Tag Archives: Spectra Energy

Protest Sabal Trail at Suwannee River Crossing 2016-09-13

Update 2016-09-24: Video from the river and pictures from the bluff.

You are invited to protest Sabal Trail and the Dakota Access Pipeline this Tuesday 5:30 PM! News media are invited. Walk with signs along the bluff to the proposed Sabal Trail Suwannee River HDD crossing, or paddle downstream and back.

We aim to get pictures and video of people on the bluff, beach, and river at the same time demanding the Army Corps re-evaluate its permit for Sabal Trail just like its permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Both pipelines should be canceled: keep it in the ground!

This WWALS Outing is part of the #NoDAPL Day of Action — Tuesday Sep. 13, tying the Dakota Access oil Pipeline to the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline through their ownership by the same companies. This outing is also a followup to Continue reading →

Same owners, DAPL and Sabal Trail

Update 2016-09-23: Not quite: Energy Transfer backed out of buying Williams Co..

DAPL and Sabal Trail: now part of the same pipeline companies.

The pipeline companies behind the Sabal Trail fracked methane boondoogle through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida are now owned by the companies behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) that wants to pump oil through North Dakota where the Standing Rock Sioux have attracted an encampment of thousands of people who have successfully and nonviolently stopped pipeline construction at least for the moment. WWALS was one of 93 Waterkeeper organizations worldwide that co-signed a letter from Waterkeeper Alliance in support of the Standing Rock Sioux. Opponents of these pipelines, including native Americans in Florida and Georgia as well as North Dakota, are no longer just fighting the same industry: they’re fighting the same companies.

The pipeline companies behind DAPL are Continue reading →

WWALS Outings, Rivers, and Pipeline on Chris Beckham drive-time radio WVGA 105.9 FM 8:00 7:30 AM 2016-09-02

8AM Friday morning WWALS will be on Chris Beckham’s drive-time radio show. WWALS president John S. Quarterman will be talking about Saturday morning’s Suwannee River paddle outing and other outings upcoming on the Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers, along with other developments on the Alapaha River Water Trail and the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, along with many other things WWALS does. Plus what you can do about the FERC rubberstamp of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline drilling under the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers.

When: ~~8:00~~ 7:30AM Friday September 2^nd 2016

Where: Continue reading →

Judge Gives Sabal Trail Withlacoochee River Easement 2016-07-29

0.03 acres under the Withlacoochee River sold by the State of Georgia to Sabal Trail, operated by Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas, for $5,000, or $166666.66/acre. That easement must be very valuable to Sabal Trail. But it’s more valuable to us who live here and swim, fish, and boat on that river and drink from the Floridan Aquifer. If we’d known this was going on, some of us might have filed other documents in this case.

Also, I would have thought 666 once would have been enough.

Here are some things you can do to help stop this boondoggle, and background about why this pipeline is a bad idea when there are already more solar jobs than in oil and gas extraction, and Georgia is the fastest-growing U.S. solar market.

Here’s the judge’s final order (PDF), followed by the other court documents in this case: Continue reading →

Federal permits inflame opposition to Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline boondoggle WWALS PR 2016-08-16

PDF FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, Georgia, August 16th 2016 — There is no excuse for $3 billion down this rathole of a 20th century dying fossil fuel industry now that there are more solar power jobs than in all of oil and gas extraction. One federal permit Friday and another federal go-ahead impending for the Sabal Trail invasion of private property and wetlands in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama stiffens the resolve of the rapidly expanding opposition. WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) has revealed apparent wetlands violations and federal rule violations by Spectra Energy, the Houston, Texas pipeline company that wants to gouge under our Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers, risking our water supply for its profit. Sierra Club has vowed to use “all legal means necessary to stop this fracked gas pipeline.” Opposition across Georgia continues as dozens of new groups joined the fight a week ago in Gainesville, Florida. News Friday of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) wetlands permit has inflamed opposition across the country to this latest fossil fuel land and water grab.

Last month WWALS reported to USACE and to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that Sabal Trail already has Continue reading →

Videos: Many speakers against Sabal Trail @ SRWMD 2016-08-09

The Chair said they would send a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and everyone applauded, in the middle of a record number of people speaking Tuesday morning to the board of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), most against Sabal Trail, among other topics.

Please send names of the unidentified speakers to contact@wwals.com.

And you can still send your message to the SRWMD board via Robin Lamm, Coordinator, rrl@srwmd.org; in the Subject say SRWMD Board Members; and remember to copy Noah Valenstein, Executive Director, ~~NVD@srwmd.org~~ NDV@srwmd.org. (Thanks to Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson for the updated Coordinator name and address.)

Below are links to each of the videos, followed by a video playlist. These are the complete videos of everything before the lunch break, except for a camera failure at the beginning of one talk. See also the Agenda and board packet.

Continue reading →

SRWMD does not seem to be universally popular.

And what happened inside.

-jsq

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

Lake City Sabal Trail pipe yard in cleared wetlands

Update 2016-08-10: Videos of all the speakers.

You are invited to come ask SRWMD why it hasn’t responded to WWALS’ request about the unregistered Sabal Trail Lake City apparently on fill in wetlands. You can speak in person Tuesday morning, or write them a letter saying how Sabal Trail would affect you, no matter where you are elsewhere on the pipeline path, in the Floridan Aquifer, or for other reasons.

When: 9AM Tuesday August 9th 2016

Where: SRWMD District Headquarters,
9225 CR 49, Live Oak, FL 32060

Or write to: Noah Valenstein, Executive Director, SRWMD, NDV@srwmd.org.

Update 2016-08-07: You may also send a letter to all Board members of the SRWMD by writing to their senior Board assistant:
~~Lisa Cheshire, LMC@srwmd.org~~
Robin Lamm, Coordinator, rrl@srwmd.org

In the subject header ~~to Lisa~~ include the following info:
SRWMD Board Members:

Then cc here, too:
Noah Valenstein, NDV@srwmd.org

Sabal Trail is not on the agenda, but people can speak in Continue reading →

Confirmation of unregistered Sabal Trail Lake City Pipe Yard 2016-07-29

Caught red-handed with an unregistered pipe yard north of Lake City, Florida, Sabal Trail tried today to make excuses to FERC. Here’s the response WWALS filed with FERC today, 29 July 2016, as Accession Number 20160729-5198, “Evidence of unregistered Sabal Trail Lake City Pipe Yard and Request of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. for rescinsion of FERC approval of pre-construction activities under CP15-17-000.” (PDF)