Received 28 September 2017 from Lowndes County Utilities Director Steve Stalvey:
John,
This is the information I sent to the State concerning the spills related to Irma on Tuesday 9-12-17. Continue reading
Tag Archives: river
Permit-less Sabal Trail pipeline risked by new sinkhole
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(See also PDF and previous blog post.)
Live Oak, FL, October 5, 2017 — Sabal Trail, operating without a permit, is at risk from a new sinkhole within 60 feet of its 36-inch diameter, high-pressure, fracked methane pipe under Suwannee River State Park (SRSP), between the Suwannee River and the drill site in Hamilton County. Such sinkholes are among the geological risks WWALS warned about that have happened in the fragile karst limestone containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. We were assured in October 2015 by Sabal Trail and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) that sinkholes and frac-outs would not happen or would be detected and fixed. They keep happening, and Sabal Trail has done nothing about this one. Sabal Trail should not even be continuing operations after the DC Circuit Court vacated its permit six weeks ago.
Suwannee
Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman at new sinkhole in Suwannee River
State Park, 2017-10-03.
Photo:
Christopher J. Mericle, Chair, N. Florida Working Group,
Suwannee-St. Johns Group, Sierra Club Florida.
In WWALS vs. Sabal Trail & FDEP (October 2015), FDEP’s one witness, Lisa Prather, said under oath (see https://wwals.net/blog/?p=27799):
“Well, the Suwannee River crossing doesn’t, in fact, have any impacts to an outstanding Florida water, because the directional drill commences in uplands and terminates in uplands. So there are no surface water impacts at that crossing that would affect the outstanding Florida water.”
“Well, any work within, or could have adverse effects on OFW, is considered.In this case, we determine that there would be no impacts to the OFW.”
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman says:
“Email to Ms. Prather’s address now comes back with an error message, while the rest of us are left Continue reading
WWALS at Suwannee Hulaween 2017-10-27-29 2017-10-26 thru 2017-10-29
Update 2017-10-20: Hulaween has expanded into starting noonish Thursday, October 26, 2017. WWALS will set up Wednesday and the WWALS booth will be open Thursday.
What’s twice the size of Wanee and in the fall? Suwannee Hulaween!
When: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, October 27,28,29, 2017
Where: Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak, Florida
We will have another kayak raffle, and come talk to us about paddling, outings, spills, sinkholes, water trails, song contest, and anything else that affects our rivers or our aquifer. If you want to help at the WWALS booth, any of October 27, 28, or 29, please contact us.
Thanks to Debbie Lee for helping arrange this.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Wanee Wednesday 2017-04-19
Spring at the music park with a few tens of thousands of friends: Wanee 2017, Wednesday through Sunday. Lots of people bought kayak raffle tickets.
Sinkhole at Sabal Trail path through SRSP, Hamilton Co., FL 2017-10-03
Update 2017-10-05: Press Release.
Yesterday we found a fresh sinkhole within 60 feet of Sabal Trail’s pipe under Suwannee River State Park (SRSP), between the Suwannee River and the drill site in Hamilton County.
These pictures are by Christopher J. Mericle. He is a WWALS member, and also the Chair of the North Florida Working Group of the Suwannee-St. Johns Group, Sierra Club Florida.
You can see the sinkhole extends underground to the south, on the far side in this picture, towards the pipeline: Continue reading
SWIM Plan Meeting, Live Oak 2017-10-03
Nitrates, agriculture, and silviculture were already in, and sewage, phosphate mines, and the Floridan Aquifer got added yesterday afternoon in Live Oak in public comments on updates to SRWMD’s SWIM Plans, plus new SRWMD E.D. Hugh Thomas spoke.
Thanks to presenter Tom Singleton, the slides presented are on the WWALS website. Here are a few notes and pictures.
Floridan Aquifer
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson of Sierra Club Florida noted Continue reading
Videos: Not so Fast, Sabal Trail: Suwannee and Flint Riverkeepers in Live Oak 2017-09-07
Thursday before the storm, Suwannee and Flint Riverkeepers updated on Sabal Trail in Live Oak, about the recent court win against FERC, plus LNG export.
WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman explained Continue reading
Okefenokee Suwannee River Outing 2017-12-10
Update 2018-02-10: Pictures of the outings.
Update 2017-12-12: And the winner is…
Update 2017-12-11: We drew for the kayak (stay tuned for the winner), and here are some pictures.
Update 2017-12-07: Also last chance to get a kayak raffle ticket before we draw the winner at the beginning of the outing.
Paddle upstream to Minnie’s Lake and back to see the Okefenokee Swamp after the West Mims Fire. Gators, birds, and fish!
When: 9AM, Sunday, December 10, 2017
Put In: Stephen C. Foster State Park, Fargo, GA
GPS: 30.8282, -82.361
Take Out: Same as Put In. This location is on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail (SRWT) and the path is on the Okefenokee Wilderness Area Canoe Trails.
Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.
Free: This outing is Free! And we recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
On
our previous Okefenokee outing we went to Billys Island.
Duration: Continue reading
Florida Public Notice of Pollution
While Alabama is thinking about it (actually, Alabama already does it) and Georgia requires an open records request with slow response (since 2018-12-21 Georgia now posts spills),
Florida has already required and is publishing timely notices of spills, and more recently a map of the most recent 30 days of spills!
Among them, surprisingly few in the Suwannee River Basin from Hurricane Irma: three in Baker and Bradford Counties from The Chemours Company, and two from Camp Blanding.
Follow this link for the interactive google map.
Daniel H. Thompson, Lexology, 4 May 2017, Florida Legislature Passes “Public Notice of Pollution Act” Continue reading
Alabama stricter sewage spill regulations and notification
Here’s an idea for Georgia and Florida!
Dennis Pillion, AL.com, 27 September 2017, Alabama cracks down on E. coli bacteria in rivers with revised standards,
Existing five-year permits are valid until they expire, but all new or renewed permits issued by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management going forward will include the new standards.
E. coli bacteria are commonly found in Continue reading