Monthly Archives: April 2016

Ask Leesburg, FL City Council not to tap fracked methane from Sabal Trail 2016-04-25

Lake County, FL residents especially please go to this meeting.

Scott Callahan, Daily Commercial, 25 April 2016, Leesburg may tap into gas pipeline,

LEESBURG — Some affected landowners and environmentalists may not be happy with plans for a new gas pipeline through Lake County, but the city of Leesburg considers it a blessing….

City commissioners will consider the tap request during tonight’s commission meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Thanks to Continue reading Ask Leesburg, FL City Council not to tap fracked methane from Sabal Trail 2016-04-25

SpectraBusters leaflets Sabal Trail in Live Oak 2016-04-20

“No fracking!” said the students, as nine people protested outside Sabal Trail’s Contractor Fair at RiverOak Technical College, Live Oak, Suwannee County, Florida yesterday, 20 April 2016. Patricia says dont Frack with Our Water SpectraBusters, Suwannee-St Johns Group of Sierra Club Florida, and WWALS were among the groups with members on the ground, with the other groups listed on the flyer we were passing out there in spirit to say Short­term jobs are not worth long­term Sabal Trail risk. Here’s the press release, which was picked up by Valdosta Today.

SpectraBusters on the street

Many thanks to Continue reading SpectraBusters leaflets Sabal Trail in Live Oak 2016-04-20

Short-term jobs are not worth long-term Sabal Trail risk –Locals to Sabal Trail jobs-seekers at Contractor Fairs

PR sent tonight to about 100 news media:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Live Oak, FL, April 18, 2016 — Local residents and half a dozen environmental organizations want applicants at Sabal Trail pipeline job fairs to know a job for a few weeks isn’t worth risking drinking water for all our families and children and grandchildren. Red line Sabal Trail across most vulnerable area of Florida Aquifer Opponents of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and supporters of solar power include the Suwannee-St Johns Sierra Club Group, St Johns Riverkeeper, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Our Santa Fe River, Earth Ethics, Gulf Restoration Network, and SpectraBusters.

Sabal Trail is holding what it calls Contractor Fairs 11AM to 2PM on two days this week, not for people to actually install the pipeline, rather for Continue reading Short-term jobs are not worth long-term Sabal Trail risk –Locals to Sabal Trail jobs-seekers at Contractor Fairs

Partial win at FPL Hendry County proposed power plant 2016-04-12

Local opposition has gotten a proposed FPL fracked methane power plant away from the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, and part of FPL’s site converted to a proposed solar plant. More can be done, but this shows county commissions can fight even mighty FPL, plus Sabal Trail’s pipeline, the likely source of the gas.

FPL wanted rezoning March 8th, but Hendry County Commissioners postponed it until April 12th, which is tomorrow. Eileen Soler, Seminole Tribune, 29 March 2016, Another delay for Hendry FPL plant hearing, Continue reading Partial win at FPL Hendry County proposed power plant 2016-04-12

Two Sabal Trail-feeding pipelines delayed by FERC due to opposition

Williams talked up Atlantic Sunrise to feed Transco and Sabal Trail, and Spectra bought into Penneast. Now both have been delayed many months, shortly after the Georgia legislature resoundingly rejected river-drilling easements for Sabal Trail and Hamilton and Suwannee Counties, Florida and WWALS Watershed Coalition asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come see the sinkholes, springs, and caverns Sabal Trail didn’t tell FERC about. You can ask Congress to get the GAO to investigate FERC.

Elizabeth Skrapits, Popular Resistance, 2 April 2016, FERC Postpones Decisions On Two Gas Pipeline Projects, Continue reading Two Sabal Trail-feeding pipelines delayed by FERC due to opposition

Ask GAO to investigate why FERC Doesn’t Work

You can support hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals who have already asked Congress to:

Help secure an independent investigation by the Government Accountability Office into the abuses of power, process and law by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) when it comes to interstate natural gas pipelines and LNG export facilities. Write your congressional representative now to urge their help in securing this necessary independent review.

Here’s a handy web form by Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

If you want something local to say, try reading Continue reading Ask GAO to investigate why FERC Doesn’t Work

Sabal Trail Contractor Fairs: Ocala, Live Oak, Albany

Update 10 April 2016: And Moultrie, GA April 15th.

Trying to attract local support in counties where it wants compressor stations, Sabal Trail is holding Contractor Fairs, ignoring that:

Look in the dictionary under chutzpah (insolence), and you’ll see Sabal Trail’s picture. Two years ago in Gilchrist County, FL, Sabal Trail admitted Continue reading Sabal Trail Contractor Fairs: Ocala, Live Oak, Albany

Suwannee County Votes to Send Letter to Army Corps Of Engineers Asking for Independent Geological Study

Tuesday April 5th Suwannee County voted 4 to 1 , with chairman Bashaw dissenting, to send a letter requesting that the Corps perform an independent environmental study concerning the geological omissions Sabal Trail withheld from their Environmental Study submitted to FERC to receive a permit to bore under the Suwannee River.

After comparing Sabal Trail’s EIS with that of local geologist Dennis Price, Chris Mericle discovered omissions and discrepancies in this report endangering the Floridan Aquifer which supplies 60% of Florida’s water supply as well as endangering millions of citizens and hundreds, if not thousand, of springs.

Sabal Trail submitted information for the pipeline permit to FERC stating the closest sinkhole to the pipeline route boring under the Suwannee River would be 750′ from the pipeline which is not true. Commissioner Wainwright and other BOCC officials discovered one active sinkhole 75′ from the 36″ fracked gas pipeline. In fact there is a sinkhole smack in the middle of the pipeline route with sinkholes covering the entire area.

SBOCC discovered this after attending a hike of the pipeline route and Falmouth Springs, which is part of a interconnected cave system that extends to the Suwannee River crossing at Suwannee River State Park which Sabal Trail claims is 100′ underground, when in fact one can see the springs practically at ground level and is part of this connected cave system and caverns named the Falmouth Cathedral Cave System. There are in fact many of these cave systems all connected within the pipeline route and throughout Florida.

Thank you SBOCC and all who assisted in this effort.

All counties in North Florida and central Florida should follow suite.

Perhaps a RICO investigation by the US Attorney General of Spectra Energy/Sabal Trail and the oil industry funded pipeline government agency, FERC, as well as invested Florida governor Scott is in order.

I do believe the time has come to stop this dangerous gas pipeline to export the natural gas that fracking invested FPL, Duke Energy and NextEra wish to export to other countries with zero benefit to the citizens of Florida.

Deb