Are those two sinkholes at Sabal Trail’s Troy Access off CR 141 in Hamilton County, Florida, on the way to to under the Suwannee River? Only three Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies was light law enforcement by Saturday’s protest day standards. What about those other sinkholes just outside the pipeline easement?
Water protectors encircle a sign saying “REVOKE SABAL TRAIL PERMITS” on 24th Street on Sabal Trail’s right of way leading to its Suwannee County horizontal directional drilling (HDD) site drilling under the Suwannee River and Suwannnee River State Park. So say we all.
Photograph taken 12:57 PM, January 14, 2017 by Beth Gammie for WWALS from Southwings flight piloted by Roy Zimmer, navigated by Can Denizman. You may reuse this picture provided you cite the source: Beth Gammie for WWALS Watershed Coalition.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
By water, land, and air hundreds gathered Saturday to protect the Suwannee River
from the invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.
23 people signed in at the WWALS paddle on the Suwannee River.
You’ll see more pictures from others later, including from
the Southwings flight for WWALS, and from the protest by others on land.
Meanwhile, here are a few pictures,
a few videos,
a
google map,
plus
people stuck outside Suwannee River State Park as reporters drove in,
and a few pictures of
red pipe going into the ground in Hamilton County, plus 15 state trooper cars.
All the news stories I’ve seen thus far are also linked in,
plus pictures of the two TV reporters arriving.
Thanks to the 23 paddlers, 5 from Georgia (1 from Hahira, 1 from Valdosta, 1 from Warner Robins, 2 from Pine Mountain)
and 18 from Florida (2 from Jacksonville,
1 from Tallahassee,
2 from White Springs,
1 from Live Oak,
4 from Fort White,
4 from Alachua,
2 from Gainesville,
2 from Micanopy).
That’s a range of more than 300 miles, along most of the Sabal Trail pipeline path and elsewhere.
Thanks to Amy Wiegenstein for Continue reading
Standing room only last night for
two hours of how to oppose Sabal Trail and help the sun rise on Florida and the southeast,
7 PM, Thursday, January 12, 2017
at The Woman’s Club of Live Oak,
called by Suwannee Riverkeeper.
Here are links to each of the videos, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Please share widely, and you can reuse any of these videos; just cite the source, WWALS Watershed Coalition. Continue reading
SRWMD did post responses to comments from WWALS and others on the North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP). A week before the planned NFRWSP adoption, same as for the agenda for the joint SRWMD-SJRWMD meeting next Tuesday in Alachua. After OSFR and WWALS posted critical blog posts, SRWMD Executive Director Noah Valenstein sent us and others an offer to meet this Friday in Live Oak to discuss. While many (including me), thanked him for his collegial offer, nobody took him up on it. See you in Alachua Tuesday (facebook event).
Below are Noah Valenstein’s letter and my response. Continue reading
See you tonight at 7PM at the Women’s Club of Live Oak 1308 11th St. SW, Live Oak, FL (facebook event).
Terry Richards, Valdosta Daily Times, 11 January 2017, Sabal Pipeline protest meeting planned
LIVE OAK, Fla. — An environmental group opposing a natural gas pipeline project plans to host a gathering of similarly minded organizations Thursday.
WWALS Watershed Coalition will hold the meeting 7 p.m. at the Women’s Club of Live Oak 1308 11th St. SW, said John Quarterman of WWALS.
Houston-based Spectra Energy Corp. has reported the pipeline will Continue reading
Update 2017-01-19: Videos: NFRWSP Plan passed at joint SRWMD-SJRWMD Board Meeting 2017-01-17.
Update 2017-01-12: SRWMD did post responses to comments on the NFRWSP: they posted them a week in advance of planned adoption. Come on down to Alachua Tuesday!
Next week in Alachua without further public meetings or response to those who wrote in, SRWMD and SJRWMD plan to approve the North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP), as the only item on the agenda.
When: 11AM Tuesday 17 January 2017
Where: 15100 NW 142nd Terrace, Alachua, FL 32615
Event: facebook
WWALS never got a response to our letter about the NFRWSP, not about less water withdrawal, nor about better modeling and data, nor about more water retention, nor specifically about ditching the Rube Goldberg Falling Creek Aquifer Recharge Project for Dennis Price P.G.’s more cost-effective solution, nor with any mention of participation from farther afield in Florida nor in Georgia, for that matter.
The language of the memorandum accompanying the agenda is rather Orwellian:
The NFRWSP has identified sufficient sources of water to meet the needs of the environment and the projected demands through 2035.
That sounds like the environment is making projected demands. Actually, the maps in the NFRWSP are pretty clear that Jacksonville is making the most demands for water, along with other cities and corporate agriculture, and the plan would take from the environment, mostly from the Suwannee River Basin, to get that water.
Our Santa Fe River sums it up pretty well: Continue reading
Op-ed, Valdosta Daily Times, today, January 8th 2017:
Sabal Trail and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection assured us there would be no problems drilling a 36-inch natural gas pipeline through the fragile karst limestone under the Suwannee River in Florida, yet already Sabal Trail’s pilot hole under the Withlacoochee River in Georgia caused a frac-out of drilling mud into the river and a sinkhole.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should halt construction and do a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
When I happened to fly over the Withlacoochee River frac-out, I also saw Continue reading
Suwannee RIVERKEEPER® invites you on
a brief paddle down the Suwannee River from the CR 141 ramp to the Sabal Trail pipeline path, and onwards to Suwannee River State Park (SRSP) Ramp,
preceded by speakers at SRSP.
The last time we paddled this route
we were live on the WCTV 6 o’clock news.
Like that time, this is a completely legal nonviolent protest event
against the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline,
right now drilling under the Suwannee River.
Bring the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. With bon-bons, of course.
Simultaneously another event NOT organized by WWALS is taking place: Mass Civil Disobedience to Stop the Suwannee River Crossing. If you want to do anything that might not be legal, go to that other, non-WWALS event.
To hear directly from the organizers of the various events, come to Rivers against Sabal Trail in Live Oak 7PM Jan 12 2017 —Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
The January 14th WWALS Suwannee River paddle is resolutely legal, on the navigable waters of the Outstanding Florida Water, the Suwannee River, or on its banks below the high water mark. There is no perfect guarantee, but this WWALS outing is about as safe legally as you can get.
When: Saturday, January 14th, 2017
10:30 AM deposit boats at CR 141 Ramp (the green map marker). The boats will be watched by a WWALS volunteer.
Shuttle to SRSP by 11AM for speakers there (the blue map marker).
Noon shuttle back to CR 141 Ramp to be on the water by 12:30 PM
to get to the pipeline crossing by 1PM (the red map marker).
Afternoon take out at SRSP and shuttle those who need it back to CR 141 Ramp.
Put In: Continue reading
Update 2017-10-13: WWALS Videos of all the speakers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Live Oak, Florida, January 4, 2017
—Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas is drilling its 36-inch fracked
methane pipeline under the Suwannee and Withlacoochee (south) Rivers
in Florida right now. It already caused a frac-out of drilling mud
into the Withlacoochee River in Georgia and a sinkhole, plus more
sinkholes where it drilled under the Santa Fe River in Florida. How
did this happen? What can we do to stop this unnecessary,
destructive, and hazardous corporate boondoggle?
Suwannee Riverkeeper calls water protectors to rally in Live Oak
against the Sabal Trail pipeline and for our property rights,
rivers, and the Floridan Aquifer.
When: 7 PM, Thursday, January 12, 2017
Where: The Woman’s Club of Live Oak, 1308 11th Street SW, Live Oak, FL 32064
Agenda: Continue reading