Spectra’s Sabal Trail pipeline wants to cross either the Ichetucknee River or the Santa Fe River in Florida, and a landowners association where those two rivers meet doesn’t want that.

Morgan Watkins wrote for Gainesville.com 24 October 2013, Contracts for natural gas pipeline through Florida get initial OK,

Ichetucknee River Estates in Branford is one of the neighborhoods through which the pipeline is slated to run. Darryl Marshall, a neighborhood resident, is helping circulate a petition that opposes routing the pipeline through the residential community. The petition has around 25 signatures and he expects to have 70 or 80 by early November.

Marshall, a retired police officer, is worried about the impact on local wildlife as well as on the community as a whole.

“When I retired, I wanted to go someplace peaceful and live there the rest of my life. This pipeline is not going to let me do that,” he said. “It just blows my mind that they would even consider putting a pipeline through a residential community.”

David Hanna, president of the Ichetucknee River Estates Homeowners Association, said residents are worried about the impact the pipeline could have on the area’s rivers and springs. He is concerned it could impact the state’s groundwater resources as well.

“This is a monster of a pipeline,” he said. “If this thing was to somehow rupture, leak, explode, you could possibly be putting the water source for this whole state in jeopardy.”

Neighborhood residents also fear the pipeline could destroy the serenity and beauty of Davis Landing, a park on the Santa Fe River that lies along the proposed route.

The Ichetucknee River Estates Homeowners Association includes 100-plus lots, and members of other homeowners associations in the area are also concerned about the pipeline, Hanna said. These associations are trying to set up a joint meeting soon to try to form a united front.

Although he is concerned about the pipeline, Hanna said he recognizes that this is early in the process and Sabal is still working out what the best route would be. He and other members of the community plan to continue discussing the matter with company staff.

-jsq

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