Who’s in charge of clearing deadfalls in the Withlacoochee River?
Tag Archives: pipeline
DNR board ignores people of Georgia, unanimously approves invading Sabal Trail pipeline easements for Withlacoochee and other rivers
DNR board unanimously gave away river crossings to Sabal Trail for the Withlacoochee, Ochlockonee, Flint, and Chattahoochee Rivers. But the legislature would also have to approve, and the AJC just turned this obscure board meeting into an earned media event for pipeline opponents.
VALDOSTA: Professor Don Thieme, Valdosta State University, checks the water color and clarity in a sinkhole called Shadrick’s Pond by the Withlacoochee River. The sinkhole is near the site of a proposed pipeline that would cross the Withlacoochee River. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com
See video.
Dan Chapman, AJC, 23 September 2015, South Georgia pipeline moves forward,
The proposed Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline cleared another regulatory hurdle Wednesday with state approval for the pipeline to pass under five Southwest Georgia rivers and creeks.
The unanimous vote by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ board doesn’t sanction the pipeline to run 157 miles across Georgia while crossing the Chattahoochee, Flint, Withlacoochee and Ochlocknee rivers. Additional state and federal reviews, and votes, are necessary before digging begins.
Pipeline opponents, though, hoped that the board would slow Sabal Trail’s seemingly inexorable push to deliver gas to Florida. They cited ongoing safety, environmental and property rights concerns held by thousands of Southwest Georgia residents.
Those opponents included Continue reading
Notice of Hearing in Jasper, FL October 19-22 2015 for WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FL-DEP
WWALS will argue for conserving the Suwannee River, the Floridan Aquifer, and other wetlands of Florida against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline at this hearing in Jasper (or Live Oak). WWALS asked for Jasper in November because that’s in the middle of the affected landowners, while Sabal Trail and FL-DEP asked for Tallahassee in October because that’s where their offices are; it looks like the judge split the difference.
If you want to be a witness for WWALS, please contact us ASAP; time is very short. If you want to help financially, you can contribute to the IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign. Or become a member of WWALS.
Yesterday Administrative Law Judge Bram D. E. Canter ordered (PDF) for DOAH Case No. 15-4975: Continue reading
Grant license agreements and permanent easements to Sabal Trail? GA-DNR 2015-09-23
Giving away state land rights under the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ochlockonee, and Withlacoochee Rivers Wednesday in Atlanta,
far from any of the rivers or counties affected,
that’s what GA-DNR has on its agenda.
Land Committee – Tab D
Dwight Davis, Chairman
Members: Mobley, Vt Chairman, Bagwell, Evans, Jones, Leebern, Phelps, Sawhill, Shailendra
- Granting of Revocable License Agreements and Permanent Easements totaling 0.27± acres by the State Properties Commission and General Assembly to Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC to install and maintain a natural gas pipeline under navigable waters of the State, Stewart, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties
When, where, and who (PDF): Continue reading
Proposed Sabal Trail River Permits –USACE and GA-EDP
An opportunity for more and different public hearings!
The Withlacoochee River doesn’t even rate a mention, nor the Ochlockonee River.
Nor any county other than Stewart, nevermind the ones that have passed
resolutions against the Sabal Trail pipeline: Terrell, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties, Georgia and Hamilton County, Florida, plus the
cities of Albany, Moultrie, and Valdosta, Georgia.
This is the Savannah Army Corps of Engineers Public Notice,
issued the same Friday September 11th 2015 as the ones from
Mobile
and
Jacksonville,
each slightly different.
So is that one, two, or four possible new public hearings? Continue reading
WWALS in Albany, GA newspaper
Sabal Trail opposition aware across Georgia and Florida.
Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald, 13 September 2015, FERC Sabal Trail ruling comes amidst protest: Group holds fasting vigil outside federal agency’s offices,
Photo: TONY CASSADY, 31 May 2015, in Arkansas River pipeline blowout occurred on Sunday morning, cause still unknown, by Benjamin Hardy, Arkansas Blog, 3 June 2015Meanwhile, in Florida an environmental group has filed a petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to stop development of the pipeline over concerns about the safety record of Spectra Energy, the Houston-based company that will build the pipeline. The group points to a May pipeline rupture under the Arkansas River that forced two miles of the river to be shut down after an estimated 3.9 million cubic feet of natural gas was released.
Nope, WWALS doesn’t want that Arkansas River rupture to be repeated under the Suwannee River in Florida, the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, or any other river. The reporter seems to have heard about WWALS via Continue reading
GA-EPD plans to certify Sabal Trail within 30 days unless public comments; ditto USACE
People can request a hearing by the state of Georgia or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to stop GA-EPD or the USACE
from rubberstamping
Sabal Trail’s use of wetlands within 30 days from Friday.
USACE explicitly asks for public comments on
“cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest”,
unlike
FL-DEP’s attempts to narrow the issue.
Presumably this includes crossings of the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ochlockonee, and Withlacoochee Rivers in Georgia (and the Suwannee, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee (south) Rivers in Florida and other rivers in Alabama), although
this USACE Jacksonville office public notice
about the Clean Waters Act and the
Rivers and Harbors Act
doesn’t specify.
It was released Friday September 11th
just like the one USACE Mobile District released that same day on
Proposed Discharge of Sabal Trail Fill Material.
Apparently you can ask for a public hearing by USACE in Alabama or Florida
as well as in Georgia.
Here’s the Jacksonville USACE public notice: Continue reading
Proposed Discharge of Sabal Trail Fill Material –U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Late on a Friday, in a USACE public notice:
The USACE has not verified the adequacy of the applicant’s avoidance and minimization statement at this time….
The USACE has not verified the adequacy of the applicant’s proposed off-site mitigation plan at this time.
After how many years has this Sabal Trail project been going on? And still no verification?
PUBLIC HEARING REQUESTS: Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider this application. Requests for public hearings shall state with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing.
How about as a reason somebody needs to examine Sabal Trail’s mitigation plans?
This Friday USACE release frequently mentions Continue reading
Sabal Trail right in the middle of the most vulnerable area of the Floridan Aquifer –John S. Quarterman for WWALS on Chris Beckham radio show 2015-08-31
The main point:
“I’ve got an independent route: let’s cancel this pipeline, and the Sunshine State should go directly to solar power.”
Here’s the video: Continue reading
Environment more important for economy than pipeline –Marihelen Wheeler
Marihelen Wheeler, Gainesville Sun, 9 September 2015, Stop the pipeline,
We must continue to resist the efforts of the Texas-based company, Spectra, to build the Sabal Trail pipeline through Alachua, Gilchrist, Suwannee, Levy and Marion counties.
The proposed pipeline will carry natural gas through a 36-inch pipe over 515 miles to serve Continue reading