Tag Archives: Santa Fe River

Suwannee County, FL sends resolution against Sabal Trail to FERC 2015-11-30

The one county targetted by every path proposed by Spectra Energy Resolution: move it for its Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, Suwannee County, Florida, has told FERC it passed a resolution wanting the Hildreth compressor station moved.

Filed with FERC 30 November 2015, Accession Number: 20151130-0023, “A Resolution of the Board of County Commissioners of Suwannee County, Florida etc re Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC under CP15-17.” (PDF on WWALS website.)

For the text, see the previous post. Below are images. Continue reading →

Video of citizens and Commission against Sabal Trail in Suwannee County, FL 2015-11-17

The Commissioners unanimously voted for that resolution to ask Sabal Trail to move the Hildreth compressor station, as you can see on Suwannee County’s own video of that meeting.

First, several people spoke against the compressor station, including:

Resolution to move Sabal Trail’s Hildreth Compressor Station passed by Suwannee County BOCC

They wanted to pass this resolution, already in the handouts at the beginning of the meeting, Actually adopted Nov 17th 2015 without even waiting for citizen comments. They did listen first to a few people who had signed up to to talk about the compressor station, including WWALS member David Shields, whose family has an organic farm and discovered they’d be downwind of the compressor station, and Johanna deGraffenreid, the new Gulf Coast Campaign Coordinator for Gulf Restoration Network. Everybody else got to speak later in the meeting.

Suwannee County BOCC
David and Ginger Shields on left in audience;
Chris and Deanna Mericle directly in front of camera

Here’s what the Board of Commissioners of the one county targetted by every Continue reading →

Sabal Trail pipeline challenged by recommended order, plus Suwannee County resolution tonight

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sabal Trail pipeline challenged by recommended order, plus Suwannee County resolution tonight

Jasper, Florida, November 17, 2015 — The day after WWALS filed its Proposed Recommended Order (PRO) in WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP saying FDEP didn’t do proper due diligence on what Sabal Trail’s application, especially for the Outstanding Florida Waters of the Suwannee River and the Santa Fe River, the Suwannee County Commission is considering tonight a resolution against Sabal Trail’s proposed Hildreth Compressor Station.

Suwannee County resident Debra Johnson remarked,

“How about nowhere in our county. It’s like who wants this dangerous compressor station in Suwannee County ANYWHERE?”

David Shields testified at the hearing in Jasper that he had purchased land in Suwannee County because: Continue reading →

WWALS files Proposed Recommended Order with DOAH 2015-11-16

DEP failed to sufficiently review or verify Sabal Trail’s application, failed to timely place comments from affected landowners in the public record, and disregarded heightened protection requirements of Florida Outstanding Waters. Sabal Trail admitted Spectra Energy is its operator in perpetuity, and that horizontal directional drilling could adversely affect water quality of the Suwannee River, yet DEP failed to adequately consider such effects. DEP professed to be unaware of other potential risks such as crossing existing pipelines, including the Southern Natural Gas pipeline. Springs, fragile karst geology, leaks, LiDAR, and geologic collapse: all insufficiently considered by DEP. Sinkholes, springs, and gopher tortoises pointed out by landowners never examined by Sabal Trail or DEP.

A Spectra Energy executive from Houston deigned to come to “the middle of nowhere” to tell us they’d use thinner pipe in low population areas such as Suwannee County. He testified at length about Spectra’s safety history, even Continue reading →

Videos: More WWALS witnesses, rebuttal, Spectra speaks, and WWALS counsel summation in Day 3, WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP 2015-10-21

Willard Randall, expert welder Sabal Trail didn’t want to hear that Sierra Club is funding part of WWALS’ legal expenses and they really didn’t want to hear about Spectra’s speckled history of safety and compliance. The Respondents also didn’t expect the WWALS pipeline welder expert witness in this third and last day of the final hearing.

DEP tried to argue their own key applicant process substance person couldn’t qualify as an expert witness for WWALS. A sitting Suwannee County Commissioner testified. A fireman who lives near the proposed compressor station said a few words about Sabal Trail saying one thing and doing another. A string of WWALS witnesses talked about generations of use and enjoyment, joining WWALS because WWALS took in the upper Suwannee as territory, more new WWALS members, WWALS as a Waterkeeper® Alliance Affiliate.

The Respondents rebuttal witnesses were Continue reading →

Get Sabal Trail out of vulnerable karst –EPA to FERC

Avoid the whole most vulnerable area of the Floridan Aquifer, you risk drinking water wells and environmental justice communities, you didn’t even identify Clean Water Act mitigations, neglect isn’t mitigation, and stop just tweaking Sabal Trail’s preferred route even if Sabal Trail is at risk by its contract: your process is broken, FERC! Furthermore, all agencies means you, too, FERC, about the December 2014 Revised Draft Guidance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change Impacts. This project is so bad EPA is setting aside its stance that natural gas is cleaner and demanding a full life cycle analysis of the Transco – Sabal Trail – FSC project.

Above I paraphrase, but I do not exaggerate the severity and extent of EPA’s criticisms of FERC’s DEIS for the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline. Read it for yourself below.

EPA specifically criticizes the proposed HDD drilling under the Withlacoochee River slightly upstream from Blue (Wade) Spring, and going anywhere through the eroded karst sinkhole-prone terrain of southern Brooks and Lowndes Counties, Georgia, as well as in Florida through the Cody Scarp with its springs, swallets, siphons, and merging sinkholes, under the Suwannee River, over Falmouth Cave, and under the Santa Fe River.

Florida Sierra Club did this: Continue reading →

Videos: WWALS witnesses in Day 2, WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP 2015-10-20

Dennis Price cross-examination DEP’s only witness yesterday, today also a witness for WWALS, couldn’t find a document she needed in the Respondents’ cartload (literally) of documents, not even with the help of five Respondent attorneys, yet everyone could find items in the two WWALS exhibit books quite readily.

We also learned that concerns were irrelevant, only actual effects on WWALS members count, which made it too difficult for Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson to get qualified as an expert witness, even though she has assisted DEP and SRWMD in environmental issues. And we couldn’t talk about air quality issues, since DEP already issued an air quality permit for the Sabal Trail Hildreth compressor station in Suwannee County, so what David Shields could talk about was very limited, even though he and his family with their organic farm live downwind of that compressor station. However, WWALS expert witness Dennis Price hit geological questions out of the ballpark. And a cow did fall into a sinkhole.

Here are WWALS videos of each witness, followed by a video playlist. See also much more about this case, including videos of the other two days, and how you can help WWALS defend our members, the Suwannee River, and the Floridan Aquifer.

Videos: Sabal Trail’s case in WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP 2015-10-19

Surprise WWALS attorneys and mounds of Sabal Trail and FDEP documents, yet missing documents, overlooked gopher tortoises, and springs that apparently none of the respondents went to see, all in these WWALS videos of the first day of the case WWALS brought to defend its members, the Suwannee River, and the Floridan Aquifer against the invading Sabal Trail pipeline and the Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) and Easement to Use Sovereign Submerged Lands (Easement) the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) intends to issue to Sabal Trail.

Petitioner WWALS presented a surprise: two attorneys. Respondents Sabal Trail and FDEP presented a mound of documents. That was all in preliminary matters.

Then Sabal Trail presented its prima facie case, through its witnesses David Shammo and David Dickson.

Per previous agreement among the parties, WWALS presented out of order two witnesses, Tom Edwards and Joe “Britt” McClung.

Then Sabal Trail continued with witness Jim Ambrosino

Towards the end of the day, FDEP’s sole witness Lisa Prather testified.

Here’s a link to much more information including vidoes of the other two days of the hearing, and how you can continue to contribute to the IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign for legal expenses (there will almost certainly be an appeal) or join WWALS.

Below are WWALS videos of Day 1, followed by a video playlist.

The ant testifies against the dinosaur: WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP continues 2015-10-21

It’s hard to qualify as an expert, but WWALS members count, too, Chris Mericle testifying as we defend the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers and the Floridan Aquifer against the Sabal Trail pipeline invader. Continuing this morning at 10AM in Jasper, Florida!

When: 10 AM Wednesday 21 October 2015

Where: Hamilton County Board of Commissioners Chambers,
207 NE First Street
Jasper, Florida 32052

What: WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FDEP
Defending the Suwannee River and our water, land, and air against the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline Continue reading →