Tag Archives: Santa Fe River

Sinkhole formation and collapse due to drilling under the Withlacoochee River

Drilling through fragile sinkhole-prone karst limestone under the Withlacoochee River (or the Suwannee River, or the Santa Fe River): what could possibly go wrong? Sabal Trail now proposes to move off of the Withlacoochee River in Florida, but still plans to cross the Withlacoochee in Georgia, and to cross the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, all of which have the same hydrogeology. You can talk directly to Sabal Trail and FERC at the Open House in Jasper, Florida, 5-7PM Tuesday 21 October 2014, and you can join WWALS where the Alapaha River disappears entirely into a sinkhole, at the Alapaha Sink, 2PM Sunday 26 October 2014.

Here are before and after diagrams by Continue reading →

Resolution No. 14-10, Hamilton County, FL, 19 August 2014

Other Florida, Georgia, and Alabama counties could do what Hamilton County, Florida just did in this this resolution. Even before it got this resolution, FERC yesterday directed Sabal Trail to deal with what Chris Mericle had been saying, including proposing routes to minimize crossing the Withlacoochee River or to avoid crossing it entirely.

Chris Mericle sent a PDF copy of the resolution with its attached hydrogeological report. I’ve added links to the other referenced documents.

Chris is the local host for the September WWALS Outing on the Withalacoochee and Suwannee Rivers, where you can come float past that same area Sunday 21 September, and see many local springs, sinkholes and shoals that need to be protected from that pipeline.

RESOLUTION NO. 14-10

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
HAMILTON COUNTY, FLORIDA Continue reading →

LNG export proposed from Suwannee and St Johns River Watersheds

A fourth Florida LNG export operation seeks approval, this one explicitly wanting to use methane from the Sabal Trail Transmission fracked methane pipeline. It’s on the divide between our Suwannee River Basin and the St Johns River Basin, where Jaxport is proposing to ship out liquid natural gas from Jacksonville. St Johns Riverkeeper and Our Santa Fe River beware.

The Sabal Trail pipeline itself was already proposed to cross three rivers in the Suwannee Basin: Continue reading →

Sabal Trail has applied for a Withlacoochee River water permit with Florida DEP

Sabal Trail is asking for permits for its fracked methane pipeline from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. One of them is for our Withlacoochee River.

ERP is Environmental Resource Permit, and here’s a permit found in ERP Exemption Permit applications, FL DEP Northeast Office: Continue reading →

Suwannee Bioregion Coalition?

Related to population centers in the Suwannee River watershed, someone asked, “Do we need an interstate Suwannee Bioregion Coalition to guard the waters that feed into the Suwannee River?” We’ve got pieces of it already cooperating to some extent in opposing the Sabal Trail pipeline. There are many other even larger issues that everyone in the Suwannee River basin faces.

In south Georgia and north Florida we have Continue reading →

Our Santa Fe River and Ichetucknee Alliance for water conservation

Much conservation activism lately on the third main tributary of the Suwannee River, the Santa Fe River, with its tributary the Ichetucknee River, both completely in Florida, unlike WWALS’ Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, which cross from Georgia into Florida. They each have their own watershed groups, somewhat like WWALS.

Christopher Curry wrote for the Gainesville Sun 21 June 2014, Grassroots environmentalists fight to protect Ichetucknee, Santa Fe,

At the head spring, a woman stands in knee-deep water on the stairs leading into the swimming hole. About 20 feet in front of her, splashing, swimming family members shout out some encouragement to try to coax her into the cold blue water.

It’s an idyllic scene of summer fun. At a nearby picnic table in the shade, the atmosphere is more serious.

There, some folks from two small but active environmental groups in the Suwannee River Water Management District — Our Santa Fe River and the Ichetucknee Alliance — are gathered, sharing Continue reading →