According to
their facebook page today,
a conservation group in Florida convinced Sabal Trail to steer clear
of their springs.
Or did they?
The “written assurances” they they got from Spectra’s Andrea Grover
say “preferred” and “currently”.
In any case, some of Ichetucknee Alliance’s positions are just as valid
in WWALS’ watersheds.
Here’s an excerpt from their position, Ichetucknee Alliance Pipeline Position Paper, 21 August 2013, Continue reading
The detail maps in the General Project Description in the 15 November 2013 update to FERC by Sabal Trail Transmission reveal that the proposed path would cross the Withlacoochee River both where the river is the border of Brooks and Lowndes County and where it is the border between Hamilton and Madison County near Ellaville. In between, the pipeline would run through many wetlands near the river and through quite a few recharge zones for our drinking water source, the Floridan Aquifer. Then it crosses our downstream river, the Suwannee, into Suwannee County, Florida.
Approved by the WWALS Board 13 November 2013. PDF.
From:
WWALS Watershed Coalition
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
www.wwals.net
wwalswatershed@gmail.com
18 October 2013
To:
Secretary Sarah McKinley
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street N.E
Washington, DC 20426Re: Pre-filing Docket PF14-1 Sabal Trail Transmission
Cc:
Georgia Public Service Commission
Florida Public Service CommissionWWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. opposes the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission gas pipeline that would cut a 100 foot wide gash across our Withlacoochee River and through many wetlands in south Georgia and north Florida, including recharge zones for the Floridan Aquifer that provides our drinking water.
Sabal’s parent company, Spectra Energy, has a safety record that gives no comfort Continue reading
EPA will be in Waycross 24 November 2013 to meet about this contamination, which has also been shipped over into WWALS watersheds. -jsq
Satilla River: Toxic Legacy in Waycross Needs Further Investigations, Cleanups, in Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen 2013,
Satilla River
Toxic legacy in Waycross Needs Further Investigations, CleanupsIntroduction:
Lurking within Mary Street Park, a tree-lined neighborhood park in Waycross, is a silent killer—toxic pollutants from a defunct industrial wastewater treatment facility known as Seven Out Tank. Opened in 2002, the industrial waste handler operated only two years before multiple environmental violations led to the facility’s closure. Now, after Continue reading
We had to move to a larger room, so many attended this groundwater talk at VSU (about 90). Plus a guest appearance by SAVE.
Here are
Dr. Donald M. Thieme‘s
slides in PDF,
with his longer title:
Coastal Plain Surficial Deposits, Groundwater Resources, and Recent Subsidence in south Georgia
While we are lucky to have abundant groundwater, both from the Upper Floridan Aquifer 100 feet below us trapped in Eocene limestones and from shallow groundwater with its karst features, nonetheless overpumping has caused falls in the level of the aquifer (about 0.6 feet a year at Valdosta), resulting in rapid loss of shallow groundwater, plus surface water that enters and often contaminates the aquifer through those karst features.
Sometimes those karst features subside and manifest as sinkholes like the one that ate Snake Nation Road in Lowndes County and others that can develop slow (many years) or fast (weeks or minutes).
There were also many questions,
starting with what water do personal wells reach?
Also including
a brief history of Valdosta well drilling from artesian to hundreds
of feet down,
and
a sinkhole in a garage in Lowndes County,
should local governments require sinkhole insurance
(including mention of Moody AFB subsidence and Florida citrus growers
pumping so much water it causes sinkholes).
I also introduced the WWALS board members present:
Gretchen Quarterman (Treasurer and videoing),
Bret Wagenhorst (Outings),
Heather Brasell (Secretary),
Dave Hetzel (President),
April Huntley (Director),
me (Vice President),
and Chris Graham (Member);
plus a brief summary of WWALS events and outings.
Here’s
a video playlist:
Approved by the WWALS Board by email 17 October 2013.
WWALS Watershed Coalition
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
www.wwals.net
wwalswatershed@gmail.com
18 October 2013
To:
Mr. John Crawford
Vice President for Advancement
and Trustee
jdcrawford@valdosta.edu
VSU Foundation
and Board of Trustees
1500 N. Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31698
In addition to the points made by S.A.V.E., WWALS would like to add that oil and gas leaks run downhill in our watersheds, fracking for natural gas pollutes groundwater, and fossil fuel energy plants use massive amounts of water that could go for agriculture or drinking. Divestment from fossil fuels by VSU by itself won’t stop leaks or end fracking or shut down coal plants. But it will send a clear signal that our regional state university is leading the shift from fossil fuels to renewable solar and wind power with efficiency and conservation.
Fracking may seem distant, but right now there is a proposed natural gas pipeline from Alabama to Florida that threatens Georgia’s environment and Georgians’ property rights.
We don’t want an exploding pipeline like just happened in Oklahoma.
Perhaps like Harvard President Drew Faust some don’t want to get academic VSU involved in politics. But all our investments are political, and there’s nothing neutral about funding climate wreckage. As S.A.V.E. put it in their letter:
Continue reading
Update 2019-04-02: Videos.
Moved to VSU, University Center, Dogwood Room!
Prof. Don Thieme of VSU will speak about underground water issues
at the October WWALS board meeting in Wednesday October 9th at 7:30 PM
in Valdosta.
Join the
facebook event or come as you are.
Here’s the letter Prof. Thieme and two other VSU professors wrote to the Air Force about sinkholes and subsidence on the proposed Moody Family Housing in Lowndes County, which also turns out to be in an aquifer recharge zone.
Here’s VSU’s campus map and here’s a google map: Continue reading
Moved to
VSU, University Center, Dogwood Room!
Prof. Don Thieme of VSU will speak about underground water issues
at the October WWALS board meeting in Wednesday October 9th at 7:30 PM
in
Adel at the IHOP, 1200 W 4th Street.
Valdosta.
Here’s the letter Prof. Thieme and two other VSU professors wrote to the Air Force about sinkholes and subsidence on the proposed Moody Family Housing in Lowndes County, which also turns out to be in an aquifer recharge zone.
It’s an open board meeting anyone can attend for the business part, as well. Here’s the agenda:
Agenda WWALS Board Meeting
7:30 pm October 9, 2013
IHOP, Adel GA
- Call to Order, Welcome and Introductions
Speaker: Don Thieme, VSU geologist. Topic: Aquifers, sinkholes, and ground scans.
- Agenda Review: Additions and Changes
- Review and Approval of Minutes of September Board Meeting
- Future Meetings and Events
- Monthly outing (fourth Saturday): October 26, 2013 at Banks Lake near Lakeland.
- Monthly board meeting (second Wednesday): November 13 Continue reading
How we manage water affects our water’s quality and quantity.
WWALS Watershed Coalition is pleased to announce a Water
Conference where Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper will share information on hydrology of the South Georgia
region and Neill Herring, Environmental Lobbyist, will discuss upcoming legislation that can affect our watersheds and aquifer. The
conference will take place in Tifton on Saturday, August 24, 2013
from 9:00 am until noon at the NESPAL, University of Georgia, Tifton
Campus at 2360 Rainwater Road.
The Southern Georgia Regional Commission invites you to contact them about agricultural runoff. WWALS is concerned with how industrial farming and clear cutting affects both water quality and quantity in our watershed.
The pictured example of runoff from a cotton field was in Berrien County
yesterday.
While rain was pouring down, it ran half way across the road, and
two cars wrecked.
Once it gets across the road, either over it or through the culvert,
it runs into the Withlacoochee River.
As Pesticide Action Network reminds us,
“Conventionally grown cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop.”
Abbie Fentress Swanson wrote for GPB 6 July 2013, What Is Farm Runoff Doing To The Water? Scientists Wade In,
Agriculture is the nation’s leading cause of impaired water quality, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Continue reading
