Tag Archives: Sierra Club

It’s the most votes I’ve ever gotten on anything. –Neill Herring, about GA House against Sabal Trail easements

Pipeline invaders go home to Houston, signed, Georgia legislature.


Georgia Sierra Club’s Neill Herring and Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers at WWALS Watershed Conference in Tifton, 24 August 2013.

Kristi E. Swartz, EEnews, 28 March 2016, PIPELINES: Ga. lawmakers move to block 2 interstate projects,

ATLANTA — Georgia may be friendly to its own electric utility and natural gas companies, but the state Legislature sent a strong message last week to outside corporations that their pipelines are not welcome here.

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Georgia legislature overwhelmingly rejects river easements for Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail fracked methane pipeline

Update 2016-03-28: “It’s the most votes I’ve ever gotten on anything.” —Neill Herring of Georgia Sierra Club.

Tuesday and today, Georgia’s elected legislators stood up for the people against a fracked methane pipeline invader:

Y’all! We don’t win votes on the House floor every day, and the effort to keep the state easements for the Sabal Trail pipeline was truly a joy to watch. R’s, D’s, lawyers, community folk, everyone pitched in and it “went down in flames” 34-128 — AJC [Atlanta Journal Constitution] reporter’s words, not mine! Congrats to all the Georgia Water Coalition….

That’s how Georgia Sierra Club’s Colleen Kiernan summed up what happened Tuesday to the river drilling easements for Spectra Energy’s fracked gas Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail pipeline. Yes, the same Spectra of the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project, PennEast, Atlantic Bridge, South Texas Expansion, the West Coast Pipeline in British Columbia, and far too many other unnecessary pipeline invasions throughout North America.

Georgia Water Coalition organized this excellent result, including Continue reading

Tally of votes smashing Sabal Trail easements in SR 954 2016-03-22

Here’s who voted which way when Sabal Trail lost in a landslide against its easements to drill under our Withlacoochee River and Okapilco Creek and other rivers and creeks in Georgia. SR-954-votes-in-the-House 3.0000000, 0.0000000 Thanks to Bentley, Harden, Houston, Pirkle, Powell, Rynders, Sharper, Shaw, Spencer, and Watson for voting Nay against that pipeline river-drilling boondoggle. And Carter, Corbett, and LaRiccia, well, thanks for listening, I guess.

I’ve added Continue reading

We all won! Sabal Trail SR 954 easements lost in a landslide at GA House 2016-02-22 2016-03-22

Update 2016-03-22 10:30PM: The vote tally.

As reported by Georgia Sierra Club:

Thank you to everyone who contacted a legislator about SR 954 and their concerns about the Sabal Trail pipeline easements. The house voted down the bill 128-34 this afternoon!!! CONGRATULATIONS!

Thanks to everyone, especially Georgia Water Coalition, Georgia Sierra Club, Flint Riverkeeper, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, everybody else who helped, and of course all WWALS members and everyone else who called their state reps.

There still more you can do to stop Sabal Trail. See the op-ed blog post of today. Continue reading

FDEP silently issued Sabal Trail permit and easement 2016-021-22

Despite being on FDEP’s permit announcement list, I never got anything about a Sabal Trail permit. Sabal-trail-23.3
35146.1-0001 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

Urgent call against fracking by Sierra Club Florida

Received today.

URGENT! — CALLS NEEDED TO STOP FRACKING BILL — SB 318

The fracking bill—SB 318—is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Appropriation Committee this Thursday, February 25.

We expect a close vote and need your help to stop the bill in this Committee.

If your State Senator is one of the 19 members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on the list below, please call him/her on now. Say that you live in the Senator’s district, and that you vote. Continue reading

Suwannee County Commissioners to hike to Suwannee River Sabal Trail crossing

The joint walk to the Suwannee River by Sierra Club, WWALS, and Spectrabusters 16 January 2016 has gotten the mostly-recalcitrant Suwannee County Board of Commissioners to agree to come along next time.

Debra Johnson, SpectraBusters, 2 February 2016, SUWANNEE COUNTY SBOCC TO HIKE SABAL TRAIL RIVER CROSSING,

After hiking the pipeline route, Commissioner Clyde Fleming became very concerned as he saw the sinkholes in and all around the route. He stated “Sabal Trail has lied to us” and expressed concerns about the integrity of ANY of the environmental studies Suwannee county has received from them.

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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

WWALS, Sierra Club and Spectrabusters Partner to Fight Sabal Trail Pipeline

Maryvonne Devensky, Chair of Suwannee-St. Johns Group of the Florida Sierra Club Chapter, organized a “plan of action” meeting held yesterday, 01-16-2016 at Suwannee River State Park, to fight the Sabal Trail pipeline.  Maryvonne said it is time for Sierra Club to partner with organizations like WWALS and Spectrabusters, who have been in this fight from the beginning, in order to have a united front.
Sabal Trail pipeline meeting pavilion at SRSP

Sabal Trail pipeline meeting pavilion at SRSP

Approximately 40 people came out to get more information about the pipeline and to help strategize what steps to take to stop the pipeline.  Attendees included people from as far away as Continue reading

FERC, EPA rubberstamp Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline: opposition continues –VDT

The FERC FEIS isn’t a permit, the Army Corps hasn’t issued a permit, GA-EPD is still considering an air quality permit for the Albany, GA air compressor, and it’s still possible to stop the GA-DNR easements for drilling under Georgia rivers including the Withlacoochee and Okapilco Creek. This is all regardless of whether FDEP issues its drilling permit for the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers. You can still help stop this invasion by the “Sinkhole Trail” of our local lands, water, and air.

Among the press recently by Politico, Law360, Natural Gas Intelligence, the Suwannee Democrat, the Ocala StarBanner, the Palm Beach Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Valdosta Today, and others, is this long local piece. Joe Adgie, Valdosta Daily Times, 20 December 2015, EPA reverses stand on impact pipeline would have on aquifer,

In addition, according to FERC, Sabal completed analysis of the subsurfaces where the pipeline is proposed.

That’s what FERC’s announcement of its Final Environmental Impact Statment (FEIS) said, but where is the LiDAR, as Continue reading