You’ve heard the song, now see the FERC rubberstamp machine in action in videos of Sabal Trail interrogated in Gilchrist County, Florida @ GCC 2014-02-20, of the Valdosta FERC Scoping Meeting @ FERC 2014-03-04, and of the Moultrie FERC Scoping Meeting @ FERC 2014-03-05. See FERC refuse to release a tax-paid RFP and tax-paid-staff-reviewed proposals for an environmental contractor, and then see that very same contractor admit that the Sabal Trail pipeline would take twice the acreage to produce as much power as solar PV, while FERC refuses to consider that the pipeline would be far more environmentally damaging, more expensive, and would take much longer.

Nevermind landowners get only a one-time payment from the pipeline company, not rent and FERC has no structure for land valuation. Nevermind FERC’s own rationale for eminent domain is that Florida needs the gas. Nevermind FERC’s own rules say FERC has to establish public benefit.

FERC won’t even say who will consume the gas even though at least three companies are already authorized for LNG export right at the end of the Transco -> Sabal Trail -> FSC triple threat pipeline and FERC’s hometown subcommittee chair is busily pushing the Trans-Pacific Partnership for exports to even more countries while FERC’s own oversight committee passed a bill for LNG export to all 159 WTO member countries.

See FERC’s John Peconom admit FERC approves 90% of pipelines and see the only two pipelines FERC has ever denied, neither of them standalone pipelines like Sabal Trail or the Constitution Pipeline.

What can you expect from a permitting agency that is funded by the very companies it permits? See FERC’s response to the direct question: What would it take for FERC to deny a permit for this pipeline? Next question….

-jsq

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