FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Valdosta, 23 March 2014 — All
of south Georgia and north Florida drinks out of the
Floridan Aquifer, where the FERC Scoping meetings and a
SpectraBusters community panel meet this week about Sabal
Trail’s attempt to take our lands to gouge a 100-foot
right of way for a 36-inch methane pipeline through our
fragile karst limestone, risking turning our springs into
sinkholes.
Florida newspaper reporters are not buying the pipeline company’s spin. Instead they write about the fragile limestone that holds our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer, damage to which can easily turn a spring into a sinkhole. Wednesday, the Orlando Sentinel about Spectra’s safety record, and today Morgan Watkins wrote for the Gainesville Sun, Expert: Pipeline would cross Santa Fe at the worst spot,
Standing along the bank of the Santa Fe River near the riverside house in southern Suwannee County his family has owned since 1967, Kevin Brown pointed to the spot where a natural gas pipeline is expected to cross underneath the ground.
But Brown’s brother David, a geologist, and other concerned folks hope to persuade the company leading the project to select what they consider a safer crossing point….
The river and the surrounding area is pockmarked with springs and sinkholes. Exposed limestone — a crumbly, fractured rock — Continue reading Sabal Trail at worst spot –expert in Gainesville Sun
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Valdosta, 16 March 2014 —
Florida forms the field for the pipeline fight this week, at
a Suwannee County Commissioners meeting and three FERC
Scoping Meetings. Plus later a SpectraBusters panel on the
issues.
The Congress member for all of the north Florida path of the proposed Sabal Trail methane pipeline invites you to a Town Hall in Ocala Monday.
On Ted Yoho’s facebook page, this event:
Ocala Town Hall
Hosted by Congressman Ted Yoho
6:30-7:30pm Monday 17 March 2014
3733 SW 80th Avenue, Ocala, FLCome join me for a Town Hall meeting on Monday, March 17th at Westport High School. I’ll be there to give an update on what is happening in Washington as well as answer any questions or concerns. Doors open at 6:00 pm. Hope to see you there!
Florida’s Third Congressional District includes part or all of all of the north Florida counties on the pipeline path: Madison County, Hamilton County, Columbia County, Suwannee County, Gilchrist County, Alachua County, Levy County, and Marion County.
Continue reading Ted Yoho (FL-03) Town Hall in Ocala, FL tomorrow 17 March 2014Mighty Spectra stopped from drilling for now by local opposition in Suwannee and Gilchrist Counties, Florida! Why were they preparing to drill anyway, when they don’t have a permit, and haven’t even started the formal permitting process with FERC to get it? Why have they also been reported going on property without permission this week in Georgia?
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, president of Our Santa Fe River (OSFR), reports:
Sabal has started to stake the ground as to where to put what is called a drilling station. There are plans to put one station in Gilchrist and one in Suwannee. They intend to dig a tunnel under the river bed by directional bore drilling to connect the 2 sites. There have been NO permits issued for any of this; experts have not had time to review all the pertinent information on historical resources, biology, geology, etc… Residents in Gilchrist have not even signed papers allowing them access to their land for surveying purposes and now they are staking for core drilling samples!
Sabal is presently staking Gilchrist Cypress Shores property and plans to drill for core material so that they understand what is under the ground when they plan to bring in the heavy drilling equipment (years from now). Cart before the horse. The FERC has not even decided this is the route. We have important information that shows this is a Springs system and should not be put here and will present at scoping meetings.
Deborah Hogan called me last night to tell me Sabal will “stand down” till they have more information in the Suwannee County side. Sabal believes they are in the clear to do bore hole samples for directional drilling to put a drilling platform that will go under the River and connect to other side.
Sabal has no need to do these core samples now. to find their site location. There has been no approval of this route. The Environmental Impact Study EIS, has not been completed. The scoping meetings have not been done.
OSFR has also contacted Suwannee River Water Management District and Gilchrist County Administrator, Bobby Crosby, to stop the Gilchrist core sampling.
OSFR has called the following people for more info and to get them to stop.
Deborah Hogan, Sabal survey representative, 1-305-433-1700
and
John Peconom, FERC, 1-202-502-6352
Merrillee adds:
Environmental lawyer that represents IREPA, Christopher Byrd, also takes credit for stopping Sabal for the moment.
Maybe people would like to mention this at the Suwannee County Commission meeting 6PM Tuesday 18 March 2014. The FERC Scoping Meetings go to Florida that same day, starting in Lake Wales and heading up to north Florida the following week. And you can file ecomments with FERC at any time.
-jsq
Seen on
Our Santa Fe River
and
Ichetucknee Alliance
facebook pages today.
Spectra Energy also proposed the Sabal Trail methane pipeline
to go under the Withlacoochee River a second time
just before it goes under the Suwannee River to enter Suwannee County.
Why not just cross the Suwannee upstream of Ellaville where
the Withlacoochee meets the Suwannee?
Because that’s where
Stephen Foster Folk Culture State Park is.
Maybe the Withlacoochee, Suwannee, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers are
also important to the culture of the entire area.
Gas Pipeline Alert:Tuesday, March 18th, 6 pm, Suwannee County BOCC
North Central Florida, here is the next public meeting about Sabal’s gas highway in Suwannee County, cutting under a Springshed in the Santa Fe River, about 1/2 mile from the confluence of the Ichetucknee River.
Speak to Board about your concerns with a gas highway through Suwannee County and the Santa Fe River, near the Ichetucknee River (.66 miles away from the confluence). Fill out a card to speak when you arrive. You will have 3 minutes to address the Board. read more here: http://www.suwanneedemocrat.com/suwannee/x787212730/Suwannee-County-Commission-meeting-agenda-for-March-18-2014
SUWANNEE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
JUDICIAL ANNEX BUILDING
218 PARSHLEY STREET SOUTHWEST
LIVE OAK, FLORIDA 32064
TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR March 18, 2014, 6:00 P.M.
“14. Discuss Sabal Trail gas line. (David Hanna) 5 minutes”
See also:
And the FERC Scoping Meetings move to south Central Florida that same day, Continue reading Suwannee County Gas Pipeline Alert
Merrillee did it, and so can you: write a letter to your local newspaper,
or to a state or national one, for that matter.
In the Suwannee Democrat Thursday and a longer version in the Gainesville Sun today, Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson: Natural gas highway proposed in the springs heartland -jsq.
The springs have been taking a beating in our recent history and now
they are poised to brace for another blow. Spectra Energy Corp. and NextEra Energy Inc. have teamed up to build a $3 billion gas highway that will connect an Alabama natural gas bulk transfer station, cut through Georgia and bisect Florida’s springs heartland.
It would extend down to Orlando, where the gas will be dispersed into two more pipelines, ultimately benefiting Florida Power and Light. The two corporations have created Sabal Trails LLC for the surveying and construction team. Spectra Energy Corp. constructs pipelines and created Sabal Trails to get the job done, while
Florida Power and Light wants the gas and is a subsidiary of the electricity supplier NextEra Energy Inc.
The Florida citing commission has ruled to allow NextEra and Spectra the right to survey and build another gas transmission pipeline through Florida’s vulnerable landscape. Land impacts will be plentiful; protected animal and plant species will have to suffer Continue reading Natural gas highway proposed in the springs heartland –Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson
One Florida county is taking the Sabal Trail pipeline proposal seriously, maybe because there are no fewer than three paths for the pipeline into Gilchrist County, Florida, all three crossing the Santa Fe River, and one first crossing the Ichetucknee River.
In his article about Glynn Bryan, Terry Witt wrote for Levy County Journal (undated), Bronson Area Property Owner Says Gas Pipeline Just an Atom Bomb,
Gilchrist County Administrator Bobby Crosby said the Gilchrist County Commission is planning for a February public meeting with Sabal Trail officials to answer questions about the pipeline.
Crosby said there are two proposed routes through Gilchrist County and rumors of a third route. He said he has been unable to get answers from Sabal Trail officials, but they are willing to answer questions from the public at the meeting.
“We’re kind of in the dark,” he said. “There’s nothing definite. I can’t get an answer from Sabal Trail.”
Sabal Trail’s preferred route has nine detail maps for Gilchrist County: crossing the Santa Fe River to enter the county, Duck Pond, Bell Quad, Cow Creek, Ginnie Spring, Neals, Waters Lake Quad, Union Church, and Newbury SW Quad, where it crosses into Alachua County.
Plus Sabal Trail’s alternate route maps include
Gilchrist Westerly Deviation and
Ichetucknee River Deviation: Continue reading Gilchrist County to hold pipeline meeting in February
Spectra proposes
five compressor stations along its Sabal Trail Transmission
gas pipe:
Alexander in Tallapoosa County, AL,
Albany in Dougherty County, GA,
Hildreth in Suwannee County, FL,
Dunnellon in Marion County, FL,
and
Reunion in Osceola County, FL.
Why should we expect them to be any safer than
the ones in Maine or Pennsylvania?
Spectra’s Sabal Trail pipeline wants to cross either the Ichetucknee River
or the Santa Fe River in Florida, and a landowners association where
those two rivers meet doesn’t want that.
Morgan Watkins wrote for Gainesville.com 24 October 2013, Contracts for natural gas pipeline through Florida get initial OK,
Marshall, a retired police officer, is worried about the impact on local wildlife as well as on the community as a whole.
“When I retired, I wanted to go Continue reading Ichetucknee River Estates Landowners Association against the Sabal Trail pipeline