Category Archives: FERC

Sabal Trail in Albany, GA 2014-10-20

Dougherty County, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Hamilton County, Osceola County, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Sabal Trail Open House in Albany, Dougherty County, GA Monday, then one in Jasper, Hamilton County, FL Tuesday. That’s the first two places in the route alternatives Sabal Trail just published. Does that mean Trenton, Gilchrist County, FL Wednesday and Kissimmee, Osceola County, FL Thursday? There is no published Open House schedule on sabaltrailtransmission.com or ferc.gov, so anybody who knows of more of these, let us know.

300x200 stiff upper lip: John Peconom of FERC, in FERC in Albany, by Jen Maloney, 29 September 2014 facebook event created today by Jen Maloney:

Sabal Trail “Open House”

Monday, October 20 at 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Hilton Garden Inn Albany Hotel
101 S Front St, Albany, Georgia 31701

The picture is by Continue reading Sabal Trail in Albany, GA 2014-10-20 →

Sabal Trail Notice of EIS Intent and Route Alternatives

Alabama, Brooks County, Compressor, Dougherty County, Environment, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Hamilton County, Hazards, Lee County, Levy County, Lowndes County, Marion County, Osceola County, Suwannee County, Tallapoosa County, Water, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A FERC comment period ending 15 November 2014 seems to mean Sabal Trail will miss its 31 October formal filing date. 300x391 Withlacoochee River Crossing Route Alternative, Hamilton and Suwannee Counties, Florida (bare), in Sabal Trail Notice of EIS Intent, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 15 October 2014 No relief suggested for crossing the Withlacoochee River at the border of Brooks and Lowndes Counties, Georgia (or inside Lowndes County next to Valdosta, according to several of the previous alternatives). And every proposed path still crosses the Suwannee River into Suwannee County.

Maybe that’s because the Dougherty County Commission and the Albany City Council actually stood up for their citizens, as did Gilchrist County (see Wacassassa Flats Alternative), while the Suwannee County Commission swallowed Sabal Trail disinformation and the Lowndes County Commission and the Valdosta City Council did little (except one letter from the Chairman) or nothing (except one letter from one Council member).

300x131 Sasser Route Alternative, Albany Compressor station Alternatives, Terrell, Lee, and Dougherty Counties. Georgia (bottom), in Sabal Trail Notice of EIS Intent, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 15 October 2014 There’s still time for Dougherty, Lowndes, and all the other counties and cities to pass ordinances, and to lobby state and federal agencies and elected and appointed officials. Oh, and there’s an election going on.

Also no mention of Sabal Trail’s Jasper, Florida Open House, 5-7:30 Tuesday 21 October 2014, but STT’s newspaper notice said the public is invited, so y’all come!

Filed with FERC today, 15 October 2014, Supplemental Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environment Impact Statement for the Planned Southeast Market Pipeline Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues etc. re Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC under PF14-1.

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Docket No. PF14-1-000

Continue reading Sabal Trail Notice of EIS Intent and Route Alternatives →

Sabal Trail invites you to an Open House in Jasper, Florida

Environment, FERC, Florida, Hamilton County, LNG, Water, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

300x533 5-7:30 PM Tue 21 Oct 2014 @ Florida Gateway Golf & Country Club, in Sabal Trail at Jasper, FL Country Club, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 21 October 2014 Sabal Trail invites the public to an Open House about a Withlacoochee Alternative that would avoid the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, Florida.

Update 2014-10-15: SpectraBusters facebook event and Sabal Trail new route alternatives filing.

Maybe you’d like to ask them how about avoiding the Withlacoochee River in Lowndes County, Georgia? Or about those three already-authorized LNG export operations right where that pipeline leads. How about why all seven proposed paths would cross the Suwannee River into Suwannee County, Florida? How about asking them not to cross the Santa Fe River, the Suwannee River, the Flint, or the Chattahoochee? Hm, that might mean there’s no path for their pipeline….

Tuesday, October 21, 2014
5:00pm — 7:30pm
Florida Gateway Golf & Country Club
8055 U.S. Highway 129 South, Jasper, Florida 32052

Most of it’s the usual STT boilerplate, plus this: Continue reading Sabal Trail invites you to an Open House in Jasper, Florida →

Help stop pipelines: donate to SpectraBusters today

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You can donate to SpectraBusters to help stop the unnecessary, environmentally damaging, and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, and its siblings Transco Hillabee and FSC, too.

You can help pay for contacting landowners (so they’ll hear something more than pipeline company PR), for contacting the public with billboards (currently we’re aiming for I-75 southbound near Lake City), and other work, ranging from research possibly up to legal assistance. Donate online today!

And don’t forget to send an ecomment to FERC.

Policy passed unanimously by SpectraBusters board 1 September 2014

Continue reading Help stop pipelines: donate to SpectraBusters today →

FSC formally filed for FERC permit 26 September 2014

Ethics, FERC, LNG, , , , , , , , , ,

FERC got around to posting that online and sending an alert to ecomment subscribers today, two weeks later. You or your group can now file as an intervenor for FSC under the new docket CP14-554-000. Or you can ecomment under that docket. Sabal Trail and Transco have not yet filed for formal permitting, but Sabal Trail has repeatedly said it plans to do so 31 October 2014.

Here’s HTML of that notice letter. Search for CP14-554-000 in FERC’s General Search and you’ll find a large number of PDF and other files, many marked “Availability: Privileged”, as in this pipeline or Sabal Trail or Transco may gouge through your back yard or under your river, going right to three already-authorized LNG export operations in Florida, but you don’t get to see FPL’s rationalizations for why. Maybe if those rationalizations were public, they’d stink even more.

To get alerts on the formal filing, you’ll need to log in (or register first) with FERC and subscribe to docket CP14-554.

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

Florida Southeast Connection, LLC Docket No. CP14-554-000
PF14-2-000

NOTICE OF APPLICATION

Continue reading FSC formally filed for FERC permit 26 September 2014 →

Comment to FERC for the Global Frackdown

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Send your ecomment to FERC today or tomorrow for the Oct 11th Global Frackdown event by Food & Water Watch. Easiest way is to use FERC’s ecomment system: here’s how to do that. Or follow this link for FERC postal address, telephone number, and email address.

And you can call your newspaper or radio or TV station and recommend they publish the SpectraBusters op-ed, It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline.

FPL wants federal eminent domain to gouge a hundred-foot right of way for a yard-wide fracked methane pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, claiming Florida needs new power. That don’t pass the smell test.

Or encourage reporters to write a story about it. Or write your own letter to the editor or op-ed or rant and rave or call in to your local radio station.

You can also Continue reading Comment to FERC for the Global Frackdown →

It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline –SpectraBusters

Alabama, EPA, FE, FERC, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, Hazards, LNG, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FPL wants federal eminent domain to gouge a hundred-foot right of way for a yard-wide fracked methane pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, claiming Florida needs new power. That don’t pass the smell test.
http://spectrabusters.org/2014/09/14/we-grow-increasingly-concerned-dougherty-county-commission-to-ferc/

Nationwide electricity demand continues to decline, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reminded the pipeline-permitting Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in April. EPA asked FPL why it couldn’t implement conservation, efficiency, compressed gas storage, or other energy sources. http://spectrabusters.org/2014/04/23/explain-why-the-gas-is-needed-epa-to-ferc/#decreasing-electricity-sales

FPL projected 13% electricity demand increase in its 2014 ten-year plan to the Florida Public Service Commission (FL PSC). A third pipeline would be a 50% increase. Why? http://spectrabusters.org/2014/04/24/fpls-own-projections-dont-support-need-for-a-new-pipeline/

Sabal Trail, the pipeline joint venture of FPL and Spectra Energy of Houston, claims Duke Energy needs Continue reading It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline –SpectraBusters →

FERC formal filing process for Sabal Trail

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The end of October is the beginning of the formal FERC filing process, at least if Sabal Trail files October 31st as Andrea Grover has predicted. FERC not only takes comments during a formal filing, which usually lasts about a year, but as that process begins your group also can become an intervenor, which provides additional legal capabilities. Follow the link for details about FERC’s pre-filing and formal filing processes, with graphical and textual timelines.

Commenting with and watching the FERC process, or filing as an intervenor, is a great way to keep up with what’s going on. But depending on FERC alone would be foolish, since the same day Albany and Dougherty County citizens overwhelmingly opposed the pipeline in a public meeting, FERC approved Cove Point LNG export in Maryland, despite massive public opposition.

Fortunately, it’s not just FERC that decides Continue reading FERC formal filing process for Sabal Trail →

Video: Gloria Gaines took down Spectra in Albany

Dougherty County, FERC, Georgia, Hazards, , , , , , , , , , ,

Gloria Gaines dissected Spectra’s compressor station and pipeline haunting Dougherty County, Georgia in this video:

I don’t buy her argument for “land in remote areas”. Reclusive rural landowners don’t want that fracked methane hazard, either. And she needs to stop pushing biomass. She also said she expects Gov. Nathan Deal to help; maybe she hadn’t heard about Continue reading Video: Gloria Gaines took down Spectra in Albany →

Make Sabal Trail resurvey all the properties –Bill Kendall

Alabama, Ethics, FERC, FL PSC, Florida, Georgia, History, Law, Lowndes County, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

300x387 Letters sent before contract awarded, in Resurvey all the properties, by Bill Kendall, for SpectraBusters.org, 29 September 2014 Update 27 October 2014: Added page 3 FERC had omitted, about lack of need, most property owners already have a pipeline, explosions, false pretense, and duress.

Because of the last point about Nathan Deal, several people brought this ecomment to my attention today. Its main request is for FERC to vacate surveys taken through permission obtained through misleading letters, and make Sabal Trail resurvey only those properties whose landowners give permission after being informed important information such as that Sabal Trail cannot use Georgia eminent domain.

Actually, the Lowndes County government got a letter from Sabal Trail 19 June 2013, even earlier than the ones noted below. Also, the point about Delays I haven’t seen before, especially combined with the point about harm to landowners. The date of formation reaches its punchline two pages later in reputation. I added the links and images. Filed with FERC 30 September 2014.

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary; FERC;
Concerning PF14-1

300x387 B: FPL map, in Resurvey all the properties, by Bill Kendall, for SpectraBusters.org, 29 September 2014 On December 19, 2012, Florida Power & Light, hereafter referred to as FPL. issued a Request For Proposal with a deadline of April 3, 2013 ((A) see attached Florida PSC report), to construct a natural gas pipeline from Southwest central Alabama to South central Florida a distance of some 700 miles and completely by-passing Georgia ((B) see attached FPL map).

300x233 C: Sabal Trail map, in Resurvey all the properties, by Bill Kendall, for SpectraBusters.org, 29 September 2014 Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC, hereafter referred to as STT, changed the FPL route, at their discretion, Continue reading Make Sabal Trail resurvey all the properties –Bill Kendall →