Tag Archives: WWALS

We have a right to expect waterways and groundwater to be clean –Dennis J. Price

Another letter against Sabal Trail and for the rivers and the aquifer in the paper Suwannee Democrat, May 5th 2016.

In response to Jason Bashaw’s, Chairman of the Suwannee County Commission, article in the Suwannee Valley Times, I have this to say. Why is it that if people are concerned about the environment they live in, they are automatically placed into this environmental left category? Like many, many people in our surrounding counties, I hunt, fish, hike and paddle our local rivers. I use the environment as do we all.

I use the environment as do we all. So, for working and paying taxes all my life — as a Vietnam Veteran, as a person who chose to live in this rural part of Florida and raise his kid, as a person who is not now nor ever will be wealthy — I count our public lands, our woods and rivers as a reward for doing the right thing. I do not mind my tax dollars going towards public lands. Mr. Bashaw uses the environmental left in a derogatory manner as a means of denigrating them, and he is including me in it and I resent it. I resent it for my friend’s in WWALS and others who show concern for the pipeline route. I have not met an environmental lefty among them.

WWALS is, Continue reading

BIG Little River Paddle Race on Chris Beckham drive-time radio WVGA 105.9 FM 8:00 AM 2016-05-16

Update 2016-05-19: video of the radio interview, and don’t forget the paddle race is this Saturday!

Everybody listens to the radio in the car on the way to work, and Monday morning 8:00 AM I’ll be talking about the BIG Little River Paddle Race: community, water, trees, birds, fish, sunshine, and fun! $50 cash prize for first place, plus awards in numerous categories, or just paddle leisurely. It’s the fourth annual at Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, on the border of Cook and Colquitt Counties, only 40 minutes from Valdosta. The Paddle Race is weekend after next, Saturday, May 21st, and you can sign up online or at the event. Before that, a radio show to talk about the paddle race.

When: 8:00AM Monday May 16th 2016

Where: 105.9 FM WVGA, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia

What: Continue reading

Suwannee M&R Construction Permit Application to FDEP

Sabal Trail proposes a metering and regulation (M&R) station about 10 miles from Ichetucknee Springs State Park or the Santa Fe River, Directions from Ichetucknee Springs State Park to connect with Florida Gas Transmission and FGT’s proposed Jacksonville Expansion Project.

The permit notification says “in Suwannee County near the intersection of State Road 247 South and County Road 49 South in Lake City, Florida.” That’s at 30.031970, -82.852732, which according to the Suwannee County Property Appraiser is Parcel Number 19-05S-15E-0110100.0020,
Owner’s Name: SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC
Mailing Address: 5400 WESTHEIMER CT, HOUSTON TX 77056

Which is about 15 miles by road across from Fort White, FL.

Suwannee Democrat, 4 May 2016, PUBLIC NOTICE OF INTENT TO ISSUE AIR PERMIT, Continue reading

Drowning at Pafford’s Landing on the Alapaha River 2016-05-07

One version of the Saturday drowning on the Alapaha River near Lakeland is being carried all over the country, Lanier Parks, Inc. Parcel 030 0038B from Richmond to Texas, and there is another version.

Terry Richards, valdosta Daily Times, 9 May 2016, UPDATE: Father dies saving Lanier child from drowning,

A small child wandered away from a group of adults and into the Alapaha River at Pafford’s Landing, he said. When the father noticed what had happened he jumped in, swam to his daughter who was struggling to keep her head above water and held her up until someone took her from him, Norton said. The father never resurfaced.

Pafford’s Landing is at Continue reading

Leadership is supporting the county’s own people against the Sabal Trail invader –WWALS in Suwannee Democrat

In the paper Suwannee Democrat, May 5th, 2016.

A company from Houston, Texas wants to fill our earth, water, and air with violence. WWALS Watershed Coalition showed Suwannee County Commissioners sinkholes in the middle of the pipeline path that Sabal Trail didn’t mention to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). All of them, except Jason Bashaw, studied a report by a local geologist and showed leadership by voting to tell that “truth that exists in the middle” to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The quotation above is a reference to Continue reading

Nankin to Madison Highway, Withlacoochee River, 2016-07-09

Shoals, creeks, and help us find MacIntyre Spring on the Brooks County side of the Withlacoochee River just before Florida.

When: 8AM Saturday July 9th 2016
facebook event.

Put in: Nankin Boat Ramp, 6899 Clyattville-Nankin Rd, Valdosta, GA 31601, 30.675192, -83.394143.

Take out: Madison Highway Boat Ramp, Madison Highway at the Florida State Line in Lowndes County, Georgia, 30.635933, -83.311103.

Duration: 9.1 miles, about 5 hours.

Shuttle: Continue reading

Marion County, FL requests USACE investigation of Sabal Trail 2016-05-03

Thanks to Janet Barrow for this letter approved by the Marion County, Florida BOCC yesterday, 3 May 2016 (PDF). That makes three Florida Counties requesting investigation of Sabal Trail discrepancies by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, after Hamilton County and Suwannee County.

Marion County
Board of County Commissioners

District 1 — David Moore, Commissioner
District 2 — Kathy Bryant, Chairman
District 3 — Stan McClain, Commissioner
District 4 — Carl Zalak ill, Vice Chairman
District 5 — Earl Arnett, Connnissionar

McPherson Governmental Complex
601 SE ZSth Ave.
Ocala, FL 34471
Phone: 352-438-2323
Fax: 352-438-2324

May 3, 2016

springs and karst US. Army Corps of Engineers
Jacksonville District Regulatory Division
Jacksonville Permits Section
Attn: Mr. Mark R. Evans
Post Office Box 4970
Jacksonville, Florida 32232

RE: Sabal Trail Transmission and Sabal Trail Citrus County Line projects within Marion County, Florida

Dear Mr. Evans:

Over 30 miles of pipeline are expected to be installed within Marion County, Florida for the Sabal Trail Transmission and Sabal Trail Citrus County Line projects. These pipelines will cross important, sensitive environmental lands, While Continue reading

Alapaha River Boat Ramp

These are the maps Lowndes County Engineer Mike Fletcher presented at the Naylor Town Hall 2016-04-14. Roads and parking lot Bret Huntley asked him to send them, and he did.

These have more detail than Continue reading

After Pennsylvania explosion, Ask your county commission to rescind Sabal Trail agreements or at least write the Army Corps of Engineers

Aerial view of incinerated site A Spectra Energy pipeline blew up east of Pittsburgh, incinerating a man’s house and sending him to the hospital with burns. Spectra declared force majeure (Act of God) and is fiddling gas deliveries all over the east coast, as far away as Little Rock, where a branch of that same Spectra Texas Eastern pipeline blew up under the Arkansas River in May 2015. Do you want that under the Withlacoochee or Suwannee River or Okapilco Creek?

For Lowndes County, Georgia, you can write to commissioner@lowndescounty.com.

You can ask them to Continue reading

Ordinance Prohibiting Fracking –Madison, FL BOCC 2016-04-27

Congratulations to Madison BOCC for this ordinance Madison passed unanimously last night (PDF):

ORDINANCE NO. 2016-______

Home rule, karst, and earthquakes AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MADISON COUNTY, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE MADISON COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE TO PROHIBIT HIGH INTENSITY PETROLEUM OPERATIONS AND THE STORAGE AND/OR DISPOSAL OF HIGH INTENSITY PETROLEUM OPERATIONS WASTE; PROVIDING CERTAIN FINDINGS; AMENDING THE DEFINITIONS SECTION OF THE MADISON COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS WITH REGARD THERETO; CREATING SECTION 6.5 OF THE MADISON COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE ENTITLED “REGULATIONS GOVERNING HIGH INTENSITY PETROLEUM OPERATIONS AND HIGH INTENSITY PETROLEUM OPERATIONS WASTE PRODUCTS”; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL OF CONFLICTING ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

WHEREAS, Continue reading