The FERC circus in Valdosta Wednesday, Kayaktivism on the Withlacoochee River Saturday, reprinting Alapaha River Water Trail brochures,
the new Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, and
WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FL-DEP in Jasper (or Live Oak) 19-22 October 2015:
these are some of the topics WWALS president John S. Quarterman will talk about on the air.
When: 8AM Wednesday October 30th 2015
Where: Continue reading
The closest FERC meeting is actually in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 September 2015. And remember, sinkholes don’t matter, says FERC.
Amber Vann, Jasper News, 24 September 2015,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Sabal’s proposed pipeline impact ‘less than significant’ on environment,
According to the EIS, “constructing and operating the Sabal Trail Project in South Georgia/North Florida could induce sinkhole development, alter spring characteristics and impact local groundwater flow and quality.” However, the study finds that Sabal Trail’s proposed impact minimization measures and construction methods would cause the project to not “significantly impact karst terrain, springs or the Floridian aquifer.”
The EIS goes on to state the Floridian aquifer is the “most productive aquifer Continue reading
DNR board unanimously gave away river crossings to Sabal Trail for the Withlacoochee, Ochlockonee, Flint, and Chattahoochee Rivers. But the legislature would also have to approve, and the AJC just turned this obscure board meeting into an earned media event for pipeline opponents.
VALDOSTA: Professor Don Thieme, Valdosta State University, checks the water color and clarity in a sinkhole called Shadrick’s Pond by the Withlacoochee River. The sinkhole is near the site of a proposed pipeline that would cross the Withlacoochee River. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com
See video.
Dan Chapman, AJC, 23 September 2015, South Georgia pipeline moves forward,
The proposed Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline cleared another regulatory hurdle Wednesday with state approval for the pipeline to pass under five Southwest Georgia rivers and creeks.
The unanimous vote by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ board doesn’t sanction the pipeline to run 157 miles across Georgia while crossing the Chattahoochee, Flint, Withlacoochee and Ochlocknee rivers. Additional state and federal reviews, and votes, are necessary before digging begins.
Pipeline opponents, though, hoped that the board would slow Sabal Trail’s seemingly inexorable push to deliver gas to Florida. They cited ongoing safety, environmental and property rights concerns held by thousands of Southwest Georgia residents.
Those opponents included Continue reading
WWALS will argue for conserving the Suwannee River, the Floridan Aquifer, and other wetlands of Florida against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline at this hearing in Jasper (or Live Oak). WWALS asked for Jasper in November because that’s in the middle of the affected landowners, while Sabal Trail and FL-DEP asked for Tallahassee in October because that’s where their offices are; it looks like the judge split the difference.
If you want to be a witness for WWALS, please contact us ASAP; time is very short. If you want to help financially, you can contribute to the IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign. Or become a member of WWALS.
Yesterday Administrative Law Judge Bram D. E. Canter ordered (PDF) for DOAH Case No. 15-4975: Continue reading
In addition,
J. Mark Mobley, Jr. of Moultrie, Colquitt County, GA, is Vice Chair
of the Land Committee that meets first.
If that Committee doesn’t recommend the Sabal Trail give-away, the full
DNR board probably won’t vote on it.
You can
send the GA-DNR board members comments,
or go to the meeting
Wednesday morning 9AM in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, this LTE (PDF) just went to the Albany Herald.
Jeff Sinyard represents southwest Georgia on the Board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. He is our voice on that very important and powerful Board.
Sabal Trail Pipeline needs easements granted by the DNR Board to pass under key southwest and south-central Georgia rivers and creeks. Elsewhere in Georgia, over to the east and on the coast, Governor Deal’s DOT recently blocked the use of eminent domain for a gas and diesel pipeline. The Governor does not have the same power over natural gas pipelines under Georgia law. However, the Governor’s DNR Board does have the power Continue reading
An opportunity for more and different public hearings!
The Withlacoochee River doesn’t even rate a mention, nor the Ochlockonee River.
Nor any county other than Stewart, nevermind the ones that have passed
resolutions against the Sabal Trail pipeline: Terrell, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties, Georgia and Hamilton County, Florida, plus the
cities of Albany, Moultrie, and Valdosta, Georgia.
This is the Savannah Army Corps of Engineers Public Notice,
issued the same Friday September 11th 2015 as the ones from
Mobile
and
Jacksonville,
each slightly different.
So is that one, two, or four possible new public hearings? Continue reading
The fracking that drives new pipelines was a crime until ten years ago, and it should be again: injecting poisons into the ground under our water supply was always a bad idea.
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson and Jim Tatum, Suwannee Democrat, 14 September 2015,
The FERC flexes its muscles on Sabal Trail,
The time frame is coming down to the wire as to Sabal Trail and its invasion of our riverbeds and springs systems. They have met with nothing but negative comments throughout Georgia and Florida. People have turned out in droves to express their dissent. In spite of this, they move onward with their plan to install a 36” pipeline under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, and through the center of this fragile spring system. Our springs heartland is a regional identity unlike any in the world, but vulnerable to developers and oil and gas companies.
Many environmental groups have been active in resisting. Our Santa Fe River Inc. was consistently Continue reading
Sabal Trail opposition aware across Georgia and Florida.
Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald, 13 September 2015, FERC Sabal Trail ruling comes amidst protest: Group holds fasting vigil outside federal agency’s offices,
Photo: TONY CASSADY, 31 May 2015, in Arkansas River pipeline blowout occurred on Sunday morning, cause still unknown, by Benjamin Hardy, Arkansas Blog, 3 June 2015Meanwhile, in Florida an environmental group has filed a petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to stop development of the pipeline over concerns about the safety record of Spectra Energy, the Houston-based company that will build the pipeline. The group points to a May pipeline rupture under the Arkansas River that forced two miles of the river to be shut down after an estimated 3.9 million cubic feet of natural gas was released.
Nope, WWALS doesn’t want that Arkansas River rupture to be repeated under the Suwannee River in Florida, the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, or any other river. The reporter seems to have heard about WWALS via Continue reading
People can request a hearing by the state of Georgia or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to stop GA-EPD or the USACE
from rubberstamping
Sabal Trail’s use of wetlands within 30 days from Friday.
USACE explicitly asks for public comments on
“cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest”,
unlike
FL-DEP’s attempts to narrow the issue.
Presumably this includes crossings of the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ochlockonee, and Withlacoochee Rivers in Georgia (and the Suwannee, Santa Fe, and Withlacoochee (south) Rivers in Florida and other rivers in Alabama), although
this USACE Jacksonville office public notice
about the Clean Waters Act and the
Rivers and Harbors Act
doesn’t specify.
It was released Friday September 11th
just like the one USACE Mobile District released that same day on
Proposed Discharge of Sabal Trail Fill Material.
Apparently you can ask for a public hearing by USACE in Alabama or Florida
as well as in Georgia.
Here’s the Jacksonville USACE public notice: Continue reading
Late on a Friday, in a USACE public notice:
The USACE has not verified the adequacy of the applicant’s avoidance and minimization statement at this time….
The USACE has not verified the adequacy of the applicant’s proposed off-site mitigation plan at this time.
After how many years has this Sabal Trail project been going on? And still no verification?
PUBLIC HEARING REQUESTS: Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider this application. Requests for public hearings shall state with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing.
How about as a reason somebody needs to examine Sabal Trail’s mitigation plans?
This Friday USACE release frequently mentions Continue reading