Is Florida blind to pipelines?
Dan Christensen, Miami Herald, 2 October 2015,
Firm says Gov. Scott’s stake in pipeline project is ‘irrelevant’,:
Environmental groups seek to block $3 billion project
Coalition seeks all correspondences from Scott, his office
Staff says governor’s blind trust shields him from conflict
Lawyers for a company that wants to build a natural gas pipeline in North Florida have told a judge that Continue reading
WWALS will be among five organizations discussing environmental issues a the monthly Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting 6PM Monday June 1st 2015, at the Lowndes County Board of Elections, 2808 North Oak Street, Valdosta, GA.
Stopping Valdosta wastewater spills and restarting the Alapaha River Water Trail
are among the topics WWALS President John S. Quarterman plans to mention.
Solar power, the Sabal Trail pipeline, and fossil fuel divestment
will also come up.
Anyone can speak from the audience, so please come and join the discussion.
Other panelists, topics, and details in the LCDP post. Please join the facebook event.
-jsq
Friday the Georgia Senate unanimously voted for a solar financing bill, and WWALS helped with that historic Georgia turn to the sun for power, which will conserve our waters, including helping fight off invading pipelines.
Back in June 2013,
Garry Gentry read to the Georgia Public Service Commission the WWALS letter about water and solar power (I also spoke), contributing to the historic GA PSC decision that July to require Georgia Power to add 525 MW of solar power, approximately doubling its request.
A decision that catapulted Georgia in one year Continue reading
It’s the annual Georgia Water Coalition Capitol Conservation Day, Wednesday, February 18, 2015.
Save the date for the Georgia Water Coalition’s Capitol Conservation
Day on Feb. 18, 2015. While there, you can meet with your state
legislators and tell them what you expect them to achieve during the
2015-2016 sessions. Bring your fellow members and other friends with
you to support environmental and conservation causes!
The day will begin at 8:00 a.m. with Continue reading
Tonight at 5:30 PM
the Valdosta City Council will vote on
a resolution against the Sabal Trail pipeline
they discussed Tuesday at their Work Session.
Valdosta added a clause about the
Floridan Aquifer
to the clauses already in the
resolution Lowndes County passed Tuesday evening
that Valdosta is supporting.
Valdosta’s
aquifer clause reads:
As VSU Prof. Don Thieme remarked yesterday, Continue readingWHEREAS, the City of Valdosta has concerns regarding any potential effect the proposed pipeline or its construction might have on the Floridan aquifer, the primary source of the drinking water supply for our City, County and the south Georgia area; and
Here’s the cover letter I sent to the Lowndes County Commission
about the
action letter to county commissions, text of which was appended.
They meet tonight at 5:30 PM.
-jsq
From: “John S. Quarterman”
Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:07:54 -0400
cc: wwalswatershed@gmail.com
To: “Joyce E. Evans”, Richard Raines, Crawford Powell, Demarcus Marshall, Clay Griner
Subject: Resolutions other counties have passed against Spectra pipelinesDear Lowndes County Commissioners,
With FERC’s recent instructions to Sabal Trail adding three more pipeline alternates that could go through Lowndes County, Lowndes has become even more of a key county regarding that pipeline. Please see the appended letter signed by many groups and individuals for resolutions and an ordinance that other counties have already passed.
Thanks,
John S. Quarterman, President, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. Continue reading
A citizen of Suwannee County, Florida has written a letter
to county commissions, starting with
her own Suwannee County Commission that meets tonight,
and WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. has joined the many signers.
The Action letter to County Commissioners against Sabal Trail pipeline begins:
Dear Commissioner,
We are sure that you have heard of the Sabal Trail/Spectra Energy Pipeline and the resolution passed by Hamilton County BOCC August 22, 2014, to prohibit its path through the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County (link below). It appears that that resolution has been successful. But the problem has not gone away in that Continue reading
Bigger type than the rest of the page, and in the editorial column position:
Haley Hyatt, who took these pictures, noticed that about how the
Moultrie Observer
printed the
WWALS op-ed Friday 1 August 2014, as
“Much opposition”.
So that’s at least two newspapers so far, the other being the Ocala StarBanner. Continue reading
The Moultrie Observer printed
the WWALS op-ed Friday 1 August 2014;
that’s still not online.
But the Ocala StarBanner has it online, Sunday 3 August 2014,
Water, property rights over pipeline profits.
Several more newspapers are considering it.
-jsq
This is a long version of the op-ed sent to many newspapers in WWALS’ watersheds; there is also a short version. -jsq
Protesters drove
as far as nine hours to
Leesburg, GA July 10th, where Spectra Energy
lost its eminent domain demand for its Sabal Trail
36-inch, hundred-foot right-of-way natural gas pipeline,
and local landowners countersued.
Spectra hobbled back to Houston, Texas bound by strict conditions for
surveying that one Mitchell County property,
and bound to haunt south Georgia again for a trespass jury trial.
The ensuing flurry of newspaper op-eds by Spectra’s Andrea Grover plus a page-long Sabal Trail interview in the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT), didn’t mention numerous Sabal Trail downsides. Continue reading