Tag Archives: Spectra Energy

Florida Audubon goes full NIMBY

Apparently cow pastures and the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers are no concern of Florida Audubon, nor even the other Withlacoochee (south) River that runs out of the Green Swamp, not to mention WWALS’ Withlacoochee (north) River in Georgia.

Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post, 5 October 2015, Audubon Florida supports Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline,

Following changes to the proposed route of a massive pipeline, Audubon Florida now strongly supports Sabal Trail, a $3.5 billion natural gas pipeline project slated to extend from Alabama to Florida.

Charles Lee, Audubon Florida’s director of advocacy, said that the group has worked with Sabal Trail on route modification and environmental mitigation measures for portions of its 515-mile pipeline in Florida.

Well, that explains why Charles Lee said Florida Audubon would not help with WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FL-DEP.

Lee said Audubon Florida negotiated with Sabal Trail for 18 months, resulting in Continue reading →

Water and family farms more precious than Sabal Trail Sinkhole Pipeline: citizens to FERC in Moultrie 2015-09-29

“Water is our most precious commodity, not pipelines, not Sabal Trail,”, said WWALS member Alton Burns, and both he and WWALS president John S. Quarterman spoke twice, about safety, water, conflicts of interest, the Floridan Aquifer, lack of transparency, Okapilco Creek, the Withlacoochee River, and the Suwannee River, all of which Sabal Trail is trying to drill under. Local landowners were the most blunt: the FERC process is a farce and a hoax, they said. See for yourself in these LAKE videos from Moultrie last night.

But it’s still important for you to come speak up, to be on the record, so the news media will hear, and so your neighbors will hear. The FERC meetings continue tonight in Valdosta and Continue reading →

WWALS on Chris Beckham radio show 105.9 FM Wednesday 2015-09-30

The FERC circus in Valdosta Wednesday, Kayaktivism on the Withlacoochee River Saturday, reprinting Alapaha River Water Trail brochures, the new Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, and WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FL-DEP in Jasper (or Live Oak) 19-22 October 2015:

these are some of the topics WWALS president John S. Quarterman will talk about on the air.

When: 8AM Wednesday October 30th 2015

Where: Continue reading →

Sabal Trail exposed in Jasper News

The closest FERC meeting is actually in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 September 2015. And remember, sinkholes don’t matter, says FERC.

Front page Amber Vann, Jasper News, 24 September 2015, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Sabal’s proposed pipeline impact ‘less than significant’ on environment,

According to the EIS, “constructing and operating the Sabal Trail Project in South Georgia/North Florida could induce sinkhole development, alter spring characteristics and impact local groundwater flow and quality.” However, the study finds that Sabal Trail’s proposed impact minimization measures and construction methods would cause the project to not “significantly impact karst terrain, springs or the Floridian aquifer.”

The EIS goes on to state the Floridian aquifer is the “most productive aquifer Continue reading →

DNR board ignores people of Georgia, unanimously approves invading Sabal Trail pipeline easements for Withlacoochee and other rivers

DNR board unanimously gave away river crossings to Sabal Trail for the Withlacoochee, Ochlockonee, Flint, and Chattahoochee Rivers. But the legislature would also have to approve, and the AJC just turned this obscure board meeting into an earned media event for pipeline opponents.


VALDOSTA: Professor Don Thieme, Valdosta State University, checks the water color and clarity in a sinkhole called Shadrick’s Pond by the Withlacoochee River. The sinkhole is near the site of a proposed pipeline that would cross the Withlacoochee River. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com
See video.

Dan Chapman, AJC, 23 September 2015, South Georgia pipeline moves forward,

The proposed Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline cleared another regulatory hurdle Wednesday with state approval for the pipeline to pass under five Southwest Georgia rivers and creeks.

The unanimous vote by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ board doesn’t sanction the pipeline to run 157 miles across Georgia while crossing the Chattahoochee, Flint, Withlacoochee and Ochlocknee rivers. Additional state and federal reviews, and votes, are necessary before digging begins.

Pipeline opponents, though, hoped that the board would slow Sabal Trail’s seemingly inexorable push to deliver gas to Florida. They cited ongoing safety, environmental and property rights concerns held by thousands of Southwest Georgia residents.

Those opponents included Continue reading →

Notice of Hearing in Jasper, FL October 19-22 2015 for WWALS v. Sabal Trail & FL-DEP

WWALS will argue for conserving the Suwannee River, the Floridan Aquifer, and other wetlands of Florida against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline at this hearing in Jasper (or Live Oak). WWALS asked for Jasper in November because that’s in the middle of the affected landowners, while Sabal Trail and FL-DEP asked for Tallahassee in October because that’s where their offices are; it looks like the judge split the difference.

If you want to be a witness for WWALS, please contact us ASAP; time is very short. If you want to help financially, you can contribute to the IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign. Or become a member of WWALS.

Yesterday Administrative Law Judge Bram D. E. Canter ordered (PDF) for DOAH Case No. 15-4975: Continue reading →

GA-DNR should not give away easements to Sabal Trail –FrK, WWALS, GA Sierra Club

In addition, J. Mark Mobley, Jr. of Moultrie, Colquitt County, GA, is Vice Chair of the Land Committee that meets first. LTE If that Committee doesn’t recommend the Sabal Trail give-away, the full DNR board probably won’t vote on it. You can send the GA-DNR board members comments, or go to the meeting Wednesday morning 9AM in Atlanta. Meanwhile, this LTE (PDF) just went to the Albany Herald.

Jeff Sinyard represents southwest Georgia on the Board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. He is our voice on that very important and powerful Board.

Sabal Trail Pipeline needs easements granted by the DNR Board to pass under key southwest and south-central Georgia rivers and creeks. Elsewhere in Georgia, over to the east and on the coast, Governor Deal’s DOT recently blocked the use of eminent domain for a gas and diesel pipeline. The Governor does not have the same power over natural gas pipelines under Georgia law. However, the Governor’s DNR Board does have the power Continue reading →

Proposed Sabal Trail River Permits –USACE and GA-EDP

An opportunity for more and different public hearings! Joint Public Notice The Withlacoochee River doesn’t even rate a mention, nor the Ochlockonee River. Nor any county other than Stewart, nevermind the ones that have passed resolutions against the Sabal Trail pipeline: Terrell, Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties, Georgia and Hamilton County, Florida, plus the cities of Albany, Moultrie, and Valdosta, Georgia. This is the Savannah Army Corps of Engineers Public Notice, issued the same Friday September 11th 2015 as the ones from Mobile and Jacksonville, each slightly different.

So is that one, two, or four possible new public hearings? Continue reading →

Soon down to the wire to oppose Sabal Trail invasion

The fracking that drives new pipelines was a crime until ten years ago, and it should be again: injecting poisons into the ground under our water supply was always a bad idea.

Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson and Jim Tatum, Suwannee Democrat, 14 September 2015, The FERC flexes its muscles on Sabal Trail,

The time frame is coming down to the wire as to Sabal Trail and its invasion of our riverbeds and springs systems. They have met with nothing but negative comments throughout Georgia and Florida. People have turned out in droves to express their dissent. In spite of this, they move onward with their plan to install a 36” pipeline under the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, and through the center of this fragile spring system. Our springs heartland is a regional identity unlike any in the world, but vulnerable to developers and oil and gas companies.

Many environmental groups have been active in resisting. Our Santa Fe River Inc. was consistently Continue reading →

WWALS in Albany, GA newspaper

Sabal Trail opposition aware across Georgia and Florida.

Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald, 13 September 2015, FERC Sabal Trail ruling comes amidst protest: Group holds fasting vigil outside federal agency’s offices,


Photo: TONY CASSADY, 31 May 2015, in Arkansas River pipeline blowout occurred on Sunday morning, cause still unknown, by Benjamin Hardy, Arkansas Blog, 3 June 2015

Meanwhile, in Florida an environmental group has filed a petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to stop development of the pipeline over concerns about the safety record of Spectra Energy, the Houston-based company that will build the pipeline. The group points to a May pipeline rupture under the Arkansas River that forced two miles of the river to be shut down after an estimated 3.9 million cubic feet of natural gas was released.

Nope, WWALS doesn’t want that Arkansas River rupture to be repeated under the Suwannee River in Florida, the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, or any other river. The reporter seems to have heard about WWALS via Continue reading →