Tag Archives: Live Oak

Winners of Lime Run Spring Photography Contest at Live Oak Womans Club 2016-05-23

The Winners of the Serenity at Lime Run Spring photo contest have been selected by the judges! Lime Sink Run from the foot bridge, looking out over the Suwannee River We will be having the award ceremony as planned on Monday May 23, 2016 at 6:00 pm. at the Woman’s Club of Live Oak, 1308 11th St. SW, Live Oak, FL 32064.

Anyone who can join us, please do come out and support the winners!

-Deanna Mericle

Preserving and Protecting Pristine Areas of Our Earth for Future Generations.

Why: In order to bring awareness to the fragile beauty of Lime Run Spring, located in Suwannee River State Park, and to help preserve this spring in accordance with the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act.

Organizers: the Woman’s Club of Live Oak and WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. are organizing a photo contest for high school students to capture the beauty and serenity at Lime Run Spring.

Who can participate? Any Continue reading →

Sabal Trail is surrounded in Live Oak

Update 2016-04-21: Longer report here.

See also Short-term jobs are not worth long-term Sabal Trail risk –Locals to Sabal Trail jobs-seekers at Contractor Fairs, which has a link to the PDF flyer we were passing out. Some of that PR was picked up by ValdostaToday; it begins:

LIVE OAK, Fla. — Local residents and half a dozen environmental organizations want applicants at Sabal Trail pipeline job fairs to know a job for a few weeks isn’t worth risking drinking water for all our families and children and grandchildren.

Opponents of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and supporters of solar power include the Suwannee-St Johns Sierra Club Group, St Johns Riverkeeper, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Our Santa Fe River, Earth Ethics, Gulf Restoration Network, and SpectraBusters.

As a group of students said in unison: No Fracking!

-jsq

PS: Hi, Andrea Grover. Good to see you as always, and looking forward to the end of this project.

Sabal Trail Contractor Fair, Moultrie, GA 2016-04-15

Not just for compressor station counties, also apparently also for where Sabal Trail has promised side taps, including Moultrie, Georgia, as seen today in the Tifton Gazette and the Valdosta Daily Times.

Southern Regional Technical College, Seminar Center, 361 Industrial Drive, Moultrie, GA 31788 When: 11AM – 2PM Friday, April 15th 2016

Where: Southern Regional Technical College, Seminar Center, 361 Industrial Drive, Moultrie, GA 31788

This Moultrie job fair is scheduled one month after Colquitt County sent FERC exorbitant claims of benefits in property tax revenue, wildly high and out-of-context construction jobs claims, and discounted safety and environmental concerns, with no mention whatever of agriculture, nevermind Colquitt County’s letter to FERC two years before about agricultural concerns.

The Colquitt letter to FERC made no mention of lowered property values reducing tax revenue, cited no source, just “It is estimated that”. However, in the same paragraph: Continue reading →

Contractor Fair, Sabal Trail, Ocala and Live Oak

Update 10 April 2016: And Moultrie, GA April 15th.

Update 9 April 2016: And Albany, GA April 21st.

Sabal Trail plans to entice locals by offering jobs week after next in Ocala and Live Oak, SabalXadX001 ignoring river easements slapped down hard by the Georgia legislature, and both Hamilton and Suwannee Counties, Florida, inviting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come see what Sabal Trail didn’t tell FERC,

Sabal Trail admitted two years ago in Gilchrist County that it had already retained the main contractors for pipeline installation. Should a few temporary leftover jobs for local people be enough to outweigh taking local property by eminent domain and gouging under our rivers and through the most sensitive area of the Floridan Aquifer, source of all our drinking water?

Those are private venues, but they have public roads outside.

Ocala

Continue reading →

Workshop at VSU, Outings, Movie, and Hike to the Suwannee River –WWALS to Lowndes County Commissioners

Following up on the invitation I gave them in person last week, I sent this to the Lowndes County Commissioners just now, addressed to all five voting Commissioners, the Chairman, and the County Clerk:

Subject: Workshop at VSU, Outings, Movie, and Hike to the Suwannee River

Dear Commissioners,

Thanks again for the continued work on the Alapaha Boat Ramp, which will contribute to the quality of life recommended in the Comprehensive Plan.

As I mentioned at your Regular Session last week, you are invited to several WWALS events coming up soon, especially this one, which requires no boats: Continue reading →

Online movie: At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South

If you missed it in Live Oak last night, or in one of the previous premieres along the Georgia coast, you can see the movie online: At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South, by Mark Albertin. And yes, he’s happy for it to be shown elsewhere; just ask.

Thanks to Push Back the Pipeline for getting this movie made about Kinder Morgan’s proposed petroleum products pipeline from South Carolina across the Georgia coast to Jacksonville, Florida. Special thanks to Eileen, Lori, and Debra and the Woman’s Club of Live Oak for the movie showing last night, and to SpectraBusters, Our Santa Fe River, and Gulf Restoration Network for helping promote it. Don’t forget the hike to the Suwannee River Sabal Trail crossing 8:15 AM Thursday 28 February 2016 with Suwannee and Hamilton County Commissioners.

Most of the issues are the same for the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline which Continue reading →

At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South –Movie in Live Oak, FL 2016-02-12

Please join us for a documentary about property rights and the environment vs. pipelines (PDF; facebook event; meetup event). Yes, FERC has issued certificates for Sabal Trail, but the fight is not over.

6:30 PM Friday 12 Feb 2016, Live Oak, FL

When: 6:30 PM Friday February 12th

Where: Live Oak Womans Club,
1308 11TH St SW, Live Oak, FL 32064

What: View the film:
“At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South”
A documentary film by Mark Albertin
Video Trailer

Thanks: to Push Back the Pipeline for getting this movie made

This film is about the Kinder Morgan petroleum products Palmetto Pipeline proposed across coastal Georgia to Jacksonville, but the issues are the same for Spectra Energy’s proposed fracked methane Sabal Trail pipeline from Continue reading →

Sierra Club meeting against Sabal Trail, Suwannee River State Park 2016-01-16

Update 2016-01-17: Report with pictures.

This Saturday, 11AM to 1PM, come to Suwannee River State Park for an educational and organizational meeting about why and how to stop the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and to promote solar power instead, hosted by Suwannee-St Johns Group, Florida Sierra Club. At 1PM the media are invited to a hike to the river with signs!

Do we want a fireball like a mere 4″ FGT spur made in Bell, Florida in 2012 when a tree fell on it? Sabal Trai would carry 80 times as much fracked methane. Or like FGT’s 2009 explosion between the Florida Turnpike and I-95, flying a 104-foot piece of 18-inch pipe through the air, shutting down both roads, and fortunately missing a high school? Or like Spectra’s pipeline blowout under the Arkansas River in Little Rock last May? The same Spectra Energy that wants to drill a 36″ pipeline under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers. The same industry that’s caused Los Angeles County and the state of California to declare a state of emergency after four months of the Porter Ranch fracking well blowout causing sickness and evacuations near Los Angeles.

When: 11AM-1PM, Saturday, 16 January 2016

Where: Continue reading →

The future of energy and Sabal Trail pipeline at Suwannee Cuonty Commission –Jasper News

Several Suwannee County Commissioners are studying the difficult and constantly-changing subject of energy, although the Chairman said he had already made up his mind,
Carl McKinney’s droll legend refers on his picture refers to Chris Mericle as “Jasper man”. The map shows sinkholes near the proposed pipeline path across the Suwannee River and the Falmouth Cathedral Cave System. at the Suwannee County Board of Commissioners meeting last night. They did nothing about a further resolution against Sabal Trail, although numerous citizens (many of them WWALS members) from Suwannee County and nearby counties helped discuss the situation.

Carl McKinney, Suwannee Democrat, 16 December 2015, The future of energy: Debate takes over Suwannee commission meeting,

Following the Suwannee County Commission’s decision last week not to formally oppose the Sabal Trail pipeline entering its jurisdiction, the public engaged commissioners in a debate over the future of energy.

At Tuesday evening’s commission meeting, several members of the public discussed with commissioners the advantages of solar power, Florida’s energy needs and environmental stewardship.

During public comment, local resident Debra Johnson asked Continue reading →

Videos: Suwannee BOCC backs down against Sabal Trail 2015-12-10

They did fix the two typos, but they didn’t approve or send the letter, as you can see in their own video. Here’s more discussion of why they should send such a letter, and pass another resolution.

For more details, see previous blog post and Carl McKinney, Suwannee Democrat, 10 Dec 2015, County not sending pipeline opposition letter.

Regarding Commissioner Gamble Wainwright’s comment that “my business depends increasingly on energy” OK, but “energy is going to cost more and more money”, sorry, not so. See Continue reading →