Monthly Archives: October 2014

Help stop pipelines: donate to SpectraBusters today

You can donate to SpectraBusters to help stop the unnecessary, environmentally damaging, and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, and its siblings Transco Hillabee and FSC, too.

You can help pay for contacting landowners (so they’ll hear something more than pipeline company PR), for contacting the public with billboards (currently we’re aiming for I-75 southbound near Lake City), and other work, ranging from research possibly up to legal assistance. Donate online today!

And don’t forget to send an ecomment to FERC.

Policy passed unanimously by SpectraBusters board 1 September 2014

Continue reading Help stop pipelines: donate to SpectraBusters today

Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line explosion, Centerview, MO 2014-10-13

A third explosion in Missouri on Panhandle Eastern’s 200 Line in six years. Panhandle is the parent company of Florida Gas Transmission (FGT), famous for throwing a pipe across the Florida Turnpike in 2009, near a high school.

Chris Oberholtz wrote for KCTV5.com 13 October 2014, Emergency crews respond to pipeline rupture, fire near Centerview,

JOHNSON COUNTY, MO (KCTV) – Emergency crews are on the scene of a pipeline rupture and fire near Centerview, MO.

The location is Northwest 701 Road and Northwest Division Road. This is a rural area with no homes threatened.

Sandi Wilsom wrote for KMZU 100.7 FM 13 October 2014, Update: Report of Gas Pipe Explosion in Centerview, MO, Continue reading Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line explosion, Centerview, MO 2014-10-13

300-foot fireball near Hughesville, MO, Panhandle Eastern Pipeline 2013-11-29

A 30-inch pipeline explosion was visible 30 miles away. The 36-inch Sabal Trail pipeline would carry 44% more fracked methane than that Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company Line 400, and could be even more destructive. “The most intense, scared feeling I’ve ever felt in my life,” said one witness.

Troy Diggs and Michelle Pekarsky reported for fox4kc.com 29 November 2013, Pipeline explosion sends fireball 300 feet into air, Continue reading 300-foot fireball near Hughesville, MO, Panhandle Eastern Pipeline 2013-11-29

Pilot Grove, MO PEPL explosion 2008-08-25

Not in a High Consequence Area (HCA)? 300x225 8/26/08 #13 -Different view of the possible failure origin after the pipe was turned over., in Pilot Grove, MO PEPL explosion, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 25 August 2008 Then a pipeline explosion may not even rate pictures on the news, even if your house or field or forest or river is what explodes. That’s what happened near Pilot Grove, Missouri 25 August 2008 on the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline 200 Line.

PHMSA, the so-called Pipeline and Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration, doesn’t actually know when the “impressed curent cathodic protection system” was energized, and doesn’t have the results of the last hydrostatic test, which was in 1955, 53 years before the pipeline corroded until it exploded. PHMSA’s Administrator just resigned, after continuing to let pipeline companies set the very definitions of accidents. Do you want to trust your air, water, property values, or safety to such an industry or such an agency?

Dennis Rich reported for the Sedalia Democrat 29 November 2013, Pipeline explodes near Hughesville,

Another Panhandle Eastern pipeline in the area ruptured on Aug. 25, 2008, near Pilot Grove in Cooper County and caused $1,046,359 in damages, according to a company pipeline failure investigation report.

Actually, it was Continue reading Pilot Grove, MO PEPL explosion 2008-08-25

Suwannee County Commission swallows Sabal Trail misinformation

After FPL visited it, the Suwannee County Commission decided they couldn’t do anything; nevermind that pipeline and fracking ordinances have worked in Pennsylvania and New York state, and there’s no reason to believe they wouldn’t in Florida. There’s still time for the Commissioners to stand up for the citizens of Suwannee County, Florida.

John S. Koch wrote for Suwannee Valley Times 8 October 2014, Sable Trail – Suwannee Commissioners say gas pipeline needed

The commission chairman noted that they have a copy of the resolution passed recently by the Hamilton County Commission addressing the issue as well as all the information about the Sable Trails Project released by the company handling the project. However, the board has taken no action one way or the other.

The key phrase in there seems to be “all the information about the Sable Trails Project released by the company handling the project”. Perhaps the Commission would like to dig a little deeper than information produced by the one company with the most vested interest in saying the pipeline is a great thing. This would be the same Chairman who denied his previous on-video Sabal Trail comments after he heard from FPL.

Phil Oxendine has a problem with the pipeline but not for safety concerns but rather political reasons. “We are overseas right now and that reason is because of our need for oil and the sooner we get away from that use the better we all will be.” Oxendine also feels it is not in the best interest of the country to export the gas but that is an entirely different issue he said.

Nevermind the Continue reading Suwannee County Commission swallows Sabal Trail misinformation

Sabal Trail opposition gets national media attention

The AP finally picked up on opposition, newspapers and TV stations from San Francisco to Washington, DC and from Utah and Chicago to Miami picked up the AP story that same day, including Spectra Energy’s home town of Houston, Texas, plus Canada and New Zealand, followed by the Valdosta Daily Times today, for at least 27 stories total.

Ray Henry wrote for AP Saturday 11 October 2014, New $3.7B gas line proposed for Ala., Ga., Fla.,

ATLANTA (AP)—A proposal to build a $3.7 billion pipeline system carrying natural gas into Florida is raising complaints from Georgia residents—including media mogul Ted Turner—who say they’d face environmental costs while others get the benefits.

He quoted Gloria Gaines of Albany. He also mentioned Duke’s proposed Citrus County plant without mentioning that Duke has repeatedly said it doesn’t need Sabal Trail. And he didn’t mention LNG export. But he did list quite a few opponents, and he included this:

NextEra, Spectra or their related political committees have donated several thousand dollars to politicians, including Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.

Picking up the AP story that same day were: Continue reading Sabal Trail opposition gets national media attention

FSC formally filed for FERC permit 26 September 2014

FERC got around to posting that online and sending an alert to ecomment subscribers today, two weeks later. You or your group can now file as an intervenor for FSC under the new docket CP14-554-000. Or you can ecomment under that docket. Sabal Trail and Transco have not yet filed for formal permitting, but Sabal Trail has repeatedly said it plans to do so 31 October 2014.

Here’s HTML of that notice letter. Search for CP14-554-000 in FERC’s General Search and you’ll find a large number of PDF and other files, many marked “Availability: Privileged”, as in this pipeline or Sabal Trail or Transco may gouge through your back yard or under your river, going right to three already-authorized LNG export operations in Florida, but you don’t get to see FPL’s rationalizations for why. Maybe if those rationalizations were public, they’d stink even more.

To get alerts on the formal filing, you’ll need to log in (or register first) with FERC and subscribe to docket CP14-554.

-jsq

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

Florida Southeast Connection, LLC Docket No. CP14-554-000
PF14-2-000

NOTICE OF APPLICATION

Continue reading FSC formally filed for FERC permit 26 September 2014

Comment to FERC for the Global Frackdown

Send your ecomment to FERC today or tomorrow for the Oct 11th Global Frackdown event by Food & Water Watch. Easiest way is to use FERC’s ecomment system: here’s how to do that. Or follow this link for FERC postal address, telephone number, and email address.

And you can call your newspaper or radio or TV station and recommend they publish the SpectraBusters op-ed, It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline.

FPL wants federal eminent domain to gouge a hundred-foot right of way for a yard-wide fracked methane pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, claiming Florida needs new power. That don’t pass the smell test.

Or encourage reporters to write a story about it. Or write your own letter to the editor or op-ed or rant and rave or call in to your local radio station.

You can also Continue reading Comment to FERC for the Global Frackdown

It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline –SpectraBusters

FPL wants federal eminent domain to gouge a hundred-foot right of way for a yard-wide fracked methane pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, claiming Florida needs new power. That don’t pass the smell test.
http://spectrabusters.org/2014/09/14/we-grow-increasingly-concerned-dougherty-county-commission-to-ferc/

Nationwide electricity demand continues to decline, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reminded the pipeline-permitting Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in April. EPA asked FPL why it couldn’t implement conservation, efficiency, compressed gas storage, or other energy sources. http://spectrabusters.org/2014/04/23/explain-why-the-gas-is-needed-epa-to-ferc/#decreasing-electricity-sales

FPL projected 13% electricity demand increase in its 2014 ten-year plan to the Florida Public Service Commission (FL PSC). A third pipeline would be a 50% increase. Why? http://spectrabusters.org/2014/04/24/fpls-own-projections-dont-support-need-for-a-new-pipeline/

Sabal Trail, the pipeline joint venture of FPL and Spectra Energy of Houston, claims Duke Energy needs Continue reading It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline –SpectraBusters

Rosalynn Carter at Lowndes County Courthouse 6PM Thu 9 Oct 2014

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter will speak in support of Jason Carter for Governor of Georgia at the Lowndes County Courthouse in Valdosta, Georgia, 6PM Thursday 9 October 2014.

The last time Jason Carter was in Valdosta, 1 July 2014, he was informed by a number of SpectraBusters about the Sabal Trail pipeline, its hazards, and its lack of benefits for Georgians.

The venue in July was a speech to the Lowndes County Democratic Party which opposes that pipeline, as do many organizations in Lowndes County, south Georgia, and elsewhere 300x225 Pipeline No with Jason Carter, in Jason Carter, by John S. Quarterman, 1 July 2014 (see for example Dr. Michael G. Noll, president of WACE, pictured with Jason Carter).

Others held No Pipeline signs and talked to other candidates. Pictured below are Danielle Jordan (then president of S.A.V.E. at VSU) and Glenn Ritchie talking to Daniel Blackman, candidate for Georgia Public Service Commissioner.

At that July meeting, I spoke directly with Jason Carter about the pipeline. Continue reading Rosalynn Carter at Lowndes County Courthouse 6PM Thu 9 Oct 2014