“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. 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.

Many thanks to the RiverOak administration, who extended their hospitality, and the Live Oak Police, who seemed quite interested in the handouts. Thanks to the job-seekers, who were uniformly polite; almost all took flyers, and one even thanked us on the way out for being there. Thanks to the drivers on the street, many of whom spoke, some took flyers, and one told us about the historic Georgia legislature vote against river-drilling easements. And special thanks to the RiverOak students; as a group of them said in chorus: “No Fracking!”

One candidate for Suwannee County Commission protested with us: Sue Vanbrunt, running for District 5.

Hi Andrea Grover! She was inside at the Sabal Trail table, and many of us went in to remind her we aren’t going away until they do.

And finally, thanks to Alvin Jackson, Suwannee County Economic Development Coordinator, who was very friendly, and who came back out in the afternoon to clarify what we’d already found out, that three “primes” (I assume he meant prime contractors) required union membership, and three others did not. He elaborated that anything involving work on the right of way required union membership. Some of the job-seekers were a bit miffed to learn they’d have to pay union dues to get a job.

We hope they will find other jobs if this pipeline does not happen, like so many other pipelines are not happening these days.

-jsq

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