Noise, land-use, health, and a planned joint meeting with county and city Commissions of Dougherty County and Albany. But will they actually pass an ordinance with legal effect? How about get a judge to rule that the pipeline company is not acting in public service for Georgia and therefore cannot use eminent domain like a judge in Kentucky did?

Franklin White wrote for WFXL 15 September 2014, Residents voice health concerns about possible pipeline.

It was a packed house Monday as Dougherty County residents asked the Dougherty County Commission to formulate a noise ordinance.

Christian McKinney wrote for WALB 15 September 2014, Dougherty Co. to meet, discuss controversial Sabal pipeline,

Some Dougherty County residents are outraged at the proposed site of a gas pipeline compressor station.

They want county leaders to help them fight it.

The controversial Sabal Trail pipeline would run from Alabama, through south Georgia to Florida.

It would include a compressor station near Hwy. 91 in Dougherty County.

Commissioners say the proposed site is near hundreds of homes.

Residents worry it would increase noise, displace the wildlife, and cause health problems.

“There are clinical studies that show that some noise can disrupt people with seizure disorders. My husband suffers from seizure disorders,” said resident Jennifer Maloney.

“We understand infrastructure and the need for infrastructure,” said County Chairman Jeff Sinyard. “But to put a compressor station where they’re planning to put it doesn’t make common sense, doesn’t make business sense, it doesn’t make liability sense.”

Spectra is the same company that ran a pipeline through Manhattan last year, so they don’t care about populated areas.

As to why that location, the Dougherty County Commission sent a letter to FERC 5 September 2014 saying it had discovered Sabal Trail had bought 79.18 acres of land 24 May 2014 on Lily Pond Road and Newton Road. The answer to why there is probably that that’s where they could get somebody to sell them land.

The WALB story says there will be a meeting for residents 10 AM 27 September 2014 in the Albany Police Department Community Room.

It doesn’t say whether the Dougherty County Commission will pass a noise or land use ordinance against pipelines.

Carlton Fletcher wrote for the Albany Herald 15 September 2014, Albany area opposition to natural gas pipeline grows: Dougherty County officials call for joint meeting with Albany City Commission,

As the deadline draws nearer for a federal ruling on a proposed $3 billion natural gas pipeline expected to run through a portion of Dougherty County — a pipeline and compressor station called a “monstrosity” by one Albany resident Monday — a growing coalition of area residents is mounting a concerted effort to stop construction of the 465-mile project that will deliver natural gas from central Alabama to central Florida.

Local anti-pipeline activists joined the Radium Springs Neighborhood Association Monday in asking the Dougherty County Commission to facilitate a meeting with state and federal officials and agencies to discuss local concerns about the pipeline. The group also asked the commission during a work session to enact a noise ordinance that would impact a proposed compressor station that would be built in the county.

That story continues, saying they asked the County Commission to get Gov. Nathan Deal to help. Fat chance, but still a good request. They also encouraged state and national representatives and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to attend the September meeting.

And opponents are doing their homework:

In her presentation to the board, [Radium Neighborhood Secretary Nancy] Barclay said, “Spectra Energy has a terrible safety, environmental and transparency record, including $15 million in penalties from the EPA for pipeline spills at 89 sites.” She also cited a Kentucky Circuit Judge’s ruling denying a private company the right to condemn property in that state to transport “hazardous liquids” through Kentucky to the Gulf Coast.

Here is Frankline County Kentucky Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepard‘s ruling of 25 March 2014, which says in part:

“Bluegrass is a private, for-profit unregulated entity engaging in the interstate transportation of NGLs. It is not acting ‘in public service,’ and therefore it falls outside the scope of KRS Chapter 278. The proposed pipeline transports NGLS through Kentucky, but does not have any impact on the energy needs of Kentuckians. Bluegrass argues that the pipeline will be available for Kentucky manufacturers and producers. However, the only stated purpose of the pipeline is to transport NGLs to the Gulf Coast to be processed and sold in Louisiana; not to provide natural gas to Kentuckians, but to have NGLs, a mixture of highly dangerous chemicals, running through Kentucky farmland and forests, and near rural communities.”

Sounds just like the situation in Georgia with Sabal Trail: it’s not for Georgia, and it brings nothing but destruction and hazards here.

And then Williams cancelled that Bluegrass Pipeline.

Back in Albany yesterday:

Sonya Andralliski said. “We just commemorated 9-11, and this pipeline could potentially have a similar type correlation. Just as the terror attacks were about uninvited visitors wreaking havoc on our land, this pipeline could be just as detrimental if something bad happens.”

She has a point: who needs terrorists when we’ve got a profiteering company from Houston wanting to take our lands and threaten our water, air, and health?

-jsq

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