The Bell brothers, Flint Riverkeeper, and John S. Quarterman of WWALS
all against Sabal Trail in an Atlanta publication.
Come on down to the Suwannee River Tuesday near Jasper, FL
or to the Withlacoochee River between Quitman and Valdosta, GA 9AM Saturday Sep. 17th to see
for yourself what we’re protecting and to say your piece on video.
Gloria Tatum, Atlanta Progressive News, 12 September 2016, Proposed SabaL Gas Pipeline runs through aquifer, wetlands, sinkhole territory, Continue reading
Here are a few pictures of some Bill Gates properties from the MIDS Southwings flyover of June 21st, 2016, including
Suwannee Farms which we previously discovered a Gates subsidiary had bought.
Notice how close these lands are to the Suwannee River or the Withlacoochee River and Madison Blue Spring. Some of them look freshly cleared. Many of them are probably also in Floridan Aquifer recharge zones. There is more identification work to be done. And we have more aerial pictures (and video).
See also the WWALS web page on Corporate Agriculture.
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Continue readingHahira, GA, September 6th 2016 — Two Georgia brothers are stuck with paying almost ten times as much in Sabal Trail’s legal fees as they spent defending their property against that invading fracked methane pipeline, even though FPL apparently admitted this year that all three of its 2013 excuses for that pipeline are no longer valid. Two federal agencies and numerous state agencies issued permits based on those excuses. Sabal Trail used those permits to get eminent domain, including to drill under rivers in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama and through the fragile limestone containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. It is time for this unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous boondoggle to be shut down and its $3 billion in FPL ratepayer money to be used for solar power in the Sunshine State.
James Bell, one of the brothers stuck with having to pay Sabal Trail attorney fees, says:
"First and foremost, this is a multi-billion dollar company that is for profit. In my personal opinion I don’t see how a private for-profit company should be allowed eminent domain. I don’t understand that. That makes no sense to me. I might could understand it if it was for the greater good of the country but this is not. And it is certainly not the federal government or the state government building some road or highway."
Florida Power & Light claimed Continue reading
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 2nd 2016
Where: Continue reading
Sites in WWALS watersheds include Paradise Public Fishing Area (PFA)
at the headwaters of our Withlacoochee River,
Reed Bingham State Park on our Little River,
Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area (WMA) upstream from our Alapaha River,
and
Stephen C. Foster State Park at the headwaters of our Suwannee River in the Okefenokee Swamp,
all on the Anhinga Trek of the
Southern Rivers Birding Trail.
You can buy a license for any of these parks or WMAs from the state, and you can also see anhingas and other fascinating wildlife on our water trails.
Or come along on upcoming WWALS outings: Continue reading
Update 2016-10-10: Going beyond the ones named in FERC’s commence order, this blog post includes maps for ALL RIVER CROSSINGS IN ALL THREE STATES!
Update 2016-10-10: All 527 of Sabal Trail’s April 2016 alignment maps are now available in small, big, huge, and PDF formats, courtesy of Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE): follow this link to the LAKE website.
Nevermind that
historic 128 to 34 Georgia House vote against river-drilling easements.
The Georgia Attorney General’s office declined to defend lawsuits in
county Superior Courts (including Lowndes County, GA), and judges gave Sabal Trail the easements.
Then the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued its permit.
So Thursday John Peconom of FERC told Sabal Trail to start drilling under
Georgia’s Chattahoochee,
Flint, Ochlockonee, and
Withlacoochee Rivers,
as well as
Hannahatchee Creek.
They avoided Okapilco Creek by Continue reading
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
Sierra Club Campaign Organizer Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson has taken the Lake City pipe yard ball and run with it. Monday she got TV coverage at that illicit Sabal Trail storage yard for 36-inch fracked gas pipe, and today she’s called a press conference and protest there. Plus Sierra Club has filed two legal actions. Here’s how you can help.
Haley Wade, WCJB-TV, Gainesville, Florida, 15 August 2016, New pipeline has protestors,
There is something you can do: you can say no.
They didn’t even bother to fill in the year on the date, and “File with original letter”. Here’s what the Corps wrote (PDF) in response to Madison County’s request for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) about Sabal Trail.
File with
original letterDEPARTMENT or THE ARMY
JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT CORPS 0F ENGINEERS
POST OFFICE BOX 4970
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32232-0019July 29, 201
Reply to attention of
Regulatory Division
North Permits Branch
Jacksonville Permits Section
SAJ-2013-03030Madison Board of County Commissioners
Attn: Mr. Brian Kauffman, County Coordinator
Post Office Box 539
Madison, Florida 32341Dear Mr. Kauffman:
Please accept this correspondence as Continue reading
This request for a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), mentioning Madison Blue Spring in particular, was sent July 18th or 19th 2016, one copy to each of the Corps addresses. (PDF). That’s the fourth Florida county to make such a request, after Hamilton, Suwanee, and Marion Counties. The Corps already responded to Madison County.
Board of County Commissioners
Madison County, Florida
Jacksonville Permits Section
U.S.A.C.E. Regulatory Division
Attn: Mark R. Evans,
Senior Project Manager,
Post Office Box 4970
Jacksonville, Florida 32232Commander, U.S.A.C.E.,
Savannah District
Attn: Mr. Terry C. Kobs
1104 N. Westover Boulevard, Unit 9
Albany, GA 31707U.S.A.C.E.
Mobile District Reg. Div.
Montgomery Field Office
Attn: Mr. James S. Cherry II
605 Maple Street
Building 1429 Room 105
Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6017
Norman C. Bay, Chairman Continue reading