We collected many bags of trash and four mattresses (not pictured) Saturday in the Rivers-Alive Cleanup at Berrien Beach Launch on the Alapaha River. Special thanks to the three members of Valdosta State’s Students Against Violating the Environment (S.A.V.E.) for joining in!
Here are a few pictures of some Bill Gates properties from the MIDS Southwings flyover of June 21st, 2016, including
Suwannee Farms which we previously discovered a Gates subsidiary had bought.
Notice how close these lands are to the Suwannee River or the Withlacoochee River and Madison Blue Spring. Some of them look freshly cleared. Many of them are probably also in Floridan Aquifer recharge zones. There is more identification work to be done. And we have more aerial pictures (and video).
See also the WWALS web page on Corporate Agriculture.
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Continue readingUpdate 2016-09-24: Video from the river and pictures from the bluff.
You are invited to protest Sabal Trail and the Dakota Access Pipeline this Tuesday 5:30 PM! News media are invited. Walk with signs along the bluff to the proposed Sabal Trail Suwannee River HDD crossing, or paddle downstream and back.
We aim to get pictures and video of people on the bluff, beach, and river
at the same time demanding the Army Corps re-evaluate its permit for Sabal Trail
just like its permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
Both pipelines should be canceled: keep it in the ground!
This WWALS Outing is part of the #NoDAPL Day of Action — Tuesday Sep. 13, tying the Dakota Access oil Pipeline to the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline through their ownership by the same companies. This outing is also a followup to Continue reading
Update 2016-09-23: Not quite: Energy Transfer backed out of buying Williams Co..
DAPL and Sabal Trail: now part of the same pipeline companies.
The pipeline companies behind the Sabal Trail fracked methane boondoogle through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida are now owned by the companies behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) that wants to pump oil through North Dakota where the Standing Rock Sioux have attracted an encampment of thousands of people who have successfully and nonviolently stopped pipeline construction at least for the moment.
WWALS was one of 93 Waterkeeper organizations worldwide that co-signed a letter from Waterkeeper Alliance in support of the Standing Rock Sioux.
Opponents of these pipelines, including native Americans in Florida and Georgia as well as North Dakota, are no longer just fighting the same industry:
they’re fighting the same companies.
The pipeline companies behind DAPL are Continue reading
This weekend, it’s Rivers-Alive Cleanup at Berrien Beach Launch on the Alapaha River, 4PM Saturday September 10th 2016; follow the link for details.
And a group out of Gainesville, Florida, Current Problems, has an annual
Great Suwannee River Cleanup 2016:
It’s time to register for the Great Suwannee River Cleanup! This is number 7! You may schedule your cleanup for anytime in September, October, or November. The first week of December is okay, too. We hope river conditions will be good this year and encourage lots of you to join in. Our goal this year is to pass the 100,000 pound mark. We’re close enough we can do it!
-jsq
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Hahira, GA, September 6th 2016 — Two Georgia brothers are stuck with paying almost ten times as much in Sabal Trail’s legal fees as they spent defending their property against that invading fracked methane pipeline, even though FPL apparently admitted this year that all three of its 2013 excuses for that pipeline are no longer valid. Two federal agencies and numerous state agencies issued permits based on those excuses. Sabal Trail used those permits to get eminent domain, including to drill under rivers in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama and through the fragile limestone containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. It is time for this unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous boondoggle to be shut down and its $3 billion in FPL ratepayer money to be used for solar power in the Sunshine State.
James Bell, one of the brothers stuck with having to pay Sabal Trail attorney fees, says:
"First and foremost, this is a multi-billion dollar company that is for profit. In my personal opinion I don’t see how a private for-profit company should be allowed eminent domain. I don’t understand that. That makes no sense to me. I might could understand it if it was for the greater good of the country but this is not. And it is certainly not the federal government or the state government building some road or highway."
Florida Power & Light claimed Continue reading
“We’re on for Monday morning! River excellent condition,”
says expedition leader Phil Hubbard, reporting from the Suwannee River just now.
“Maybe 2 feet higher. Flow is perfect,” he added.
Earlier he said helpfully, “I’m stopping at Hardee’s in Jasper to grab a biscuit around 9:15 if anyone needs help finding the launch site.”
About an essential outing ingredient, Gretchen Quarterman says: “I just baked bon-bons!”
For outing details, see the original post, Redoux Suwannee River Roline to Cypress Creek.
-jsq
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Continue readingUpdate 2016-09-04: “We’re on for Monday morning! River excellent condition,” says expedition leader Phil Hubbard.
With water still coming downstream from Hurricane Hermine and storms following,
expedition leader Phil Hubbard says:
I’m thinking looking at the weather forecast, the only safe call we can make today is to delay till Monday pend river level. The rain probability is actually higher on Sunday but looks good for Monday.
So we’re rescheduling Redoux Roline for 10 AM Monday morning September 5th 2016, still at Roline.
At lest now now we know the Suwannee River won’t be too low!
Hoping to see you there. Details are still in the first blog post.
-jsq
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
It looks like Hermine will have moved along east by Saturday, or at least by Sunday, which is the fallback date for the WWALS paddle outing this weekend from Redoux Suwannee River Roline to Cypress Creek. We won’t be able to tell for a day or so what the situation will be, but so far we’re still planning on Saturday morning. Expedition leader Phil Hubbard will make a determination before then.
-jsq
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
An easy hike following Alapaha River as it flows into the Dead River
and disappears into the Dead River Sink: you don’t see this just anywhere!.
Update 2016-10-15: Be aware the path does get steep and rough towards the sink, and there are mosquitoes and chiggers.
Bring water, a snack, and bug repellent.
No boat required. Really: you don’t want to try to boat up the Dead River. But you do want to see the Dead River Sink.
When: 10AM Saturday November 6th 2016
Duration: 2-3 hours
Where: Jennings Bluff Landing, 30.579864, -83.039308
This outing is Free! But we encourage you to join WWALS today to support our fun outings and important work: /donations/. Continue reading