The detail maps in the General Project Description in the 15 November 2013 update to FERC by Sabal Trail Transmission reveal that the proposed path would cross the Withlacoochee River both where the river is the border of Brooks and Lowndes County and where it is the border between Hamilton and Madison County near Ellaville. In between, the pipeline would run through many wetlands near the river and through quite a few recharge zones for our drinking water source, the Floridan Aquifer. Then it crosses our downstream river, the Suwannee, into Suwannee County, Florida.
Tag Archives: Willacoochee
Pipeline alternate route still in WWALS watersheds, plus Tifton and Valdosta
The Hillabee alternative route runs right down the middle of the WWALS watersheds, through Worth County, Turner County, Tift County, Colquitt County, Cook County, and Lowndes County in Georgia, and Hamilton County, Madison County, and Suwannee County in Florida. This puts it not only still in the Withlacoochee River watershed, but also in the Little River and Alapaha River watersheds. This route by the pipeline company Sabal Trail Transmission (owned and managed by Spectra Energy) avoids Albany but apparently goes through Tifton and Valdosta and still through Lowndes County before entering Florida in Hamilton County much like Spectra’s preferred route.
This alternate route is the rest of the Option B that was first proposed to Lowndes County residents back in June: Continue reading
WWALS files as intervenor to oppose the Sabal Trail Transmission gas pipeline
Approved by the WWALS Board 13 November 2013. PDF.
From:
WWALS Watershed Coalition
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
www.wwals.net
wwalswatershed@gmail.com
18 October 2013
To:
Secretary Sarah McKinley
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street N.E
Washington, DC 20426Re: Pre-filing Docket PF14-1 Sabal Trail Transmission
Georgia Public Service Commission
Florida Public Service CommissionWWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. opposes the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission gas pipeline that would cut a 100 foot wide gash across our Withlacoochee River and through many wetlands in south Georgia and north Florida, including recharge zones for the Floridan Aquifer that provides our drinking water.
Sabal’s parent company, Spectra Energy, has a safety record that gives no comfort Continue reading
Waycross Superfund site in Georgia’s Dirty Dozen
EPA will be in Waycross 24 November 2013 to meet about this contamination, which has also been shipped over into WWALS watersheds. -jsq
Satilla River: Toxic Legacy in Waycross Needs Further Investigations, Cleanups, in Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen 2013,
Satilla River
Toxic legacy in Waycross Needs Further Investigations, CleanupsIntroduction:
Lurking within Mary Street Park, a tree-lined neighborhood park in Waycross, is a silent killer—toxic pollutants from a defunct industrial wastewater treatment facility known as Seven Out Tank. Opened in 2002, the industrial waste handler operated only two years before multiple environmental violations led to the facility’s closure. Now, after Continue reading
WWALS supports S.A.V.E.’s fossil fuel divestment request to VSU
Approved by the WWALS Board by email 17 October 2013.
WWALS Watershed Coalition
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
www.wwals.net
wwalswatershed@gmail.com
18 October 2013
To:
Mr. John Crawford
Vice President for Advancement
and Trustee
jdcrawford@valdosta.edu
VSU Foundation
and Board of Trustees
1500 N. Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31698
In addition to the points made by S.A.V.E., WWALS would like to add that oil and gas leaks run downhill in our watersheds, fracking for natural gas pollutes groundwater, and fossil fuel energy plants use massive amounts of water that could go for agriculture or drinking. Divestment from fossil fuels by VSU by itself won’t stop leaks or end fracking or shut down coal plants. But it will send a clear signal that our regional state university is leading the shift from fossil fuels to renewable solar and wind power with efficiency and conservation.
Fracking may seem distant, but right now there is a proposed natural gas pipeline from Alabama to Florida that threatens Georgia’s environment and Georgians’ property rights.
We don’t want an exploding pipeline like just happened in Oklahoma.
Perhaps like Harvard President Drew Faust some don’t want to get academic VSU involved in politics. But all our investments are political, and there’s nothing neutral about funding climate wreckage. As S.A.V.E. put it in their letter:
Continue reading
Now at VSU: Aquifers, sinkholes, and ground scans –Don Thieme @ WWALS
Update 2019-04-02: Videos.
Moved to VSU, University Center, Dogwood Room!
Prof. Don Thieme of VSU will speak about underground water issues
at the October WWALS board meeting in Wednesday October 9th at 7:30 PM
in Valdosta.
Join the
facebook event or come as you are.
Here’s the letter Prof. Thieme and two other VSU professors wrote to the Air Force about sinkholes and subsidence on the proposed Moody Family Housing in Lowndes County, which also turns out to be in an aquifer recharge zone.
Here’s VSU’s campus map and here’s a google map: Continue reading
Aquifers, sinkholes, and ground scans –Don Thieme @ WWALS
Moved to
VSU, University Center, Dogwood Room!
Prof. Don Thieme of VSU will speak about underground water issues
at the October WWALS board meeting in Wednesday October 9th at 7:30 PM
in
Adel at the IHOP, 1200 W 4th Street.
Valdosta.
Here’s the letter Prof. Thieme and two other VSU professors wrote to the Air Force about sinkholes and subsidence on the proposed Moody Family Housing in Lowndes County, which also turns out to be in an aquifer recharge zone.
It’s an open board meeting anyone can attend for the business part, as well. Here’s the agenda:
Agenda WWALS Board Meeting
7:30 pm October 9, 2013
IHOP, Adel GA
- Call to Order, Welcome and Introductions
Speaker: Don Thieme, VSU geologist. Topic: Aquifers, sinkholes, and ground scans.
- Agenda Review: Additions and Changes
- Review and Approval of Minutes of September Board Meeting
- Future Meetings and Events
- Monthly outing (fourth Saturday): October 26, 2013 at Banks Lake near Lakeland.
- Monthly board meeting (second Wednesday): November 13 Continue reading
WWALS Outing: Rivers Alive Little River Clean Up 2013-09-28
8AM to 1PM this coming Saturday at Reed Bingham State Park, it’s also the September WWALS outing now: Rivers Alive Little River Clean Up. Bring your canoe or kayak or rent one there for half price to volunteers!
Explore Georgia wrote:
We will be removing trash from the Little River and Reed Bingham Lake. Experienced canoeists and kayakers have the opportunity to paddle down the little river while picking up garbage. Canoes and kayaks are available to volunteers for half off. Please register in advance to ensure your rental spot is available. Non-boaters can walk around and in the lake and river picking up garbage and debris. $5 parking. 229-896-3551.
WWALS will be participating in the boating part. You can let us know you’re coming by joining the WWALS facebook event. Or Continue reading
WWALS Brochure 2013-08-30
Update 2015-02-12: See newer version.
New WWALS brochure, with new board and recent events such as the Big LITTLE RIVER Paddle Race.
PDF | JPG page 1 | JPG page 2 | flickr (various sizes)
Brochure by Karan Rawlins for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS).
-jsq
Aquifer at max pumping in central Florida
Remember, this is our aquifer, too. And watch out! They’d rather pipe somebody else’s river water than conserve in Central Florida.
Kevin Spear wrote for the Orlando Sentinel yesterday, Analysis: Floridan Aquifer can only handle 6% more pumping before serious environmental harm,
Just how much more water can Central Florida pump from the Floridan Aquifer without causing real harm to the region’s environment? After years of debate, study and anxiety, state authorities say they have finally — and officially — figured it out.
The answer: hardly any.
Using the most advanced databases and computing methodology yet developed for such a task, a consortium of state water managers and local utilities have calculated that the current amount of water pumped from the underground aquifer each day can be increased by only about 6 percent — which means the region is already exploiting the huge, life-sustaining aquifer for nearly every drop it can safely offer.
Beware! Continue reading