other karst features that lie in close proximity to the proposed Sabal Trail gas pipeline where it crosses the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton and Madison County, Florida.

Including active sinkholes right next to the proposed pipeline route. And a karst window a couple of hundred feet from the pipeline.

Here’s the video:

The video is about the part of the Withlacoochee River where Continue reading →

Water and property rights more important than methane pipeline profits

This is a long version of the op-ed sent to many newspapers in WWALS’ watersheds; there is also a short version. -jsq

Protesters drove as far as nine hours to Leesburg, GA July 10th, where Spectra Energy lost its eminent domain demand for its Sabal Trail 36-inch, hundred-foot right-of-way natural gas pipeline, and local landowners countersued. Spectra hobbled back to Houston, Texas bound by strict conditions for surveying that one Mitchell County property, and bound to haunt south Georgia again for a trespass jury trial.

The ensuing flurry of newspaper op-eds by Spectra’s Andrea Grover plus a page-long Sabal Trail interview in the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT), didn’t mention numerous Sabal Trail downsides. Continue reading →

Water and property rights over methane pipeline profits

This is an op-ed submission sent to many newspapers in WWALS’ watersheds and beyond. There is also a longer version. -jsq

Protesters drove up to nine hours to Leesburg, GA July 10th, where Spectra Energy lost an eminent domain demand for its Sabal Trail 36-inch, hundred-foot right-of-way natural gas pipeline, and local landowners countersued. Spectra hobbled back to Houston, Texas, bound by strict conditions for surveying that one property, and bound to haunt south Georgia again for a trespass jury trial.

Spectra bragged in op-eds about 50 public meetings, never mentioning overwhelming public opposition in Moultrie, Valdosta, Clyattville, Madison and elsewhere to that gash through our fields, forests, and wetlands, and under our Withlacoochee River twice.

Sabal Trail’s air quality permit application with Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division met immediate Continue reading →

Avoid our area –Florida’s Suwannee River Water Management District to FERC

What they told FERC today was more subtle than just “avoid our area”, but after the Sabal Trail methane pipeline avoid karst limestone, any unconfined areas of our Floridan aquifer, caves, springs, wetlands, drilling under rivers, blasting, or using groundwater for testing pipes or disposing of it afterwards, where can that pipeline go?

The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) covers the Florida parts of WWALS’ watersheds, and our Withlacoochee River is named in the SRWMD comments. Unlike Georgia’s Suwannee-Satilla Water management District, SRWMD has state funding and staff that produced some very interesting comments.

This is the first I’ve heard of this point about source and disposal of testing water: Continue reading →

Ichetucknee Alliance thinks it got the pipeline to move

According to their facebook page today, a conservation group in Florida convinced Sabal Trail to steer clear of their springs. Or did they? The “written assurances” they they got from Spectra’s Andrea Grover say “preferred” and “currently”. In any case, some of Ichetucknee Alliance’s positions are just as valid in WWALS’ watersheds.

Here’s an excerpt from their position, Ichetucknee Alliance Pipeline Position Paper, 21 August 2013, Continue reading →