Tag Archives: Santa Fe River

At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South –Movie in Live Oak, FL 2016-02-12

Please join us for a documentary about property rights and the environment vs. pipelines (PDF; facebook event; meetup event). Yes, FERC has issued certificates for Sabal Trail, but the fight is not over.

6:30 PM Friday 12 Feb 2016, Live Oak, FL

When: 6:30 PM Friday February 12th

Where: Live Oak Womans Club,
1308 11TH St SW, Live Oak, FL 32064

What: View the film:
“At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South”
A documentary film by Mark Albertin
Video Trailer

Thanks: to Push Back the Pipeline for getting this movie made

This film is about the Kinder Morgan petroleum products Palmetto Pipeline proposed across coastal Georgia to Jacksonville, but the issues are the same for Spectra Energy’s proposed fracked methane Sabal Trail pipeline from Continue reading →

High voltage DC evidence that solar and wind can make coal go away with no need for natural gas –WWALS to Suwannee BOCC 2016-02-01

Sent today to the Suwannee Board of County Commissioners (PDF):

Dear Commissioners,

It’s good to see you have a workshop about Sabal Trail’s proposed river crossings on the agenda for tonight. WWALS, including its members in Suwannee County, continues to oppose any such crossings of the Suwannee River or the Santa Fe River, or anywhere in the fragile karst terrain of central Florida and south Georgia containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer.

Here’s more evidence that solar and wind can make coal go away with no need for natural gas. A new study shows adding interstate high-voltage DC electric power lines to load-balance across the U.S. would enable a very rapid shift to solar and wind power, dropping CO2 emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2030, five years from now. Florida needs to do its part by deploying solar power for local production during sunny days, rather than wasting $3 billion on yet another natural gas pipeline.

“Better power lines would help U.S. supercharge renewable energy, study suggests,” by Continue reading →

Audubon speaks for the Florida legislature now?

Even as Our Santa Fe River and others held a demonstration in Gainesville yesterday against fracking bills in the Florida legislature, especially Senate Bill 318 now that House Bill 191 passed, Audubon Florida published a letter concluding:

“So my request to you right now: hold off of the emails to the committee, they know you are paying attention.”

This has not sit well with many opponents of fracking in Florida. WWALS is among the members of Floridians Against Fracking that call for Floridians to call their state legislators.

WWALS remembers when Continue reading →

Florida Petition against Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline

Update 2016-02-02: Dropoff locations and other updates.

It’s time to get local, state, and federal elected officials to put a stop to the Sabal Trail boondoggle that risks our property rights, rivers, aquifer, and air. You can sign a petition to Florida (or Georgia or Alabama) elected officials by printing out the PDF for you and your neighbors. See below for where to send them.

Or, to sign online, Gulf Restoration Network has put up a handy online form that will send your signature and personalized message directly to your members of Congress.

Here’s the text of the PDF: Continue reading →

Sabal Trail risks drinking water –Gordon Rogers in Georgia Sierran

Apparently fracked methane is Sierra Club Georgia’s next fight now that Keystone XL is dead, since almost its entire January/February/March issue of Georgia Sierran is about opposing natural gas: PDF.

See for example “Why Natural Gas Is Not a Climate Solution”, by Joshua Hanthorn. And “LNG Puts Savannah at Risk”, by Karen Grainey and Stacey Kronquest. Karen is chair of the Coastal Group of Sierra Club Georgia. Pretty much everything in that article also applies to Jacksonville, and quite likely to Palm Beach and other locations in Florida very soon.

Mentioning WWALS is “Pipeline in Southwest Georgia and Central Florida Risks Drinking Water,” by Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper,

001 The Sabal Pipeline, a joint venture of Spectra Energy, Duke Energy, and NextEra Energy, poses threats to Georgia and Florida communities on multiple fronts. For southwest Georgia and north Florida residents it’s all risks and no rewards. However, so far federal and state authorities have thus far been unmoved by arguments against it.

During the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) public comment period, the agency received more than 1,000 written comments, mostly opposing the project, including resolutions against it from seven counties in Georgia and Florida, and three of the largest cities in its path (Albany, Moultrie and Valdosta).

The article talks about FERC’s FEIS, EPA, GA-EPD, and other matters, before turning to WWALS and Florida. Continue reading →

Where pipelines already cross rivers into Suwannee County, Florida

Update 2017-03-31: Newer version of PHMSA pipeline maps.

Two pipelines, one by Southern Natural Gas (SONAT), and one named Florida Gas Transmission (FGT), both owned by Kinder Morgan (KMI), already cross under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers into Suwannee County: FGT does so twice under the Suwannee River and once under the Santa Fe River. All these pipelines carry “natural” gas, which is to say fracked methane. When they were originally built, economically they made some sense. Now that solar power is cheaper, easier and faster to build, and far safer and cleaner, there is no excuse for any more such pipelines, neither Kinder Morgan’s Jacksonville Expansion Project (JEP), nor Spectra Energy’s Sabal Trail.

SONAT

Continue reading →

Sabal Trail response to WWALS exceptions to ALJ’s Order in WWALS v Sabal Trail & FDEP 2016-01-04

Does this sound like a level playing field to you? Basically Sabal Trail claims “reasonable assurances” mean the pipeline can be completed and that’s a public good for the state of Florida, nevermind any destruction or hazards, while WWALS would have had to demonstrate specific direct damages to many of its members because of pipeline installation just to get standing. A Spectra Energy executive from Houston, Texas automatically has standing to claim safety using evidence from other pipelines and even other pipeline companies,explicitly referencing the U.S. Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, while WWALS and its local members in Florida are precluded from introducing any evidence about safety in the same case, or so Sabal Trail seems to say in its objections filed today 4 January 2016 (PDF) to the judge’s Order in WWALS v Sabal Trail & FDEP.

Seems like the limestone underlying the Floridan Aquifer are not the only cracks and fissures in Florida.

-jsq

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Judge ruled against WWALS in DOAH case: WWALS fights on

The judge’s ruling was disappointing, but not unexpected. He found for the Respondents Sabal Trail and FDEP on every issue, even standing. WWALS and others will fight on for the Suwannee River, for the Floridan Aquifer, and for the property rights of local citizens against this pipeline boondoggle.

Recommendation Indeed, “the project would result in unavoidable temporary and permanent losses of portions of wetlands along the route.” Mitigation somewhere else, not even in the same watershed, is no excuse. Nor does such “mitigation” stop the eminent domain takings of local Florida citizens’ lands, or the bulldozing of a grandmother’s ashes, for the profit of a company from Houston, Texas.

This ruling, with its rather remarkable irregularities, appears to provide additional grounds for appeal beyond those we already knew. The judge repeatedly said in the hearing, and we quoted in the WWALS Proposed Recommended Order, that activities such as boating, swimming, fishing, and scuba diving counted for standing, yet his Order only accepts Continue reading →

Draft letter from Suwannee County to Army Corps of Engineers for Emergency Commission Meeting 2015-12-10

Wow! They’re not kidding around. Suwannee County calls on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep the Sabal Trail invading pipeline out of Suwannee County and out of the state of Florida.

Draft letter Here’s the agenda for tomorrow morning’s 9:30 AM Thursday December 10th 2015 meeting:

SUWANNEE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
COUNCIL MEETING ROOM
LIVE OAK CITY HALL
101 SOUTHEAST WHITE AVENUE
LIVE OAK, FLORIDA

TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR SPECIAL-CALLED MEETING
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

  • Consider sending a letter from the Board to the US Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pertaining to the Sabal Trail Pipeline.

Here’s the draft letter: Continue reading →

Sabal Trail pipeline route discussion, Suwannee Board of County Commissioners, 2015-12-01

Beyond asking to move the Sabal Trail compressor station, the Suwannee County Board of Commissioners (SBOCC) will consider what else it wants.

218 Parshley St. SW, Live Oak, FL 32064 SBOCC Meeting — Sabal Trail pipeline route discussion by SBOCC tonight — I was told — 6 pm Parshley Street in Live Oak — right behind Post Office off Ohio Ave (MLK BLVD).

Please attend if able. —Debra Johnson

Will Sabal Trail continue to hide behind the federal Pipeline Safety Act even after two more whistleblowers have come forward about Spectra Energy?

Will Sabal Trail again Continue reading →