Tag Archives: Marion County

19 Questions from WWALS about Leak at Sabal Trail Dunnellon Compressor Station Site

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dunnellon, Florida, July 27, 2017 — Following up member reports of a very strong smell of natural gas on Florida 200 next to the site of Sabal Trail’s planned Dunnellon Compressor Station, which apparently was leaking, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and several WWALS members took pictures of the site and related locations from the ground and from the air. Today Suwannee Riverkeeper sent nineteen questions to the agencies that permitted the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline, all of whom assured us that pipeline would be safe, even though it appears it developed a leak less than a week after saying it had gone into service. These questions range from what did Sabal Trail report to the agencies to who asked for the smell to be put into the gas to what were the local counties and cities or the public told?

Tree berm

While this apparent leak was in Florida, Continue reading →

Dunnellon Compressor Station leak Monday 2017-07-16

What was that strong gas smell on FL 200 Sunday? Several people reported seeing multiple emergency vehicles at the Sabal Trail Dunnellon Compressor Station just west of FL 200, near the Citrus County line, which is the Withlacoochee (South) River.

Dunnellon Compressor Station, 13544 SW State Rd 200, Dunnellon, FL 34432,
Dunnellon Compressor Station, 13544 SW State Rd 200, Dunnellon, FL 34432,

After some time calling various numbers in Marion County (emergency management, Sheriff, Fire, dispatch), the answer is: Continue reading →

FL 200 to Citrus County Line, Sabal Trail @ WWALS 2017-02-07

See Sabal Trail jogs around fancy houses yet run right by a country club and a gated community in Marion County, E. upstream Withlacoochee (South) River, Marion County HDD, 28.9932140, -82.3611430 before its Citrus County Line starts at the Dunnellon Compressor Station and crosses the Withlacoochee (South) River into Citrus County where the houses are too close together to avoid.

Below are Continue reading →

Sabal Trail dispenses misinformation even in response to a shooting death

The Palm Beach Post heard of the shooting and did a story, in which Sabal Trail claims their construction is “on target” when clearly it is not.

Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post, 3 March 2017, Sabal Trail pipeline shooter killed by law enforcement in Citrus County,

The $3.2 billion natural gas pipeline is slated to begin bringing fuel to Florida Power & Light’s South Florida plants by June. The pipeline has been the subject of numerous protests by people who say its construction and presence will harm the environment and threaten the water supplied from the Floridan Aquifer, but this is the first death known to have occurred in connection to pipeline opposition.

And the opposition has never killed or injured anyone.

Bell Lago, 14130 SW 121st Court, Dunnellon, FL 34432,
Bell Lago, 14130 SW 121st Court, Dunnellon, FL 34432, 29.0170900, -82.3227090
Photograph by Continue reading →

A man shot by deputies after shooting at Sabal Trail pipe 2017-02-26

A man is dead over the Sabal Trail pipeline. As the first person to call for protests against Sabal Trail, this is not what I called for.

Summary of news reports: A man shot at and hit Sabal Trail pipe near Dunnellon, Florida, was reported to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, was chased by Florida Highway Patrol and Citrus County deputies, who allege he brandished a weapon at them, whereupon they shot and killed him. The deputies involved “will be placed on administrative leave while undergoing evaluations” per “policy and protocol”. The identity of the suspect is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Update 2017-02-27: Hannah Morse, Bradenton Herald, 2017-02-27, Chokoloskee man identified as suspect who was killed after cops say he shot at pipeline,

James Leroy Marker, 66, of Chokoloskee, was identified by FHP Monday afternoon as the suspect in the incident.


Photo: Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner

Citrus County Sheriff’s Department, facebook, 2017-02-26, HAPPENING NOW: SABAL PIPELINE SHOOTING LEADS TO CHASE — ALLEGED SUSPECT DECEASED: ALL DEPUTIES ARE SAFE, Continue reading →

Protestors inside Sabal Trail pipe, Halpata Tastanaki Preserve, Dunnellon, FL

Update 2017-02-22: And they’re “rescued”: Ocala.com, News4JAX.com, WUFT-FM, ClickOrlando.com, ramping up a spate of anti-Sabal Trail news, putting a crimp in Sabal Trail’s own putsch of “on target to begin operating in June” which is already a month late for the May 2017 in-service date Sabal insisted on for three years.

Skirting the edge of this preserve wasn’t enough, not for local cattle grazers, not for Dunnellon High School less than half a mile from the pipeline, and not for protestors inside Sabal Trail’s pipe this morning. At 8:30 AM I received a copy of this email message, which was sent to John Peconom of FERC by Panagioti Tsolkas:

Picture inside the pipe Good morning. I just received word there are two people inside a stretch of pipeline along FL-200 near the Halpata Tustanaki preserve in Dunnellon. They are refusing to come out until the Environmental Impact Statement is Revisited to fully include environmental justice communities and school children.

Can you please inform the company to keep them safe?

There is a protest near by as well. Details:
https://www.facebook.com/events/393349654372338/?ti=cl

They have sent this statement from inside the pipeline:

Continue reading →

Videos: Walk for Water, Speak for Springs, Dunnellon, FL 2017-01-28

See also some previous pictures of Walk for Water & Speak for the Springs, which was organized by Our Santa Fe River (OSFR), Sabal Trail Resistance, and Dylan Hansen.

Below are links to each of the WWALS videos (including the earlier android phone videos), with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Aerials: Sabal Trail half mile from Dunnellon High School

Sabal Trail runs half a mile from Dunnellon High School and Elementary School, and even closer to a golf club to the north. In 2009 Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) blew up a much smaller 18-inch pipeline, flying a 104-foot piece of 18-inch pipe through the air, shutting down both I-95 and the Florida Turnpike, and fortunately missing a high school. You can help stop this $3.2 billion boondoggle and get on with solar power now for the Sunshine State.

Dunnellon High School and Sabal Trail half a mile away

And to the north, it’s even closer to Julliette Falls Golf Club and Community. Continue reading →

Wide-ranging Sabal Trail opposition article by Molly Minta in The Fine Print

Molly Minta, The Fine Print, 5 February 2017, Rise Against the Machine: In 2013, Marion County residents began to receive letters from Sabal Trail Transmission. Now, they’ve made it their mission to save their land, and stop Sabal Trail.


Photo: Molly Minta.
An oak tree is felled by Sabal Trail construction workers.

…

Months before the town considered bankruptcy in 2013, residents of Dunnellon began to receive letters from a company called Sabal Trail Transmission. The letters were an introduction and explained why the company was coming to the area: to build a natural gas pipeline and compressor station. The letters were part of the first step in the process of getting a pipeline approved.

Only landowners within 600 feet of the pipeline received a letter, so not many people in Dunnellon are aware of it. But the ones who are fear it could completely disrupt their way of life.

The pipeline will pass within a mile of the Rainbow River; residents fear Continue reading →

Stop Sabal Trail pipeline –Harriet Heywood, Citrus County Chronicle 2017-02-03

Harriet Heywood, Op-ed, Citrus County Chronicle, 2017-02-03, Stop Sabal Trail pipeline

Harriet Heywood Today Sabal Trail Inc. is pounding a 36-inch pipe under the Withlacoochee River to force-feed us Marcellus Shale fracked gas. The powers who own decision-makers have made sure laws and regulations designed to protect the planet don’t apply to themselves. Twentieth century mindset — 21st century reality notwithstanding, they’ll offer a few hundred temporary jobs, conduct corporate social responsibility PR programs before moving on to other ventures, enabled by government agencies and politicians eager to board the fracked-gas crony capitalist bullet train, while the people, our waters and health are classified acceptable risks.

Mission accomplished while taking land through eminent domain with an unknown (by the public) quantity for export — unsurprising since there are Continue reading →