Filed with FERC 30 September 2014:
Mary Rehberg, Albany, GA.
Albany and Dougherty County do not want, need or benefit in any way by this pipeline. These pipelines have been known to leak and to blow up. The pumping station needs jet turbines to pump the gas and the noise level will be horrific to anyone living near it. It should not be anywhere near any homes or businesses. We get all the risk and none of the benefit. We just do not want it!
How to comment with FERC.
This is what we’re going to get in
Dougherty County, Georgia,
and Lowndes County, and
Suwannee County, Florida, and all the
other counties along whichever route FERC picks for the Sabal Trail
fracked methane pipeline to
three already-authorized LNG export operations in Florida,
unless somebody actually does something more than just talk.
What talk gets you is being counted as one of n speakers at m meetings,
and then this:
The Commission found that the proposal, as mitigated with 79 conditions found in Appendix B of today’s order, is in the public interest.
That’s right, FERC found Continue reading FERC authorized Cove Point LNG export in Maryland
FERC’s reps said their five Commissioners would decide in about a year, and Sabal Trail said they’d tune details and “educate the public” about the alleged “need” and “jobs” and “environmental safety” of their yard-wide fracked methane pipeline gouged through a hundred-foot right of way plus a compressor station. The public wasn’t having any of that in Albany, Georgia yesterday.
Update 30 Sep 2014: But that very same day, FERC rubberstamped Cove Point LNG in Maryland after “more than 140 speakers at three public meetings related to the Environmental Assessment and received more than 650 comments”, and that’s what we’re going to get with Sabal Trail, unless our elected and appointed officials go beyond talk and pass binding ordinances, deny permits, and countersue.
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Franklin White for WFXL 29 Sep 2014,
Public information meeting held for proposed pipeline.
Update 28 Sep 2014: With details from Bill Huston. The main point remains:
“Supporting the pipeline proposal as it stands amounts to surrendering our future to the petroleum industry.”
That about sums it up, both for Kinder Morgan’s Constition Pipeline Northeast Direct project (NED)
through Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts,
and for Spectra and FPL’s Sabal Trail pipeline through Alabama, Georgia,
and Florida.
Parry Teasdale wrote for The Columbia Paper of Ghent, NY 25 September 2014, EDITORIAL: Stop this pipeline,
The proposed pipeline would reportedly run beneath 55 private properties in Columbia County if it’s approved by federal regulators. The property owners would have to grant rights of way to the company. Neither the towns nor the county could intervene.
The editorial doesn’t really buy that last: it laster asks local governments to intervene.
Opponents say that property values along and nearby Continue reading Stop this Pipeline –Columbia Paper not buying the script
PHMSA Administrator
Rather than stopping leaks and explosions, Cynthia L. Quarterman (no relation)
seems to spend a lot of time
testifying before Congress, see for example
these CSPAN videos.
Maybe now that “market forces” are shifting away from fossil fuels,
instead of chasing the white whale of pipelines for fracked methane to LNG export, we can get a new PHMSA Administrator who will do something about the lax safety of the pipelines we’ve got while we get on with shifting to sun, wind, and water power.
James F. Bowe, Jr. and Sara E. Peters wrote for Energy Newsletter, March 2014, Congress Probes Crude by Rail Safety Developments; Voluntary Industry-Regulator Agreement Addresses Safety Concerns, Continue reading Departing PHMSA Administrator has let regulated companies determine testing as LNG exports increase
Tied for number 3 and receiving $10,000 in 2014 Top Vendors/Recipients from Spectra Energy according to
OpenSecrets.org:
Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia,
where Spectra wants to gouge a 100-foot right of way
for its 36-inch fracked methane Sabal Trail pipeline.
Actually, Nathan Deal’s campaign committee has accepted at least $21,300 from
natural gas pipeline companies, including
$15,000 from companies that build LNG export terminals (Sempra and AECOM)
or that
build pipelines to LNG export terminals (Spectra and AECOM).
and $6,300 from an Alabama
pipeline supply company (Consolidated Pipe & Supply Company).
Tied with Deal for third and also receiving $10,000 from Spectra:
Governor Robert J. Bentley of Alabama,
where the Sabal Trail pipeline starts, connecting to Williams Transco’s
Hillabee Expansion Project, which along with Sabal Trail and FSC forms the
Southeast Market Expansion Project.
Governor Bill Haslam of
Tennessee, where Spectra wants to start its
same-size Renaissance Pipeline to run through northeast
Alabama and north Georgia past Atlanta.
Let’s look at candidate Nathan Deal’s most recent Georgia campaign contribution disclosure report contributions, for June 30th 2014: Continue reading Spectra Energy and gas pipeline campaign contributions to GA Gov. Nathan Deal
How desperate is the pipeline industry getting?
One has gone so far as to demand a court grant it veto power over public open records.
Kala Kachmar, Montgomery Advertiser, 17 September 2014, Alagasco sues Advertiser to stop use of pipe safety plan,
Alabama Gas Corporation has taken legal action to attempt to stop the Montgomery Advertiser from publishing or writing about the company’s document that outlines a plan to ensure the safety of gas pipes.
The document, Alagasco’s Distribution Integrity Management Plan (DIMP), was obtained in June through a public records request to the Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC), which oversees the state’s utilities.
All gas companies are required by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to file a plan that assures pipeline safety and integrity with the state entity that oversees utility companies.
The regulation requires Continue reading A methane pipeline company sues a newspaper about publishing open records
Would it or wouldn’t it cross the Withlacoochee River in Florida? (It certainly would in Georgia by 4 out of 5 proposed paths.) And Sabal Trail poo-poohed all four of Greenlaw’s suggested Alternatives, but FERC could still require any one of them. Here are Sabal Trail’s own maps of Greenlaw Alternatives 1-4:
Continue reading Sabal Trail Response to FERC directive of 26 August 2014
All members of the Dougherty County Commission signed a letter saying
“we grow increasingly concerned” that FERC and Sabal Trail aren’t
listening to concerns of Dougherty County citizens.
And that was after one August meeting of citizens discussing
and opposing that fracked methane pipeline;
Dougherty County citizens have held at least
four such meetings by now.
Maybe the Dougherty County Commission would like to
take legal action
by passing a land-use ordinance regulating pipelines.
many other County Commissions that are going to be affected by
And maybe the Alternative 1,
Alternative 2,
or
Alternative 3
if the pipeline gets moved from its current proposed path
might want to also take action.
Here are images of the pages the Dougherty County
Commission sent to
FERC
5 September 2014, starting with the two pages of the Commission’s letter
dated 25 August 2014, three pages of a stakeholder writeup signed by Dinorah Hall,
two pages not depicted that were broken TIFFs, but presumably contained
the 13 August 2014 Albany Herald story about the South Dougherty League meeting,
and a Limited Warrantee Deed dated 24 May 2014 transferring 79.184 acres from
Down Home Plantation LLC to Sabal Trail Transmission LLC, which.
the Dougherty County Commission guesses is for a compressor station.
It’s not like that land transfer is a secret. Searching for Sabal Trail in Continue reading We grow increasingly concerned –Dougherty County Commission to FERC
One thing up with which even FERC will not put
is a late filing fee!
FERC warned Strom about that $24,260 filing fee on
21 July 2014.
One month and one day later, FERC called the whole thing off.
But don’t assume that means Strom is giving up:
it may be back with another try for Starke, in Bradford County, Florida,
in the Santa Fe River watershed and a short truck drive to the St Johns River watershed.
And remember
three other Florida LNG export operations already have authorization
from DoE’s Office of Fossil Energy.
Debra Johnson found this FERC Strom denial. It was also noted by Ted Monroe in LNG Industry 1 September 2014, FERC dismisses Strom LNG petition, Continue reading FERC dismissed Strom Starke LNG for lack of fee payment