Sabal Trail’s pipe is still laid out north of the Suwannee County horizontal directional drilling (HDD) site on the Santa Fe River, but it won’t be for long unless something stops it.
Pictures by Beth Gammie and John S. Quarterman on Southwings flight for WWALS, 23 November 2016.
N. up Sabal Trail across Santa Fe River into Suwannee County, 29.8988570, -82.8495600, by John S. Quarterman for WWALS on Southwings flight 2016-11-23
“Demonstrators gathered to protest the Sabal Trail pipeline and participate in the “Dirty Dozen” waterways conference call.”
That was on the front page of the newspaper of record of the biggest city in the Suwannee RIver Basin. There’s a petition for Georgians to sign, lots of protests in Florida to assist with, and you can help us all watch Sabal Trail to catch their next violation.
Online last night, Derrek Vaughn, Valdosta Daily Times, 17 November 2016, WWALS Watershed Coalition hold demonstration,
WWALS Watershed Coalition sponsored the demonstration.
Members and demonstrators met in the median of Highway 84 at the Withlacoochee River Bridge to listen to the Georgia Water Coalition’s “Dirty Dozen 2016” conference call.
The “Dirty Dozen” list is an attempt to “put a spotlight on ongoing pollution problems, pending threats to Georgia’s water as well as state and federal policies and failures that ultimately harm — or could harm — Georgia property owners, downstream communities, fish and wildlife, hunters and anglers, and boaters and swimmers,’ according to organizers. Continue reading
People and news media turned out from Florida and Georgia at the Withlacoochee River US 84 bridge in cross-state-line solidarity about the Sabal Trail pipeline and its recent drilling mud leak. They heard the Georgia Water Coalition announce that Sabal Trail is, for the third year running, on the Dirty Dozen 2016.
Ashlyn Becton, WALB, 16 November 2016,
Environmentalist raise awareness about Sabal Trail Pipeline,
Folks from North Florida and South Georgia held a protest at the Withlacoochee River Wednesday and listened to a news conference announcing the Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen.
The report highlights the worst offenses and greatest threats to Georgia’s bodies of water.
And the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline is on the GWC Dirty Dozen 2016, as Chattahoochee, Flint, Withlacoochee Rivers and Floridan Aquifer: Gas pipeline company, federal agency run roughshod over state, local residents property rights, with this What Must Be Done: Continue reading
It’s come to this:
Protesters Arrested at Sabal Trail Construction Site,
by Jim Tatum for Our Santa Fe River 13 November 2016,
from
Cindy Swirko, Gainesville Sun, 12 November 2016,
Protesters of the Sabal Trail pipeline were arrested at the Gilchrist County construction site Saturday, and opponents of the gas transmission line said protests will continue.
The Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office arrested 14 people, including one who had locked himself to a tanker truck that was delivering water needed for the construction, said Cara Jennings, a pipeline opponent.
The others who were arrested were on the roadside holding signs, she added.
Jennings said the 14 remained Continue reading
Sabal Trail plans to start drilling here in the next few days.
I count three houses within the blast radius just in this picture
at the Santa Fe River just east of US 129 in Suwannee and Gilchrist Counties, Florida.
See also
Jim Tatum’s pictures of this Santa Fe River Sabal Trail HDD location from this flight.
Continue reading
Update 2016-10-10: Going beyond the ones named in FERC’s commence order, this blog post includes maps for ALL RIVER CROSSINGS IN ALL THREE STATES!
Update 2016-10-10: All 527 of Sabal Trail’s April 2016 alignment maps are now available in small, big, huge, and PDF formats, courtesy of Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE): follow this link to the LAKE website.
Nevermind that
historic 128 to 34 Georgia House vote against river-drilling easements.
The Georgia Attorney General’s office declined to defend lawsuits in
county Superior Courts (including Lowndes County, GA), and judges gave Sabal Trail the easements.
Then the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued its permit.
So Thursday John Peconom of FERC told Sabal Trail to start drilling under
Georgia’s Chattahoochee,
Flint, Ochlockonee, and
Withlacoochee Rivers,
as well as
Hannahatchee Creek.
They avoided Okapilco Creek by Continue reading
August 6th in Gainesville, you can join groups and individuals in Gainesville to defend water and property rights from the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.
Picture by Jessica Bowman, Branford High School, 12 grade, Third Place in
Lime Run Sink Photography Contest organized by the Woman’s Club of Live Oak and WWALS Watershed Coalition.
You can register for the conference here, and soon we’ll hear the location and times of day. All of Florida and south Georgia drinks from the Floridan Aquifer, and the Suwannee, Santa Fe, and other rivers with their springs such as Lime Run (depicted here) are gems that also bring in substantial tourism revenue to Florida.
While Sabal Trail only aims at the southwest corner of Alachua County, Gainesville is near the center of the proposed pipeline path of destruction and hazard in Florida. WWALS will be there, and we welcome many new groups to the pipeline opposition which is water conservation and protection of property rights.
Below is what Johanna de Graffenreid of Gulf Restoration Network sent as background. I’ve added some pictures and some links for easy access. WWALS applauds Gulf Restoration Network for taking on the task of organizing this conference.
STOP THE SABAL TRAIL PIPELINE
Continue reading
Rep. Sanford Bishop GA-02 just stood up again against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline invader, for the Flint River, the Floridan Aquifer, and his constituents in Albany, and Dougherty and Terrell Counties, pointing out FERC shouldn’t have issued a certificate before all the state Clean Water Act Section 401 permits were in, and asking for a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS).
I’m sure we’re all looking forward to similar requests from Austin Scott GA-07,
in whose Congressional district Sabal Trail would cross Okapilco Creek and the Withlacoochee River, and in which Moultrie, Valdosta, and the counties of Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes passed resolutions against the pipeline.
And especially from Ted Yoho FL-03, in whose district Sabal Trail would cross the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers through the most vulnerable recharge area of the Floridan Aquifer in the Florida Springs Heartland, and in which the counties
of Hamilton, Suwannee, and Marion have already sent letters to the Corps,
like Rep. Bishop just asked for a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS).
We know the Corps did a SEIS for Keystone XL. The Corps should do a SEIS for Sabal Trail, so Continue reading
Sabal Trail proposes a metering and regulation (M&R) station
about 10 miles from Ichetucknee Springs State Park or the Santa Fe River,
to connect with
Florida Gas Transmission and FGT’s proposed
Jacksonville Expansion Project.
The permit notification says “in Suwannee County near the intersection of State Road 247 South and County Road 49 South in Lake City, Florida.”
That’s at
30.031970, -82.852732,
which according to the Suwannee County Property Appraiser is
Parcel Number 19-05S-15E-0110100.0020,
Owner’s Name: SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC
Mailing Address: 5400 WESTHEIMER CT, HOUSTON TX 77056
Which is about 15 miles by road across from Fort White, FL.
Suwannee Democrat, 4 May 2016, PUBLIC NOTICE OF INTENT TO ISSUE AIR PERMIT, Continue reading
Despite being on FDEP’s permit announcement list,
I never got anything about a Sabal Trail permit.
After much digging, the other day I found that
FDEP went ahead and issued the Sabal Trail permit 22 January 2016
(PDF),
conveniently before
FERC issued certificates 2 February 2016.
That FDEP permit was also before the appeal deadline of 15 February 2016 in WWALS v Sabal Trail & FDEP. They did not copy the petitioner in that case, namely WWALS. They did copy Audubon Florida, which, as you may recall back in October sent FERC a letter supporting Sabal Trail (and then tried to walk back part of it). A letter that EPA chose to mention by name to the Army Corps of Engineers, while not naming Sierra Club or WWALS in opposition. Apparently if you go along with FDEP you get preferential notification.
And that, that’s nothing. FDEP issued Continue reading
![[VDT front page, 2016-11-18]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2016-11-18--vdt-stt-wwals/20161118_103117.jpg)