WWALS board member Chris Mericle just asked FERC:
Why the huge discrepancy….? [W]hy should we believe that the information Sabal Trail provided anywhere is correct?
Apparently unlike FERC, Chris knows what he’s talking about, from
on-the-ground observation to a local study by a geologist, to Sabal Trail’s own docuemnts.
Filed with FERC as Accession Number: 20151207-5015, “Comment of Christopher J Mericle in Docket(s)/Project(s) CP15-17-000 Submission Date: 12/6/2015”, Continue reading
Standing on their previous resolution against the Hildreth compressor station, SBOCC decided to vote next time on a much stronger resolution to keep the pipeline completely out of Suwannee County. Will Sabal Trail show up for that meeting, 15 December 2015, like Andrea Grover told Carl McKinney of the Suwannee Democrat they would if they had advance notice? I suggest all interested parties come to tha meeting to see, not to mention to counter any “information” Sabal Trail may supply.
Here is SBOCC’s own video of that meeting, in which you can see Commissioner Larry Sessions raise the issue:
I’d like to discuss one thing. Last meeting we discussed at length the Sabal Trail issues, possibly coming through our county and crossing the river a couple times.
I’d like to propose that staff make up a letter or a proposal to restrict the pipeline or maybe have the pipeline avoid all karst areas and wetlands coming through our county. We’re trying to Continue reading
Why does Duke Energy now want to dispose of industrial wastewater from its Suwannee River power plant in Suwannee County? Why did Duke apply for a water permit for the same plant the same day that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked for comments about Sabal Trail? Why does Sabal Trail want the same type of permit?
Profile Name: Suwannee Air
Permit: Water – Industrial Wastewater Facility Permit
Project Name: DUKE ENERGY – SUWANNEE RIVER
Location Id: FL0000183
Location Name: Duke Energy Florida – Suwannee River Generating Plant
County: Suwannee
Application Number: FL0000183-007For further information, please contact the Tallahassee Headquarters permitting office in Tallahassee at (850) 245-8589
Why is a wastewater permit labeled “Suwannee Air”? And more questions…. Continue reading
Suwannee County resident Debra Johnson tells us:
Suwannee County landowners vs Sabal Trail’s right to survey at Suwannee County courthouse Dec 7 at 3:30, Live Oak, FL. Landowners have lawyers.
A bit more information on Suwannee County Says “NO” To Toxic Waste 27 November 2015: Continue reading
National news notes Florida doesn’t want DOAH to listen to EPA about Sabal Trail, after WWALS asked DOAH to do so.
Bruce Ritchie,
POLITICO Florida, 25 November 2015,
Scott administration helped keep scathing EPA pipeline report out of legal challenge,
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott’s top environmental agency helped block a scathing federal report outlining environmental concerns from being submitted as part of a challenge to a controversial natural gas pipeline that would run across some of Florida’s most “environmentally sensitive areas.”
The Sabal Trail pipeline, a joint venture of Spectra Energy, Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light Co.’s parent company, would extend 515 miles from central Alabama to Osceola County. The project, which covers more than 260 miles in Florida, faces a legal challenge to a state permit in Florida from an environmental group named the WWALS Watershed Coalition.
On Oct. 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wrote to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, saying it had “very significant concerns” about Continue reading
ACTION ALERT! SBOCC will be drafting a resolution concerning the Sabal Trail pipeline and compressor station at the next meeting. (facebook event)
When: 6PM Tuesday, Nov 17, 2015
Where: 218 Parshley Street Southwest, Live Oak, Florida 32064
Directions: Turn right at post office, go through stop sign, next building on right.
Please attend and show your support for this very important initiative by our county officials. Your input would be greatly appreciated.
-Debra Johnson
This item is not on the Suwannee BOCC agenda yet. However, we have reason to believe it will be discussed and probably voted on.
This is huge, because Continue reading
The invading pipeline would pass within about one mile of Clyattville Elementary School
where it would cross
Clyatt Mill Creek and then Railroad Avenue, at about
30.680638, -83.326501.
This would be after crossing the Withlacoochee River from Brooks into Lowndes Counties just north of US 84, and before crossing Jumping Gulley Creek and the state line into Hamilton County Florida, where the hearing was held in Jennings for WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP.
You can see the general route in the Cover Map. After crossing the Withlacoochee River, Sabal Trail would cross Martin Lane and Tiger Creek, then Continue reading
Sabal Trail won’t comment in Florida about the EPA letter to FERC that validates what WWALS and many others have been saying, although Sabal Trail did comment in Georgia.
Carl McKinney, Jasper News, 5 November 2015,
front page, apparently not online,
EPA letter could change course of gas pipeline,
…In an Oct. 20 letter, the EPA maintained it always had serious concerns about the project, and recommends the approximately 515-mile-long pipeline’s path be redrawn to avoid environmentally sensitive areas in Florida.
Now, the WWALS Watershed Coalition environmental group has filed to get the letter admitted as evidenm in a legal challenge to prevent the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from issuing a permit for the project, said WWALS president John Quarterman.
“It validates everything we’ve been saying,” he said.
Here is that EPA letter to FERC.
Last month, WWALS and Tallahassee attorneys representing Sabal Trail met face-to-face at Continue reading
You can believe
what Spectra’s Andrea Grover said in the VDT today,
or you can believe more from
Sabal Trail’s own Karst Mitigation Plan,
which says they already lost drilling fluids from test drillings under the Withlacoochee River between Brooks and Lowndes Counties, and if they cause a sinkhole they can’t fill they’ll “monitor” it.
How will they do that if a sinkhole forms under the pipeline under the river, or it breaks or explodes, like a Spectra pipeline did in Little Rock, Arkansas in May of this year?
As filed in the FERC DEIS, Karst Mitigation Plan, in Section 7.3.2., on page 31 of 31:
- If drilling fluid loss downhole affects nearby springs or rivers and complete drilling fluid loss to the formation cannot be prevented, reaming operations will continue and the affected waterbody will be monitored in accordance with the Best Drilling Practices Plan for the Sabal Trail Project.
Not just for pilot holes: drilling fluid loss is quite possible during reaming for the actual pipe hole. And this drilling fluid can contain lubricants with unspecified ingredients.
Sabal Trail knows about fracture traces such as Continue reading
In which Spectra Energy’s Andrea Grover claims “The pipeline will not contaminate water or aquifers,”, despite Spectra’s own SEC 10-K and Sabal Trail’s own Karst Mitigation Plan.
Joe Adgie, Valdosta Daily Times, 5 November 2015,
Sabal makes Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen,
The proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline made the Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen list for the second consecutive year.
The proposed pipeline made the list for its path through sinkhole-prone regions in Georgia and Florida, including Lowndes County.
Here’s GWC Dirty Dozen 2015 #11: Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail.
John Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition president, said there is some hope for opponents of the pipeline, in the form of a strong letter from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will have the final say on construction of the pipeline.
“We got a federal agency actually doing its job, and I don’t mean FERC, I’m talking about the EPA,” Quarterman said. “They filed an amazing letter that validates pretty much everything the opposition’s been saying about this pipeline.”
Last week, the EPA recommended Continue reading