On SBOCC agenda for Suwannee County July 15 5,2016 — Sabal Trail Transmission and Suwannee County Libraries:

Item # 15 on the SBOCC agenda. “The Suwannee River Regional Library requests Board approval to apply for a community grant and enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Sabal Trail Transmission to provide funding for enhanced library automation services to the citizens of Suwannee County. Funding in the amount of $60,343.00.”

From Wikipedia:

Memorandum of understanding

“A memorandum of understanding describes a bilateral or multilateral agreement between two or more parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in situations where the parties cannot create a legally enforceable agreement. It is a more formal alternative to a gentlemen’s agreement.”

This is a paltry sum of bribery money for a county whose land mass is 97% recharge area for Floridan Aquifer — our sole source of drinking water. the dangers of boring under the Suwannee River and threat to 100’s + of springs in the springs heartland of Florida.

Question is what is Suwannee County doing for this money? SBOCC has banned fracking and requested Army Corps of Engineers do a Supplemental EIS at the Suwannee River Boring site in which Sabal Trail left out the two 1st magnitude springs within 1 mile of the pipeline as well as the sinkholes in the pipeline path in their environmental impact study used to receive permits from FERC and FDEP.

Or is this chump change just an Andrea Grover ‘we will be good neighbors’ move to hide the fact they use THINNER PIPE in rural areas — to make us feel more significant? No something more than that….

Suwannee County would be wise to refuse this money even though the program it is intended for is a great idea. This pocket change and agreement is not. Remember Spectra energy is a multinational billion dollar company with well heeled investors going to the top of the economic food chain.

Perhaps the millions of dollars spent on lessons not heeded about sinkholes at the Klausner Sawmill site (in the same area) — which are underground caverns that cannot be filled — have not been learned as Falmouth is just 1 or less miles from the Suwannee River proposed boring site. Falmouth is part of the Falmouth Cathedral system and can visually demonstrate to one that it is one of those caverns where the ‘roof’ has collapsed exposing the cavern just 30 ft below ground level. Sabal Trail plans to cross this cave and underground river system right by Pilgrim’s Pride HWY 90 next to another sinkhole.

Remember all of these caves and water conduits are connected folks and OUR SOLE SOURCE OF WATER.

Now 28 + sinkholes at the sawmill site may not be anything to most but expensive but you go talking a 36″ thinner pipeline carrying 1.1 cu. Billion Ft of gas a day with a very large compressor station in O’Brien near Ichetucknee to export fracked gas to other countries (with no benefit to citizens) and you might want to take pause and think of our lives and those of the ones that follow us.  Perhaps Sabal Trail could take their money and train local Emergency Services on dealing with pipeline ruptures, leaks and explosions.

What is this memorandum of understanding? What is Spectra Energy owner of Sabal Trail getting out of this? A retraction of a certain letter asking for a review of the river crossing?

Perhaps we all should show up at this meeting and ask questions.

~~Deb

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