Tag Archives: pipeline

Summary judgement sought by Sabal Trail pipeline company in Leesburg, GA

Come to the courthouse Leesburg, GA Tuesday at 11:30 AM or write a letter, if you want help stop the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.

Remember last July when landowners countersued a Houston pipeline company in Leesburg, Georgia? When the judge refused to grant any judgement for the pipeline, while protesters from as far as nine hours away watched attentively? WALB TV covered the hearing and three newspapers carried the WWALS op-ed that followed.

This Tuesday morning the same pipeline company will be back asking for a summary judgment for eminent domain against the same landowners.

If you can’t come in person, for letters here is contact information Continue reading →

Riverkeepers v. Palmetto Pipeline

Kinder Morgan wants to run a 360-mile Palmetto pipeline from South Carolina through Georgia to Florida, but has found organized opposition in Push Back the Pipeline:

We oppose the Palmetto Project. Our coalition includes Savannah Riverkeeper, Altamaha Riverkeeper, Ogeechee Riverkeeper, Satilla Riverkeeper, St. Johns Riverkeeper, One Hundred Miles, and Environment Georgia. Kinder Morgan would build 360 miles of new pipeline across land and rivers in SC and on GA’s coast, a risk we just can’t take. Building another pipeline is a risk to Continue reading →

Regional aquifers crossed, according to Sabal Trail

Sabal Trail seems to have a very constrained idea of the Floridan Aquifer that doesn’t include areas in for example Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes County that USGS says are in the Floridan Aquifer. But at least Sabal Trail is admitting its fracked methane pipeline would cross numerous aquifer systems.

Filed with FERC 2015-02-20 as Accession Number: 20150220-5131, “Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC submits supplemental information on adopted alternatives and information on other reroutes and modifications under CP15-17.” PDF. Continue reading →

WWALS supports Florida fracking ban

WWALS supports the proposed ban on fracking in Florida, by unanimous vote of the WWALS Executive Committee last night. For our Floridan Aquifer, our springs, and our rivers that run into the Suwannee to the sea. The Sunshine State can do what WWALS has helped Georgia do: turn to solar power for new energy.

Here’s some background on the bills in the Florida Senate and House and a petition you can sign. Plus you can help pass fracking bans by Florida counties, and there’s a rally at the old capitol in Tallahassee next Wednesday.

This ban would also contribute to WWALS long-standing opposition to the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline by opposing the fracking that drives new pipelines and LNG export. New York State already banned fracking, as have the entire countries of France, Bulgaria, Germany, and Scotland. Florida can be next.

Florida Senate

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WWALS Goals for 2014

A surprising number of the Board’s nine goals for 2014 have been accomplished, and some new ones have already been added. What goals should WWALS have for 2015?

Goals accomplished include becoming an IRS 501(c)(3) and raising money for and purchasing insurance. Some we’ve been doing right along: cleanups, including Rivers Alive. Some are so much the core of what WWALS does that we didn’t even list them as goals, but we’ve been doing them anyway: monthly outings and indoor events.

The later-added goal of the Alapaha River Water Trail is Continue reading →

Sabal Trail ignored springs and underground connections –TSE Plantation

A Suwannee County, Florida landowner points to newly-discovered connections between springs under rivers and to other well-known springs Sabal Trail ignored, adding:

Note that the undersigned is a lay person attorney and NOT a karst expert. Basic research revealed the information contained herein and the omission of this infonnation by Sabal’s purported karst experts should raise serious questions as to the credibility of Sabal’s filings.

Filed with FERC 29 January 2015 as Accession Number: 20150129-5192, “Supplemental Information / Request of Edwards & Ragatz, P.A. under CP15-17. Supplemental Comments of Proposed Intervener, Thomas S. Edwards, Manager, TSE Plantation, LLC Opposing Portion of Sabal Trail Route and Related Motion to Accept Late Comments”, Continue reading →

Springs flow under the Suwannee River next to the Withlacoochee River (Falmouth Dye Trace)

The Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline route went through this area, and the new route is only slightly to the north. There are springs all over this area. The same karst limestone underlies the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, where the river already leaks into the aquifer north of Valdosta. A pipeline anywhere in the karst limestone containing the Floridan Aquifer is a very bad idea. Profit for Sabal Trail, FPL, or Spectra Energy is no excuse for risking our drinking water.

SRWMD PR 4 December 2014, Falmouth dye trace reveals unknown connectivity,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LIVE OAK, FL, December 4, 2014 — The District and Florida Geological Survey introduced dye into Falmouth Spring On September 4^th, in hopes of learning which other springs were connected to the known Falmouth Cathedral Cave System. Two days after the dye was release the dye appeared in two springs previously not known to be connected, Ellaville and Suwannacoochee.
Continue reading →

Grassy Pond opened to public by Moody AFB

A sinkhole lake like a state park, run by a local Air Force Base, is now open to the public.

Dave Miller, WALB, 14 January 2015, Moody AFB opens Grassy Pond to the public,

LAKE PARK, GA (WALB)—Moody Air Force Base announced Tuesday that Grassy Pond in Lake Park, an affiliate of Moody, is now open to the public for daily enjoyment.

For decades, Grassy Pond has catered to military personnel, retirees and their family members, but in an effort to build community relations, the Air Force approved Moody’s request to grant public access to the facility.

This 500 acre recreational area is similar to Continue reading →

Anti-fracking ordinance on agenda, Columbia County, FL 2015-01-15

We all drink out of the same Floridan Aquifer, and the Santa Fe River, like WWALS’ Withlacoochee River, is a tributary of the Suwannee River. Fracking in north Florida could affect our drinking water, and if it were allowed there, next frackers would try to cross the state line, just like the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline already is. So everyone who can, please support OSFR. -jsq

Our Santa Fe River Action Alert 31 December 2014, Important Meeting, Please Attend, County Commissioners, Lake City On Jan. 15, 2015,

OSFR as an organization will be on the agenda of the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners at the Jan. 15 meeting, requesting that the commission enact an ordinance which bans all forms of fracking in Columbia County.

Please plan to attend this important meeting, either Continue reading →

Landowner on Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County FL moves to intervene against Sabal Trail –Chris Mericle

Drilling under the Withlacoochee River could have catastrophic effects, a landowner near the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, Florida reminds us. Chris Mericle is also a WWALS board member.

Intervenor is a resident of Hamilton County, Florida and lives near the Proposed Sabal Trail Route where it crosses the Withlacoochee River. As such, I am concerned about the adverse and potentially catastrophic effects that the construction and operation of a 36” diameter gas pipeline will have on Fresh Water Resources including Springs and the Floridan Aquifer.

Here’s how you or your organization can file a motion to intervene.

Filed with FERC 22 December 2014 as Accession Number: 20141222-5037, “Motion to Intervene of Christopher J Mericle under CP15-17, et. al.” Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.