Category Archives: FERC

Sabal Trail announced pipe supplier contracts before filing with FERC

FERC, History, Law, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rubberstamp FERC process? Sabal Trail seems to think so, since it announced two contracts with Berg Pipe to manufacture pipe several days before it even formally filed with FERC for a permit, and the winning contractor announced a full week before that filing. Sabal Trail claimed economic benefits for Alabama and Florida, but apparently couldn’t come up any for Georgia. You can contact your local, state, and federal elected and appointed officials about this.

FERC published Sabal Trail’s formal filing 21 November 2015. Earlier that same week, 17 November 2015, Sabal Trail put out two press releases, one each for Alabama and Florida: Continue reading Sabal Trail announced pipe supplier contracts before filing with FERC →

LNG export approved and proposed

British Columbia, FE, FERC, Florida, Georgia, LNG, Louisiana, MARAD, Martin County, Maryland, Nova Scotia, Oregon, Texas, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How big is the LNG export gold rush? Here are maps of dozens of approved, proposed, and potential LNG export terminals, one of them even including Carib’s FE-authorized Martin County LNG export facility that FERC never seems to remember and Sabal Trail never talks about.

Update 2015-02-23: Now with the rest of the maps.

300x225 FERC Proposed LNG Export, in LNG, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 22 February 2015 In addition to the approved LNG import and export terminals, there are more on this FERC map of Proposed North American LNG Export Terminals, including ones in Lake Charles (2 and 7), Sabine Pass (6), Plaquemines Parish (8 and 11), and Cameron Parish (13) Louisiana, Lavaca Bay (4) and Sabine Pass (9), Texas, Elba Island (5), Georgia, and Jacksonvile (14), Florida, as well as Coos Bay (1) and Astoria (3), Oregon, plus two in Kitimat (15 and 17) and one on Douglas Island (16), British Columbia. One of those proposed BC LNG export terminals is where Spectra Energy proposes to build not one but two pipelines. And even that ain’t all. Continue reading LNG export approved and proposed →

Port Dolphin LNG import to Florida from Louisiana and Texas?

FERC, Florida, LNG, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Our old friend Port Dolphin is back asking LNG import competing with or displacing Sabal Trail’s fracked methane pipeline, this time possibly shipping gas across the Gulf of Mexico from U.S. LNG export facilities.

300x225 FERC Approved LNG Export and Import, in LNG, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 22 February 2015 Back in 2009 Port Dolphin got FERC approval for LNG import, but then there was a big recession, and the “shale gas revolution” (fracking) happened, resulting in most LNG import facilities filing for LNG export instead. But Port Dolphin wants to continue with imports, as Joe Fisher wrote for Natural Gas Intelligence, 20 October 2014, Would-Be Florida LNG Importer Sees Promise in Cross-Gulf Trade,

Florida does not have indigenous gas supply and historically has been served by two interstate natural gas pipeline with a third one planned, Sabal Trail (see Daily GPI, Oct. 24, 2013). Recently announced is a related north-to-south intrastate pipeline project (Florida Southeast Connection) (see Daily GPI, Oct. 10).

Rather than turn its LNG import project around to export liquefied U.S. gas — as other would-be import terminal developers/operators have done — Port Dolphin, which is a unit of Norway’s Hoegh LNG AS, still wants to make a go of importing LNG. It told FERC the project could even regasify domestically sourced LNG from the Gulf of Mexico, for instance.

Translation: Continue reading Port Dolphin LNG import to Florida from Louisiana and Texas? →

Sinkholes and compressor hazardous waste: motion to intervene against Sabal Trail –GCCC

Compressor, Dougherty County, Environment, FERC, Georgia, Law, Water, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sinkholes opening under the Flint or Chattahoochee Rivers, more hazardous waste from the proposed Albany, Georgia compressor station, these are a few of the things the Georgia Climate Change Coalition moved to intervene to prevent Sabal Trail Transmission from doing wiht its proposed pipeline.

It is highly likely that this pipeline would suffer from malfunction and damage, as the region it would cross is typically prone to the spontaneous opening of sink holes, such that would cause an infrastructure project of this type to fail….

The construction and operation of the compressor facility in Albany Georgia would contribute to the hazardous waste produced by Georgia’s existing electricity infrastructure.

Here’s how to file a motion to intervene with FERC.

GCCC filed with FERC 26 December 2014 as Accession Number: 20141226-5005, “(doc-less) Motion to Intervene of Georgia Climate Change Coalition under CP15-17, et. al..”

Submission Description: (doc-less) Motion to Intervene of Georgia Climate Change Coalition under CP15-17-000, et. al..

Submission Date: 12/24/2014 10:56:07 PM

Filed Date: 12/26/2014 8:30:00 AM

Dockets
CP15-17-000 Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC submits its Abbreviated Application for Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity and Related Authorizations for the Sabal Trail Project – Volumes I, III, and IV. CP15-16-000 Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC submits an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for its Hillabee Expansion Project CP14-554-000 Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and for Related Authorizations of Florida Southeast Connection, LLC under CP14-

Filing Party/Contacts: Filing Party, Signer (Representative), Other Contact (Principal)
Georgia Climate Change Coalition athenscompost@gmail.com

Basis for Intervening:

The Georgia Climate Change Coalition seeks to intervene in the permitting process of the Sabal Trail Transmissions natural gas pipeline because of many obvious threats the construction poses to our natural environment in Georgia, and in other states as well. In Georgia the Sabal Trail pipeline would cross both the Flint and the Chattahoochee Rivers, and their watersheds. The Flint river is the most endangered river in Georgia. Construction of the pipeline would greatly disturb these water systems. Both these river systems provides drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people as well as providing wildlife habitat.

It is highly likely that this pipeline would suffer from malfunction and damage, as the region it would cross is typically prone to the spontaneous opening of sink holes, such that would cause an infrastructure project of this type to fail. The region is known as the Karst limestone aquatic system, and the aquifer would be polluted by a natural gas spill from this pipeline.

Another pressing concern of the Georgia Climate Change Coalition regards the proposed compressor station in Albany Georgia. As a statewide coalition we are concerned with the effects of climate change and pollution on Georgia as a whole. We are most concerned by the fact that the facility would operate on electricity generated by Georgia’s coal-fired power grid. Georgia is home to the dirtiest coal fired power plants in our nation, and is among the ten dirtiest places in the world due to the particulate ash and water pollution generated by our coal fired power plants. The construction and operation of the compressor facility in Albany Georgia would contribute to the hazardous waste produced by Georgia’s existing electricity infrastructure.

-jsq

Beware pipeline trespassers during holidays

FERC, Law, New York, , , , , , , , , ,

Lock your gates and call the sheriff and a lawyer if you see any signs of pipeline trespass, and complain to the state Attorney General, advises someone dealing with Williams’ Constitution Pipeline, and since Sabal Trail has already had a criminal trespass trial, we can’t expect them to be any better. Just because you’re on holiday the rest of this week, don’t assume the pipeline company is. And you’ll probably need an attorney for those eminent domain lawsuits if Sabal Trail gets a FERC permit, so file your motion to intervene or ecomment today.

Chip Northrup wrote for No Fracking Way, Pipeline Threatens Then Trespasses, Continue reading Beware pipeline trespassers during holidays →

SpectraBusters moves to intervene on Sabal Trail et al.

Economy, Environment, FERC, Georgia, Hazards, History, Law, LNG, Safety, Water, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No domestic need for the fracked methane, which Spectra Energy’s CEO has said it wants to export; no insurance despite Spectra’s track record of safety violations; environmental destruction of water and soil: for these and other reasons SpectraBusters, Inc. has filed a motion to intervene with all three parts of the fracked methane pipeline project including Sabal Trail, using a form of filing that other groups could copy.

300x222 All three dockets selected, in How to intervene, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 17 December 2014 How can eminent domain be conferred on Sabal Trail, where there is no benefit to the public, there is zero provision for disaster accountability, and no real attempt at a real environmental impact study? Along with the EPA, a taxpayer funded agency, we’d like answers to these questions that we have posed to FERC for the past year.

Here’s how you or your organization can file a motion to intervene.

Filed with FERC 24 December 2014 as Accession Number: 20141224-5069, “Motion to Intervene of SpectraBusters, Inc. under CP15-17, et. al..” Continue reading SpectraBusters moves to intervene on Sabal Trail et al. →

Albany, MGAG, and Brooks County, GA moved to intervene with Sabal Trail

Brooks County, Dougherty County, FERC, Georgia, Law, , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday’s crop of intervenors included Brooks County, Georgia, Albany Audubon Society, and Albany, Georgia, the county seat of Dougherty County, which filed the previous day, Today’s the deadline! Here’s how to file a motion to intervene.

Plus yesterday the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia (MGAG) filed. MGAG is the customer Sabal Trail claimed in Georgia so it could try to exercise Georgia eminent domain. Sabal Trail said Dougherty and Colquitt were the counties despite both Dougherty County and Albany having already passed resolutions wanting no Sabal Trail in their city, county, or state, Colquitt County having passed a resolution against the pipeline, and the Mayor of Moultrie saying on WCTV that Moultrie had never been asked if they needed or wanted any gas.

Maybe today we’ll see motions to intervene by Lowndes County and Valdosta, both of which have passed resolutions against the pipeline.

That Brooks County motion is hard to find, being filed as Continue reading Albany, MGAG, and Brooks County, GA moved to intervene with Sabal Trail →

Constitution Pipeline files eminent domain lawsuits

Compressor, FERC, Law, New York, Pennsylvania, , , , , , , , , , ,

Landowners in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida will get sued for eminent domain if we let the Sabal Trail pipeline get approved by FERC like FERC just approved the Constitution pipeline. Tomorrow is the deadline to file a motion to intervene against the Sabal Trail pipeline. That’s not the only thing that needs doing, but you can do it right now.

On 2 December 2014 FERC approved Williams Company’s Constutiontion Pipeline through Pennsylvania and New York, and a compressor station. (Joe Mahoney, Daily Star, 3 December 2014.

Julia Reischel, Watershed Post, 22 December 2014, Constitution Pipeline files 55 eminent domain lawsuits against Catskills landowners,

Since Dec. 12, the Constitution Pipeline has filed formal eminent domain proceedings against 55 landowners along the pipeline’s proposed 124-mile route through Schoharie, Delaware and Chenango counties, federal court records show.

The pipeline, which received conditional approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Dec. 2, has wasted no time Continue reading Constitution Pipeline files eminent domain lawsuits →

A flood of motions to intervene filed: still two days to go to Sabal Trail deadline

Alabama, Dougherty County, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Law, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The trickle turns to a flood of motions to intervene being filed for the FERC dockets of Sabal Trail, Transco’s Hillabee Expansion Project, and Florida Southeast Connection. Two elected county governments have filed, one of them in all three dockets. Other counties and cities and even states can dod the same.

Be sure to file in all three dockets: CP15-17, CP15-16, and CP14-554. It’s not enough to list them in your filing documents or description: you must file them on each docket. If you don’t find your filing in FERC’s docket search for each of the three dockets, you need to go back and file again in the other dockets. Here’s how to file for multiple dockets in a single Continue reading A flood of motions to intervene filed: still two days to go to Sabal Trail deadline →

Nonami Oglethorpe moves to intervene on Sabal Trail et al.

FERC, Georgia, Law, Water, , , , , , , , , ,

Ted Turner’s Nonami plantation near Albany, Georgia has filed a motion to intervene with all three parts of the fracked methane pipeline project including Sabal Trail, using a form of filing that other groups could copy.

Intervenor is a landowner with land laying both within the proposed right-of-way corridor for the Sabal pipeline and within very close proximity to one of Sabal’s proposed compressor stations, thus exposing its property to condemnation and deleterious effects associated with the construction and operation of a natural gas transmission pipeline and deleterious effects of a compressor station.

Filed with FERC 22 December 2014 as Accession Number: 20141222-5003, “Motion to Intervene of Nonami Oglethorpe, LLC under CP15-17.” Continue reading Nonami Oglethorpe moves to intervene on Sabal Trail et al. →