Monthly Archives: April 2014

Explain why the gas is needed –EPA to FERC

EPA isn’t buying FPL’s need for new power in Florida,

or that methane is better than many alternatives (including that renewable energy sources should be considered together, not separately), or that a pipeline is the best way to get gas (specifically suggesting Port Dolphin instead), or that any of the proposed routes are appropriate, not to mention catching inconsistent numbers of compressor stations and asking to see any non-FPL customers. And EPA asked for GIS data, as well as further information on water withdrawals and water re-emitted into the environment. My favorite is this one:

EPA recommends FERC provide in the EIS readable and comprehensible maps and figures, and clearly describe all potential impacts with the proposed action upon children’s health. For example, maps of schools, day-care facilities, multifamily housing, and hospitals should have different legend colors and be created at scales providing appropriate information, i.e., proximity of sensitive receptors to the navigation and transportation corridors.

FERC shows EPA’s comments as filed 23 April 2014, although they are dated two days earlier. -jsq

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Continue reading Explain why the gas is needed –EPA to FERC

Sabal Trail citing Stewart County injunction in Brooks County, Georgia

Why would a pipeline company from Houston suffer irreparable harm if it couldn’t go onto the land of somebody in Georgia? A judge in one Georgia county bought Sabal Trail’s eminent domain assertions and now Sabal Trail is citing that to try to get a landowner in Brooks County to let it on the property to survey for its fracked methane pipeline. What about private property rights?

300x404 Sabal Trail to Brooks County landowners, in Sabal Trail citing Stewart County injunction in Brooks County, Georgia The letter dated 12 April 2014 from Sabal Trail includes this part:

A copy of the Order granting Sabal Trail’s request for injunctive relief, entered on February 21, 2014, is enclosed for your review. As you will see, the Order concluded that:

  • Sabal Trail has the right, incidental to its power of eminent domain, to enter private property to conduct the Survey Activities.
  • Delays in conducting the Survey Activities will cause Sabal Trail irreparable harm.
  • The Survey Activities will not cause substantial harm to the defendant landowners, nor will the surveys disserve the public interest.

Accordingly, the Order prohibits those landowners from preventing or interfering Continue reading Sabal Trail citing Stewart County injunction in Brooks County, Georgia

Florida and the public have a fee interest in these lands –Florida Sierra Club to FERC

Filed with FERC 21 April 2014. -jsq

April 19, 2014

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE, Room 1A
Washington, DC 20426

RE: Sabal Trail Project: Docket No.PF14-1-000
Florida SE Connection Project: Docket No.PF14-2-000
Hillabee Expansion Project: Docket No. PF14-6-000

Continue reading Florida and the public have a fee interest in these lands –Florida Sierra Club to FERC

Questions from SpectraBusters, Inc. to FERC

FERC’s ecomment system was malfunctioning, so Beth emailed this on behalf of the board, which unanimously approved it earlier that same day. She also forwarded it to John Peconom of FERC and to her U.S. Rep Ted Yoho (FL-03) and to Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA-02). Here is contact information for your elected officials and candidates. -jsq

From: Beth Gordon
To: efiling <efiling@ferc.gov>
Date: Sat, Apr 19, 2014 6:05 pm
Subject: PF14-1 Sabal Trail Pipeline

To Whom it may Concern at FERC:

I am the President of a group of citizens and landowners from Alabama, Georgia, and Florida affected by the Sabal Trail Pipeline. Here are some important questions we hope you will answer for us. We have had no answers from FERC representatives at any other time. These are the questions we would like answered:

  1. Is lack of justification of energy need by Florida sufficient for FERC staff to recommend denying a permit for the Sabal Trail pipeline? Continue reading Questions from SpectraBusters, Inc. to FERC

Spectra fined $18.6 million + $200 million cleanup for PCBs by Pennsylvania in 1991

That 1989 $15 million fine against Spectra for leaking PCBs at 89 pipeline locations was a record for EPA at that time, but Pennsylvania topped it a few years later.

Russell E. Eshleman Jr. wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer 15 May 1991, Pipeline Firm To Pay $218.6 Million For Pcb Contamination Across Pa.,

Texas Eastern Pipeline Corp. has agreed to pay Pennsylvania $18.6 million in penalties and $200 million in cleanup costs for dumping PCBs at 19 sites across the state, the Casey administration announced yesterday….

Remember, Texas Eastern is part of Spectra Energy now.

Penn. had asked for even more than it got, so it got enough: Continue reading Spectra fined $18.6 million + $200 million cleanup for PCBs by Pennsylvania in 1991

Sanford Bishop would like to hear from you about the Sabal Trail pipeline

The proposed Sabal Trail methane pipeline is number 1 on the topic rotation on Rep. Sanford Bishop’s Congressional (GA-02) website:

Sabal Trail Pipeline

We would like to hear from you about the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission Gas Pipeline project.

The links lead to a page that says:

The proposed Sabal Trail Transmission Gas Pipeline project would transport up to a billion cubic feet of natural gas each day through about 24 miles of Dougherty County on its 465-mile route from central Alabama to central Florida. The natural gas carried by the pipeline is intended to provide electricity for a large portion of the state of Florida.

You can voice your opinion about the proposed pipeline by mail, telephone or electronically:

MAIL:
Kimberly D. Bose
Secretary of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street N.E., Room 1A
Washington, DC, 20414

EMAIL:
e-filing@ferc.gov

WEBSITE:
www.ferc.gov

PHONE:
(202) 502-8258

That contact information is all for contacting FERC. While no doubt Rep. Bishop himself is most interested in hearing from constituents, it doesn’t say just constituents, nor was his listening session in Albany limited to just constituents.

Congressman Bishop’s own own contact page does say he is only able to reply to e-mails from constituents.

Here’s how to find your own representative. And here are links to contact information for every Congress and statehouse member and county commission and city council of county seats of counties in all three states (Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) along the proposed pipeline path.

-jsq

Avoid highly sensitive water resource features –SRWMD to FERC

Filed with FERC 18 April 2014. Avoid karst limestone, unconfined aquifer, caves, springs, wetlands, drilling under rivers, blasting, or using groundwater for testing pipes or disposing of it afterwards, and where can a pipeline go?

SUWANNEE
RIVER
WATER
MANAGEMENT
DISTRICT

April 18.2014 Continue reading Avoid highly sensitive water resource features –SRWMD to FERC

News about yesterday’s Sanford Bishop pipeline listening session in Albany, GA

Here are two news reports (oddly, WALB doesn’t seem to have filed one) on yesterday’s listening session with U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA-02). These are brief extracts; there’s more in each article.

Cody Long wrote for Fox 31 yesterday, Deadline nears to hear pipeline comments,

There were about 50 people who showed up to the Government Center in downtown Albany. Some voiced their concerns to commissioners and the congressman about the Sabal Trail Transmission Gas Pipeline Project.

The pipeline would run through 24 miles of Dougherty County and would be capable of transporting up to one billion cubic feet of natural gas each day.

However, it would run through portions of privately owned land which Continue reading News about yesterday’s Sanford Bishop pipeline listening session in Albany, GA

Extend the comment period –Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (GA-02)

Filed with FERC 16 April 2014 with special subject “Congressional Submittal submitted in FERC PF14-1-000 by US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES”. Rep. Bishop is listening to citizens about the pipeline 10AM Thursday 17 April 2014 in Albany, GA.

SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.
SECOND District, Georgia
COMMITTEE on Appropriations….

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
April 14, 2014

Ms. Cheryl A. LaFleur
Acting Chairman
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20426

Dear Acting Chairman LaFleur: Continue reading Extend the comment period –Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (GA-02)