Tag Archives: Madison

Madison Blue Spring and Sabal Trail pipeline 2016-11-23

Sabal Trail only barely misses the Withlacoochee River in Florida, even though it no longer crosses over into Madison County. And it’s the same Floridan Aquifer on both sides of the river.

Springs and pipeline, 30.4828540, -83.2577470: The red line is Sabal Trail in Hamilton County. In the foreground in Madison County is Madison Blue Spring on the Withlacoochee River, and the P is Pot Spring farther downstream. The N is Nestle; you’d think they’d care about potential damage to the aquifer from which they suck water.

Springs and pipeline,

Withlacoochee River, pipeline, 30.4591650, -83.2224900: Close enough? Continue reading

USACE refuses Madison County’s request for a Sabal Trail SEIS 2016-07-29

They didn’t even bother to fill in the year on the date, and “File with original letter”. Here’s what the Corps wrote (PDF) in response to Madison County’s request for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) about Sabal Trail.

File with
original letter

DEPARTMENT or THE ARMY
JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT CORPS 0F ENGINEERS
POST OFFICE BOX 4970
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32232-0019

July 29, 201

USACE Response to Madison County re Sabal Trail Reply to attention of
Regulatory Division
North Permits Branch
Jacksonville Permits Section
SAJ-2013-03030

Madison Board of County Commissioners
Attn: Mr. Brian Kauffman, County Coordinator
Post Office Box 539
Madison, Florida 32341

Dear Mr. Kauffman:

Please accept this correspondence as Continue reading

Madison County, FL asks USACE for a SEIS 2016-07-18

This request for a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), mentioning Madison Blue Spring in particular, was sent July 18th or 19th 2016, one copy to each of the Corps addresses. (PDF). That’s the fourth Florida county to make such a request, after Hamilton, Suwanee, and Marion Counties. The Corps already responded to Madison County.

Board of County Commissioners
Madison County, Florida

to express our concerns

Jacksonville Permits Section
U.S.A.C.E. Regulatory Division
Attn: Mark R. Evans,
  Senior Project Manager,
Post Office Box 4970
Jacksonville, Florida 32232

Commander, U.S.A.C.E.,
Savannah District
Attn: Mr. Terry C. Kobs
1104 N. Westover Boulevard, Unit 9
Albany, GA 31707

U.S.A.C.E.
Mobile District Reg. Div.
Montgomery Field Office
Attn: Mr. James S. Cherry II
605 Maple Street
Building 1429 Room 105
Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6017

 

Norman C. Bay, Chairman Continue reading

Ordinance Prohibiting Fracking –Madison, FL BOCC 2016-04-27

Congratulations to Madison BOCC for this ordinance Madison passed unanimously last night (PDF):

ORDINANCE NO. 2016-______

Home rule, karst, and earthquakes AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MADISON COUNTY, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE MADISON COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE TO PROHIBIT HIGH INTENSITY PETROLEUM OPERATIONS AND THE STORAGE AND/OR DISPOSAL OF HIGH INTENSITY PETROLEUM OPERATIONS WASTE; PROVIDING CERTAIN FINDINGS; AMENDING THE DEFINITIONS SECTION OF THE MADISON COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS WITH REGARD THERETO; CREATING SECTION 6.5 OF THE MADISON COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE ENTITLED “REGULATIONS GOVERNING HIGH INTENSITY PETROLEUM OPERATIONS AND HIGH INTENSITY PETROLEUM OPERATIONS WASTE PRODUCTS”; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL OF CONFLICTING ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

WHEREAS, Continue reading

Madison County, FL passes ordinance against fracking

Update 2016-04-28: The ordinance.

Rachel Walsh reports from the meeting that the fracking ordinance passed the Madison BOCC.

The agenda item for tonight:

New Business 1. 6:00 p.m. Public Hearing For Possible Enactment of Ordinance Prohibiting Fracking in Madison County.

It’s been discussed in several previous meetings, with a hearing two weeks ago, reported by Morgan Norwood and Megan Vaughn, WTXL, 13 April 2016, Madison County Residents Voice Opinions in Fracking Debate, Continue reading

Flooding at Valdosta, 2016-04-04

Wondering why Valdosta is having an overflow problem? It was rain on Valdosta, and north of Valdosta.

US 84, Withlacoochee River

Not so much northwest on the Little River, nor even west on Okapilco Creek: Continue reading

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

Nestle and Madison Blue Springs

That magic word “jobs” sucked up water from one of north Florida’s most famous springs: Madison Blue Spring, very familiar to many people from south Georgia. Will it do the same about a pipeline?

Joseph Trento wrote for DC Bureau 20 July 2009, Nestlé: Draining America Bottle By Bottle: How Nestlé Got Millions and Millions of Dollars From a $230 Permit. Continue reading

USGS Flood-Tracking Chart for Withlacoochee and Little River Basins

An interesting flyer pointed out by Emily Davenport, Storm Water Utilities Director, City of Valdosta. It has many useful contacts on the front, and tips on the back (don’t walk or drive through flood waters) but the most useful part is inside, where the flood-tracking chart is, in Flood-tracking chart for the Withlacoochee and Little River Basins in south-central Georgia and northern Florida, 2014, by Gotvald, Anthony J.; McCallum, Brian E.; Painter, Jaime A., USGS General Information Product: 155.

Here are the gages mentioned in the chart, with links to the live USGS FloodTracking pages, Continue reading

Withlacoochee River Outing: Clyattville-Nankin Road to GA 31

The June WWALS outing is from Clyattville-Nankin Road to Horn Bridge on Sun tree Madison Highway (GA 31) on the Withlacoochee River. Meet at the Clyattville-Nankin Road putin at 9AM, put in at 10AM, Saturday, 22 June 2013. Join the facebook event if you like. See you there!

Update 20 June 2013: How are we getting back to our vehicles with this trip? We’ll deposit all the boats at the put-in (Clyattville-Nankin Road), take most of the vehicles down to the take-out (Horn Bridge on Madison Highway aka GA 31), carpool in a few vehicles back to the put-in, and float down the river.

Tom Baird described this nine-mile two-hour trip as:

The section includes where Clyatt Mill Creek enters, a truly fun set of rapids (two drops) at the Ga – Fla border, a very nice Second Magnitude Spring (that I have yet to find the correct name), the remains of the enormous abandoned trestle over the river of the Georgia & Florida Railroad, or Ole God Forsaken as it was nicknamed, the ghost town of Olympia on the Georgia side, and several Indian quarry sites. It is along this section that the river cuts deeply enough that the banks switch from sand banks to limerock cliffs. Paddle distance is about 9 miles, so a little over two hours paddling time. There are plenty of places to stop and look around.

There are shoals right at the state line, so beware, esp. if you’re in a canoe. The book Canoeing and Kayaking Georgia, by Susanne Welander, Bob Sehlinger, and Don Otey (2004) says: Continue reading