I am submitting my opposition to this pipeline. I own 2.09 acres of
land in
Lowndes County Ga. that was passed down from my Grandfather
to my Father who then passed it down to me. We built our home on the
north end of this lot and there is enough land left below the
existing SONAT pipeline to build another home for our grandchildren
or possibly a rental home for future supplemental income. There is
already a septic tank and water supply line there for future use.
Granting Sabal Trail/ Spectra an easement completely destroys any
further use of this property. I am not interested in receiving fair
market value for this strip of land because it will be a minimal
amount but will not allow me to put any structure on this property.
Also I am very concerned about potential safety hazards. They do not
have a good safety record. Also the first interaction that I had
with them I was misled or lied to. I received a form requesting
permission to come on my property for surveying. I called the
contact number on the form to ask if they would be using the
existing SONAT easement and was told “Absolutely”. Assuming that
this was true I signed the form and sent it back in. Later I am told
by the surveyors that they cannot share easements. On Monday
11/18/2013 I will be sending a form VIA registered mail that
they are not to enter my property again.
I just do not understand why if they cannot use the existing
easement why not go another route instead of taking property from
the same property owners twice.
Received yesterday by email to me and Beth Gordon. -jsq
*John and Beth,*
*Regarding your FOIA questions, I’ve contacted the Commission’s
Offices of External Affairs and General & Administrative Law, and
have determined that the best course of action to fully and
accurately respond to your questions would be for you to speak
directly with our FOIA Public Liaison Ms. Toyia Jackson. I was
hoping to be able to answer your questions myself; however, I
believe that it would be better if Ms. Jackson responded to you. As
the Commission’s FOIA Public Liaison she is much more capable than I
to answer your questions. I have forwarded your questions to her and
we have discussed the conversations each of us have had. Ms.
Jackson’s contact information is:*
*Toyia Johnson*,
FOIA Public Liaison
Office of External Affairs
Telephone: 202-502-6088
Valdosta, 6 February 2014 —
Local landowner Monica Martin will speak to the Osceola
County Commission about the proposed Sabal Trail methane gas
pipeline and its effects on the aquifer, native wildlife,
and the landscape, plus property values and property rights.
Other local citizens may also speak in the same "Hear
the Audience" section (turn in a "Request to
Speak" form before the meeting). Anyone from anywhere
can come listen, or protest against the pipeline
outside.
When:
1:30 PM
Monday, February 10 th 2014
Where:
Administration Building 4 th Floor
One Courthouse Square
Kissimmee, Florida 34741
407-742-2000
Why: Spectra Energy,
which had compressor station leaks in Maine last month and
in Pennsylvania last year, plus multiple fines by Pipeline
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for
corrosion and leaks, and a record $15 million EPA fine for
PCB contamination, proposes a hundred-foot-wide gash through
our lands for their huge 36 inch Sabal Trail gas
pipeline from Alabama through Georgia to feed Florida Power
and Light (FPL) and Duke Energy for no benefit to local
citizens and rate hikes for FPL customers. A one-time
payment is not enough Continue reading Question the Sabal Trail pipeline in Osceola County 2014-02-10→
Governmental eminent domain powers have been growing for more than
115 years, to the point where courts have upheld the taking of
property from one private owner for the purpose of transferring it
to another, as long as it benefits the public. The
Natural Gas Act
delegates
eminent domain powers
to the pipeline companies,
subject to court approval.
However there’s no mechanism in place to dispute
the taking. Things to consider:
How does this benefit the public by taking land from the public?
Is there an irrefutable study that
shows this act of taking of private land is justifiable by needs
other than capitalistic greed?
Also, what about the mineral rights of the property?
How many “pipes” or infrastructures can
the Pipeline Company sell or lease access to other entities without
any future benefits paid to the original land owners?
Colquitt County landowner Irvin Allegood came to
the do-over Sabal Trail Open House in Moultrie 27 January 2014
so he could tell FERC he wasn’t going to allow another pipeline.
He wasn’t the only one, but he especially wanted video,
so here he is, talking to John Peconom of FERC.
…the existing pipeline comes through the front corner.
I just don’t think that they should be allowed to, basically, to deface
my property.
…losing that road, if they put two pipelines on my property.
Their first suggestion, was they would destroy…
as far as my property was concerned.
all of the wooded area.
There’s old growth pines in there, the run of a creek.
We’re just not going to allow that to happen.
If they put it on the other side of the existing pipeline.
I’ve been planning to put my shop out there when I retire in a couple of years.
I just don’t think they should be allowed to deface my property –Irvin Allegood to FERC
Video by John S. Quarterman for SpectraBusters.org,
Moultrie, Colquitt County GA, 27 January 2014.
FERC rep. John Peconom then wanted to be sure to get the spelling
of Irvin Allegood’s name, and where his property was.
It wasn’t on the map hanging right there, so they looked at the
maps on Peconom’s laptop.
Peconom had no direct response to the basic point of the pipeline
defacing property, or tearing down trees.
Injury to workers or local people, limited local resources, property rights,
and more concerns all bubbling to the top in central Florida
like methane from a deep well.
The Sabal Trail Gas Pipeline is a project more than 400 miles long
spanning across three different states. The purpose is to provide
domestically-produced natural gas for the southeast region. But this
pipeline comes at a cost to property owners. Eminent Domain Attorney
Brian Bolves says, “It’s a big scale project that’s coming through
the community. It will change the character of a lot of people’s
property,there have been a lot of surveyors assessing people’s
property and so people have a lot of concerns about the nature of
this facility.”
Its name is the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
but lately it’s been sounding more like a marketing firm for pipeline companies.
You can help fix that.
About 50 people attended an open house meeting held by Sabal Trail
Transmission LLC, the energy firm that will construct the roughly
465-mile line for two of America’s biggest energy companies. The
line will go through Alachua and Marion counties, among others….
John Peconom, project manager for the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, which will have final approval over the pipeline,
described Sabal Trails efforts at this point as “shaking the
bushes.”
The company, he said, is attempting to identify — and
mitigate, if necessary — as many issues as possible before
filing its application with the government, which should come in
about a year.
$5.5 trillion or $800 for each human on this Earth has been dumped into the fossil fuel money pit.
Will most of that money never come back out, now that
solar stocks are skyrocketing
and
foundations are banding together to dump fossil fuel stocks?
Why should we let Spectra Energy and NextEra gouge a methane pipeline
through our lands for their bad investment?
By keeping their money in coal and oil companies, investors are
betting a vast amount of wealth, including the pensions and savings
of millions of people, on high future demand for dirty fuels. The
investment has enabled fossil fuel companies to massively raise
their spending on expanding extractable reserves, with oil and gas
companies alone (state-owned ones included) spending the combined
GDP of Netherlands and Belgium a year, in belief that there will be
demand for ever more dirty fuel.
This assumption is being challenged by recent developments, which is
good news for climate but bad news for anyone who thought investing
in fossil fuel industries was a safe bet. Frantic growth in coal
consumption seems to be coming to an end much sooner than predicted
just a few years ago, with China’s aggressive clean air policies,
rapidly dropping coal consumption in the U.S. and upcoming closures
of many coal plants in Europe. At the same time the oil industry is
also facing slowing demand growth and the financial and share
performance of oil majors is disappointing for shareholders.
Nevertheless, even faced with weakening demand prospects, outdated
investment patterns are driving fossil fuel companies to waste
trillions of dollars in developing reserves and infrastructure that
will be stranded as the world moves beyond 20th century energy.
From: John S. Quarterman <jsqferc@quarterman.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:29:54 -0500
cc: John S. Quarterman <jsqferc@quarterman.org>
To: John Peconom <john.peconom@ferc.gov>
Subject: Re: Contact and the Big Picture
Howdy, and it was good to meet you in Moultrie.
I look forward to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
taking into account the whole big picture, and not just
believing assertions by applicant companies without critical review.
Thanks for sending me this boilerplate, which I see appears
in many FERC documents:
Any state or local permits issued with respect to the jurisdictional
facilities authorized herein must be consistent with the conditions of this
certificate. The Commission encourages cooperation between interstate
pipelines and local authorities. However, this does not mean that state
and local agencies, through application of state or local laws, may
prohibit or unreasonably delay the construction of facilities approved by
this Commission.
I am submitting my opposition to this pipeline. I own 2.09 acres of land in Lowndes County Ga. that was passed down from my Grandfather to my Father who then passed it down to me. We built our home on the north end of this lot and there is enough land left below the existing SONAT pipeline to build another home for our grandchildren or possibly a rental home for future supplemental income. There is already a septic tank and water supply line there for future use. Granting Sabal Trail/ Spectra an easement completely destroys any further use of this property. I am not interested in receiving fair market value for this strip of land because it will be a minimal amount but will not allow me to put any structure on this property.
Also I am very concerned about potential safety hazards. They do not have a good safety record. Also the first interaction that I had with them I was misled or lied to. I received a form requesting permission to come on my property for surveying. I called the contact number on the form to ask if they would be using the existing SONAT easement and was told “Absolutely”. Assuming that this was true I signed the form and sent it back in. Later I am told by the surveyors that they cannot share easements. On Monday 11/18/2013 I will be sending a form VIA registered mail that they are not to enter my property again.
