Spectra Keep Out, say Dougherty County protesters Friday. (PDF)
Keep Spectra Energy’s
Sabal Trail
OUT
Dougherty County, GAThe Sabal Trail compressor station and pipeline will endanger and devalue our community.
Join us in a silent protest at Sabal’s office
Friday, July 17 from 9:30 a.m.
1301 Evelyn Avenue,
in front of the Dougherty County jail.This is our community and our county. Bring your Continue reading Silent Protest to Keep Sabal Trail out of Dougherty County, GA 2015-07-17
An Oregonian thoroughly explodes the standard pipeline script:
“I guess we could stand having a 232-mile IED in our backyard if it is really benefits the public. But who, exactly, is the public here?”
His Canadian pipeline moguls are actually both from Houston, Texas:
Williams Company with its Washington Expansion Project (WEP)
getting its fracked methane from Spectra Energy’s Westcoast Pipeline.
Oh, this is another Williams pipeline:
Pacific Connector, going to the same Jordan Cover LNG export terminal
as WEP.
The same Williams Company of Transco’s Hillabee Expansion Project
to feed Spectra Energy’s Sabal Trail pipeline.
The same Sabal Trail that’s suing a Georgia Centennial Family Farm
tomorrow in Moultrie, Georgia.
All the pipeline companies seem to follow the same script,
including Kinder Morgan for its Palmetto Pipeline.
And this Oregonian answered for all of us facing pipeline invaders.
Diarmuid McGuire, Ashland Daily Tidings, 22 January 2015, Guest Opinion: We’re Oregonians, but we’re not stupid, Continue reading Oregon citizen bursts pipeline company talking points
As reported in mainstream media outlet USA Today, opposition to LNG pipelines is causing the natural gas pipeline industry headaches.
Industry executives say they need additional laws to allow them to gouge pipelines across our water and property so that they may export their gas to other countries solely profiting their industry. There is no public necessity and/or need for these pipelines.
To quote Diane Leopold, the president of Dominion Energy, Continue reading USA Today – Gas Pipeline Companies Feel the Heat of Opposition
Spectra may bull through pronghorn antelope in Texas, but suing a Georgia Centennial Family Farm provokes some resistance.
PoetsLoveBirds, 14 May 2015, Spectra Energy: Like a Bull in a China Shop,
Spectra Energy is a Fortune 500 company based in Houston, Texas. They say that they are one of North America’s leading natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil infrastructure companies. Their claim to fame — It builds pipelines to ship natural gas. It builds storage facilities to hold natural gas. It distributes natural gas. …
But wait, let’s hear from Spectra Energy. On their spiffy website, sporting Continue reading Sabal Trail is Bull: see them sue a landowner in Moultrie May 28th 2015
Actually, property rights, safety, and environment are vital to the security and economy of the United States, and the invading Sabal Trail and Palmetto pipelines from Houston, Texas threaten all those things just like the invading Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta threatens them. That’s why FERC has run to today for its meeting, but it can’t hide from the protesters who will show up anyway. That is why some brave landowners legally oppose Sabal Trail taking their land, as in Moultrie May 28th.
The FBI seems to have gotten all that backwards:
“The Houston Division has identified an emerging threat from environmental extremists targeting construction projects of the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline within the Houston Domain. Many of these extremists believe the debates over pollution, protection of wildlife, safety, and property rights have been overshadowed by the promise of jobs and cheaper oil prices. These extremists include those who oppose federal, state, and local governments’ interaction or legal interference in matters of domestic oil and natural gas production.
“The Keystone pipeline, as part of the oil and natural gas industry, is vital to the security and economy of the United States.”
And actually, we support local, state, and federal governments stopping these pipeline invasions. The FBI should be helping us by exposing the corruption funded by the fossil fuel industry. Starting with the institutionalized corruption that is FERC, which brags to Congress about 100% “cost recovery” from the industries it “regulates”.
Paul Lewis, The Guardian, 12 May 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/12/revealed-fbi-spied-keystone-xl-opponents
A fossil fuel company can make a real financial offer when it wants to, not just the pocket change people in the U.S. southeast are being offered for easements for the Sabal Trail or Palmetto pipelines. And no offer is enough to outweigh the environmental damage, was the unanimous vote of a Canadian native group about a competitor of Spectra Energy.
Brent Jang, Globe and Mail, 8 May 2015, Environment dwarfs financial merit in LNG deal for B.C. First Nations,
For the Lax Kw’alaams in British Columbia, Thursday’s decision turned out to be simple — the environmental risks of a massive liquefied natural gas project far outweighed the financial rewards.
In the second stage of three votes, Continue reading Canadian natives reject $1 billion offer from fossil fuel company: environment more important
Are Spectra and FPL running short on money so they have to take on a new investor?
Has the opposition cost them $225 million already?
The AP story includes two misconceptions. After protests continuing into this year, a criminal trespass lawsuit against Sabal Trail, and multiple parties filing amicus briefs, this is all AP remembers:
The pipeline drew protests from southwest Georgia residents last year, who said they do not want a pollution-emitting compression station near their homes.
And despite Sabal Trail’s continued failure to demonstrate need, AP repeats this old canard:
Currently there are only two major pipelines that deliver natural gas to Florida. Both are nearing capacity.
Not if the Sunshine State gets on with solar power, like even the most corrupt state (Georgia) is doing.
Interestingly, there’s no press release from any of Sabal Trail, Spectra, NextEra, or FPL about this, but there’s this obviously slanted Duke Energy PR, 5 May 2015, Duke Energy buys 7.5% of previously announced Sabal Trail pipeline that will meet growing need for natural gas in Southeast U.S., Continue reading Duke Energy buys into Sabal Trail
Kinder Morgan contributed to the campaigns of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal
and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and to numerous other elected officials,
similar to Spectra Energy PAC and many other pipeline companies or
associated political action committees.
Could this have something to do with how Georgia state officials
are not being very helpful to the citizens who overwhelmingly
oppose both Kinder Morgan’s proposed Palmetto petroleum products
pipeline through eastern Georgia and Spectra’s proposed Sabal Trail
fracked methane pipeline through southwest Georgia?
Could it explain why the Georgia government seems to be treating both pipelines
as if they were public-private partnerships with the state?
Searching Georgia Campaign Finance Commission campaign records show Kinder Morgan (KMI) subsidiary Southern Natural Gas (SONAT) contributed to a whole bunch of people, including Casey Cagle: Continue reading Kinder Morgan campaign contributions to GA Gov. Deal and Lt. Gov. Cagle
The Suwannee River faces invasion by both Kinder Morgan’s Palmetto petroleum products pipeline and Spectra Energy’s Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline. Plus the Savannah, Ogeechee, Altamaha, Satilla, and St. Mary’s River are threatened by the Palmetto Project, Chattahoochee, Flint, Withlacoochee, and Santa Fe Rivers are threatened by Sabal Trail, plus most both projects is above the fragile Floridan Aquifer. All for no known local benefit; just to profit corporate greed.
Curtis and Norma Beaird, Poets Love Birds, 30 April 2015, Why Georgia Doesn’t Need the Palmetto Pipeline: Our Filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC),
We are writing this article because we are very concerned about the proposed Palmetto Pipeline to be built in the state of Georgia. Kinder Morgan plans to build 360-mile pipeline that will run from Belton, South Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida. According to the Savannah Riverkeeper, 218 miles of the pipeline will be in Georgia and 142 miles of the pipeline will be built in South Carolina. This pipeline would move refined petroleum products, to include denatured fuel ethanol. …
According to Push Back the Pipeline:
In the continental U.S., there are only 42 free-flowing rivers greater than 124 miles in length. Georgia contains five of these rivers, three of which are in the path of the proposed pipeline, Altamaha, Ogeechee, and Satilla Rivers. The Okefenokee Swamp is also the headwaters of the St. Marys and the Suwanee River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico.
Georgia also contains most of the free-flowing 205-mile Alapaha River, which fortunately isn’t currently the target of any pipeline. However, Spectra Energy proposes to gouge its Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline under the 115-mile Withlacoochee River in Georgia. And Sabal Trail would cross the Suwannee River in Florida, so the Suwannee is a target of both pipelines: Palmetto in Georgia, and Sabal Trail in Florida.
Here’s Curtis Beaird’s FERC filing, which notes that Kinder Morgan has not proven any need Continue reading Why Georgia Doesn’t Need the Palmetto Pipeline –Poets Love Birds
Calling their bluff at their very first “public hearing”,
longtime environmental activist Steve Willis told Kinder Morgan
that if they didn’t want the public to believe that their
pipeline is for export,
when it so conveniently runs past KM’s proposed
Elba Island LNG export terminal and to Jacksonville where
Jaxport is gearing up for LNG export,
they should post a $100 million bond.
Watch the KM rep’s face as soon as Steve says “export”;
sure looks like “OMG, he’s on to us!”
Steve noted there is no local demand for KM’s petroleum products, and exports drive up local prices anyway. You don’t have to believe Steve, you can believe Continue reading Post a bond if Palmetto Pipeline is not for export –Steve Willis to Kinder Morgan in Savannah