Monthly Archives: December 2014

Deadline 24 Dec 2014 to intervene or comment on Sabal Trail

December 9, 2014Environment, FERC, Lawcomment, CP15-17, deadline, environment, FERC, intervene, John S. Quarterman, Law, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

FERC set a deadline of only three weeks for motions to intervene, and apparently also for commenting, on Sabal Trail’s formal permit filing in Docket CP15-17. It’s time for opponent organizations and individuals to get their interventions and comments in, including requesting an extension of this absurbly short comment period. Elected officials can help, from local county and city governments to state legislatures and agencies, to Congress members and federal agencies. If you ever want to appeal or be a party to any legal proceedings, you must file to intervene. Now’s the time!

Update 2014-12-17: How to file a motion to intervene.

Update 2014-12-15: A couple of examples to illustrate that a motion to intervene can be very simple, with nothing more than organization name, contact information, docket number, and a paragraph of Basis of Information: Florida Gas Transmission and Florida Natural Gas. If fossil fuel companies can do it, pipeline opponents can do it. You can also post a selfie with your intervention. Give Sabal Trail a Christmas present to remember!

Sabal Trail had a full year to develop the hundreds of pages of material it filed November 21^st but FERC’s December 3^rd notice gave only three weeks for opponents to digest all that mass of information and produce coherent comments. And to make it even harder, major parts of Sabal Trail’s filing are marked “CONTAINS PRIVILEGED INFORMATION — DO NOT RELEASE”.

That’s right, Sabal Trail filed at Thanksgiving, and FERC expects all comments or motions to intervene by Christmas. Happy Holidays!

Filed with FERC 3 December 2014 as Accession Number: 20141203-3021, “Notice of Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC’s application requesting authorization to construct, own, and operate a new 500-mile natural gas pipeline system etc under CP15-17 et al” Continue reading Deadline 24 Dec 2014 to intervene or comment on Sabal Trail →

FWW petition against FPL fracking

December 7, 2014Florida, Fracking, OklahomaFlorida, Food & Water Watch, FPL, Fracking, John S. Quarterman, NextEra Energy, Oklahoma, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Tampa Bay Times opposes FPL fracking Oklahoma to send fracked methane through the Sabal Trail pipeline, and so can you, through this petition by Food & Water Watch: Tell PSC to deny Florida Power & Light’s request for fracked gas!

Remember, FPL’s parent NextEra Energy is buying into green energy in Hawaii. FPL should do the same in the Sunshine State.

You can also write letters to the editor, like Vickie Machado sent to the Miami Herald Don’t allow fracking in Florida, 6 December 2014, Continue reading FWW petition against FPL fracking →

Not one, but two resolutions proposed for next week against Sabal Trail

December 5, 2014Colquitt County, Georgia, Law, Lowndes CountyColquitt County, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, Law, Lowndes County, MGAG, Moultrie, resolution, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, ValdostaJohn S. Quarterman

Tuesday, Lowndes County will finally vote on the resolution they already sent to FERC.

That same day, 9 December 2014, the Valdosta City Council will consider a resolution in support of Lowndes County’s opposition to the Sabal Trail pipeline, and quite likely the Valdosta City Council will vote on their resolution Thursday 11 December 2014.

This is excellent news to close the week in which Moultrie’s Mayor said on WCTV Moultrie, the county seat of Colquitt County, one of the two counties Sabal Trail said was one the two “as having the greatest potential to need additional gas supplies in the future”, that Moultrie wasn’t asked about Sabal Trail’s agreement with the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia (MGAG). This week in which the Valdosta Daily Times quoted Spectra’s Andrea Grover backtracking on eminent domain.

A week now closed with two resolutions proposed for voting next week against Sabal Trail.

-jsq

FPL’s parent NextEra buys Hawaii’s biggest utility for green energy transition

December 5, 2014Economy, Florida, History, SolarBloomberg, Economy, Florida, FPL, Hawaii, History, John S. Quarterman, NextEra Energy, renewable energy, solar, SpectraBusters, transition, windJohn S. Quarterman

While FPL wants to frack Oklahoma, its parent corp. wants to green Hawaii. Do they even talk?

Mark Chediak and Ehren Goossens, Bloomberg, 4 December 2014, NextEra Buys Hawaii’s Biggest Utility in Green Energy Test,

“You can think about Hawaii as a postcard from the future of what’s going to happen in the electric industry in the United States,” James Robo, chairman and chief executive officer of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra, said by phone interview yesterday. “As renewable generation gets cheaper, as electric storage becomes more efficient and possible, all electric utilities are going to have to face this.”

What’s FPL making Florida, then? A test case for the failed past?

Bloomberg says about NextEra’s Hawaii Electric purchase:

Including debt, the total value of the transaction is about $4.3 billion.

That’s not much more than FPL’s Sabal Trail pipeline boondoggle. How about cancel that pipeline and the fracking and green Florida into… the Sunshine State!

-jsq

PSC should reject FPL’s request to explore for natural gas –Tampa Bay Times

December 5, 2014Economy, FL PSC, Florida, Fracking, OklahomaEconomy, FL PSC, Florida, Fracking, John S. Quarterman, Oklahoma, policy, SpectraBusters, Tampa Bay TimesJohn S. Quarterman

Apparently unaware of its own parent NextEra’s green energy move in Hawaii, FPL wants to frack Oklahoma, and meets some resistance from a newspaper back home in Florida.

Editorials: PSC should reject FPL’s request to explore for natural gas,

If the Florida Public Service Commission wants to give electric utilities unprecedented permission to explore for natural gas or gold or other riches, it ought to at least require the utilities’ shareholders to assume the financial risk. Utility customers should not pay all of the costs while the monopolies keep all of the profits, which is exactly what Florida Power & Light wants the PSC to approve.

The editorial elaborates, including this: Continue reading PSC should reject FPL’s request to explore for natural gas –Tampa Bay Times →

Sabal Trail is bullying its way –Alton Burns to FERC Chair

December 3, 2014Environment, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Law, LNG, WaterAlton Burns, Coolidge, environment, FERC, Florida, Floridan Aquifer, geology, Georgia, Green Swamp, Ichetucknee River, John S. Quarterman, karst, Law, limestone, LNG, overpumping, pollution, Rainbow River, rivers, Santa Fe River, sinkhole, SpectraBusters, springs, Thomas County, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

Email FERC Commissioners directly, and it still gets filed as an ecomment, as a Thomas County, Georgia resident demonstrated. And remember FERC could pick Alternative 3 which goes through Thomas County.

Filed with FERC 1 December 2014 as Accession Number: 20141201-4002,

From: Alton Burns
Date: November 27, 2014 at 10:55:20 PM EST
To: <cheryl.lafleur@ferc.gov>
Subject: Re: PF14-1-000 Sabal Trail Transmission LLC
Dear Chairman LaFleur,
Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC is seeking a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for its 300 mile Florida natural gas pipeline and will submit its preferred pipeline route soon. This certificate should be denied. When determining the issue of ‘need’, Sabal Trail’s own Draft Resource Report states: Continue reading Sabal Trail is bullying its way –Alton Burns to FERC Chair →

Sabal Trail Strikes Back

December 3, 2014Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Ethics, FERC, Georgia, Law, Stewart CountyAlzheimers, Andrea Grover, breach of law, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Ethics, FERC, Frank S. Singer III, Georgia, Hunton & Williams, John S. Quarterman, Kitty Maidens, Law, Matthew Calvert, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, terroristic, threats, Valdosta Daily Times, VDT, William B. SingerJohn S. Quarterman

Sabal Trail strikes back, claiming trespassing on your property for surveying isn’t a taking of your property rights, and pretending that wouldn’t lead to taking of property rights through eminent domain.

Filed with FERC 1 December 2014 as Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC submits Response to Recent Correspondence under PF14-1.

SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC
5400 Westheimer Court
Houston, TX 77056
December 1, 2014
Ms. Kimberly D. Bose
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20426
Re: Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC, Docket No. PF14-1-000
Response to Recent Correspondence
Dear Ms. Bose:
In a recent filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“Commission”), accession number 20141119-5122, Ms. Sandra Y. Jones alleged that Spectra Energy and Sabal Trail land agents have “threatened eminent domain” against homeowners along the proposed Sabal Trail route. Sabal Trail and Spectra Energy take these Continue reading Sabal Trail Strikes Back →

My Thanksgiving prize was an eminent domain threat from Sabal Trail –Sandra Jones to FERC

December 3, 2014Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Ethics, FERC, Georgia, Law, Stewart CountyAlzheimers, Andrea Grover, breach of law, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Ethics, FERC, Frank S. Singer III, Georgia, Hunton & Williams, Kitty Maidens, Law, Matthew Calvert, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, terroristic, threats, Valdosta Daily Times, VDT, William B. SingerJohn S. Quarterman

A Colquitt County resident spelled out a series of eminent domain threats to her, plus the background of the infamous Stewart County eminent domain ruling Sabal Trail has used to threaten landowners in other counties.

Filed with FERC 19 November 2014 as Protest of Sandra Y Jones under PF14-1 (PDF),

Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioners:

The article featuring an interview with Spectra’s Andrea Grover in today’s Valdosta Daily Times newspaper requires a response from an impacted landowner and please note that I am only one of possibly over a thousand in the same position. Ms. Grover asserts that allegations from homeowners that surveyors threatened eminent domain on their properties “hard to believe.”

Ms. Grover may be right that surveyors have not threatened eminent domain, but Spectra Energy and Sabal Trail land agents certainly have. In the second letter I received from this company dated September 16, 2013 (see attachments) requesting my signature for permission to survey my two tracts of land, the use of Georgia statute O.C.G.A. 22-3-88 was threatened.

“We hope you understand Continue reading My Thanksgiving prize was an eminent domain threat from Sabal Trail –Sandra Jones to FERC →

Miami Herald notices FPL wants ratepayers to pay to frack Oklahoma

December 2, 2014Ethics, FERC, FL PSC, Florida, Fracking, Law, OklahomaDuke Energy, Ethics, FERC, FL PSC, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, FPL, Fracking, FSC, John S. Quarterman, Law, Oklahoma, policy, ratepayers, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Back in May Sabal Trail and FSC argued fracking wasn’t relevant to their pipelines. How can they argue that now that FPL wants to frack frack Oklahoma for methane for those pipelnes proposed to gouge through Alabama, Florida, and Georgia?

Mary Ellen Klas, Miami Herald, 1 December 2014, FPL asks permission to drill for natural gas, Continue reading Miami Herald notices FPL wants ratepayers to pay to frack Oklahoma →