Tag Archives: Porter Ranch

Lowndes County Chairman says accepting easement was not endorsement of Sabal Trail pipeline

So Lowndes County should have no problem asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come investigate what Sabal Trail didn’t tell FERC. And if the county is concerned about legal expenses, maybe it should pay attention to the lawsuits happening right now in California about a natural gas leak that went up into the air, closing schools, evacuating hundreds, and making many of them sick.

The VDT article today doesn’t mention writing a letter to the Corps was one of my requests to the county. It does quote the Chairman expresssing interest in details of eminent domain, in differences in regulation of oil and gas pipelines, and in environmental and safety issues of natural gas pipelines. Treating his statements as questions, I have provided some further information below on those points.

And he does say the county might have incurred legal expenses if it hadn’t accepted Sabal Trail’s money for the easement. He doesn’t mention how much money Lowndes County spent suing a local company on behalf of a trash collection company financed out of New York City, or how much money the county spent suing a local church about a minor tax matter. It seems when Lowndes County wants to do something, it doesn’t worry so much about legal expenses. And maybe the county should worry more about legal expenses if something does go wrong with that pipeline, especially considering what’s happening with the Porter Ranch leak in California.

Besides, writing a letter Continue reading →

Sierra Club meeting against Sabal Trail, Suwannee River State Park 2016-01-16

Update 2016-01-17: Report with pictures.

This Saturday, 11AM to 1PM, come to Suwannee River State Park for an educational and organizational meeting about why and how to stop the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and to promote solar power instead, hosted by Suwannee-St Johns Group, Florida Sierra Club. At 1PM the media are invited to a hike to the river with signs!

Do we want a fireball like a mere 4″ FGT spur made in Bell, Florida in 2012 when a tree fell on it? Sabal Trai would carry 80 times as much fracked methane. Or like FGT’s 2009 explosion between the Florida Turnpike and I-95, flying a 104-foot piece of 18-inch pipe through the air, shutting down both roads, and fortunately missing a high school? Or like Spectra’s pipeline blowout under the Arkansas River in Little Rock last May? The same Spectra Energy that wants to drill a 36″ pipeline under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers. The same industry that’s caused Los Angeles County and the state of California to declare a state of emergency after four months of the Porter Ranch fracking well blowout causing sickness and evacuations near Los Angeles.

When: 11AM-1PM, Saturday, 16 January 2016

Where: Continue reading →