This weekend’s boat outing is cancelled due to flood-stage water levels in the Withlacoochee River, with more rain expected Friday. To be rescheduled.
Continue reading Cancelled due to high water: Paddle Against the Pipeline 19 April 2014Category Archives: Lowndes County
Sabal Trail will be expected to adhere and honor all Lowndes County Ordinances –Bill E Slaughter, JR to FERC
Filed with FERC
11 April 2014.
These are apparently
the items he referred to Saturday 29 March 2014
at the SpectraBusters panel at VSU. There’s
much more that can be done but this is a good step forward. -jsq
Bill E Slaughter, JR, Hahira, GA.
April 10, 2014To whom it may concern:
If the route for the proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline comes through any part of Lowndes County as Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission and on the behalf of the Commission and Citizens of Lowndes County I would like to address several concerns we have with the Sabal Trail Pipeline Docket # P14-1-000.
- All road crossings must obtain a Lowndes County R/W Encroachment Permit for each crossing which will include all information required by the Lowndes County Engineer.
- All road crossings shall be perpendicular to the R/W.
- All road crossings shall be Continue reading Sabal Trail will be expected to adhere and honor all Lowndes County Ordinances –Bill E Slaughter, JR to FERC
Does FERC ever question the honesty and integrity of companies such as Sabal? –Sandra Slack
Filed with FERC 11 April 2014. -jsq
When this project process first began, Florida newspapers, such as the ones in Martin County, Gainesville, Ocala, and others, ran the story with a map of the proposed pipeline, from FPL, plainly showing the route running from Alabama straight to Florida completely bypassing Georgia. The now “preferred” route runs approximately 156 miles, or more through Georgia. Sabal has not been forthcoming, even in their Resource Report 10, as to the reason for the change. Has there been any encouragement from any
governmental entity, State or Federal, for Sabal to reroute this pipeline through the state of Georgia? If yes, which entity and why? If no, why did FERC allow Sabal to change routes? Cost would be an invalid answer.
In August and September of 2013, landowners who previously had not agreed to allow Sabal personnel onto their property began receiving letters first from Sabal and then from the law firm of Hunton & Williams of Atlanta, Ga., on behalf of Sabal, using intimidating and Continue reading Does FERC ever question the honesty and integrity of companies such as Sabal? –Sandra Slack
Floridian LNG Export approved last November, before Sabal Trail Open Houses or FERC Scoping Meetings
On 14 November 2013 the U.S. DoE’s Office of Fossil Energy
approved LNG export authority for a company located
next to the end of the Transco-Sabal Trail-FSC pipeline
in Martin County, Florida,
right where FPL is already building another pipeline to the sea.
All the time since then Spectra and FERC have been saying the Sabal Trail
pipeline is not for export.
FERC’s whole rationale
for federal eminent domain
for this pipeline is that Florida needs the power.
If the methane is really for export,
what excuse is there for federal eminent domain?
The order’s cover page says:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY
ADVANCED ENERGY SOLUTIONS. LLC ) FE DOCKET NO. I3~104-LNG
ORDER GRANTING LONG-TERM MULTI-CONTRACT
AUTHORIZATION TO EXPORT LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS
IN ISO CONTAINERS LOADED AT THE
FLORIDIAN FACILITY IN MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA,
AND EXPORTED VIA OCEAN-GOING VESSEL
TO FREE TRADE AGREEMENT NATIONS
IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
DOE/FE ORDER NO. 3360
NOVEMBER 14, 2013
Friday 15 November 2013, the next day after that LNG authorization, Continue reading Floridian LNG Export approved last November, before Sabal Trail Open Houses or FERC Scoping Meetings
Cancelled! Paddle Against the Pipeline on the Withlacoochee River
Update 9PM 16 April 2014: Cancelled due to flood-stage water levels in the Withlacoochee River, with more rain expected Friday. To be rescheduled.
7:30 AM Saturday 19 April 2014 on the Withlacoochee River
between Valdosta and Quitman,
put in at Old Quitman Road
on the Brooks County side (just south of US 84):
Paddle past where the proposed Sabal Trail methane pipeline
would cross the Withlacoochee River, digging into our fragile
karst limesone, above our drinking-water Floridan Aquifer.
This is a joint event of Continue reading Cancelled! Paddle Against the Pipeline on the Withlacoochee River
Panel Discussion, Sabal Trail Pipeline, Valdosta State University
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Valdosta, 28 March 2014 — Come
to the SpectraBusters community panel about the Sabal Trail
methane Pipeline Saturday at Valdosta State University, to
learn how the pipeline could affect you, your property, and
our community. Discussion will be followed by a question and
answer session, in this free event, to which elected and
appointed officials and candidates and the public are
invited.
| Saturday 29 March 2014 3PM to 5PM Lowndes County Georgia |
SpectraBusters
Community Panel Student Union Theater Valdosta State University 1500 N. Patterson Street Valdosta, GA 31698 (229) 333-5800 |
No Pipeline in our Aquifer in north Florida and south Georgia
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.
Corporate power comes home –Jim Parker
Letter to the Editor in the Valdosta Daily Times yesterday. -jsq
How is it that one foreign corporation, that has just come into existence to do this project, can have greater power than all of the thousands of citizens affected, and their elected governments?
No, I’m not talking about the Keystone XL pipeline, but he issues are the same. This one wants to run a 36-inch gas pipeline through a number of states and counties, including Lowndes, affecting thousands of landowners. It’s known as Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC, and is the unholy offspring of Spectra Energy Corp. and NextEra Energy.
How can one foreign corporation (they’re from out of state), have so much power vis-avis the thousands of landowners and citizens of Lowndes County, that the citizens must give up Continue reading Corporate power comes home –Jim Parker
Orders Denying Certificates
Given months to find them, all FERC could come up with for orders denying certificates was for two liquid natural gas (LNG) facilities. Each did have an associated pipeline request, but neither was for a stand-alone pipeline application. I do thank John Peconom and Kevin Bowman for providing these documents. However, really, is this all there is?
I asked John Peconom of FERC for a list of denied pipeline
applications at the
Moultrie makeup Sabal Trail Open House 27 January 2014,
and again after the
Valdosta FERC Scoping Meeting 4 March 2014,
and each time Peconom said he would get me a list,
including the actual orders denying some pipelines.
At the
Moultrie FERC Scoping Meeting 5 March 2014,
I pointed out to the hundred-or-so attendees that
I still hadn’t gotten a list.
After the Moultrie meeting, Kevin Bowman of FERC gave me a slip of paper with this written on it:
Turtle Bayou Gas
CP10-481-000
June 2011
See separate post.
Then John Peconom of FERC sent me an email message with these two links in it: Continue reading Orders Denying Certificates
Tackle the Pipeline at the Root: Alabama FERC Scoping Meetings
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Valdosta, 8 March 2014 —
SpectraBusters invites everyone to tackle the pipeline at
its root this coming week in Seale, Alexander City, or
Butler, at your only chances in Alabama to testify in front
of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about the
fracked methane pipelines proposed by Williams Transco,
Spectra Energy, and FPL. Plus later a SpectraBusters panel
on the issues.
FERC Scoping Meetings:
This week’s calendar:
SpectraBusters Panel:
In Conjunction with:
FERC Scoping Meetings:
| 5PM Sabal Trail discussion | Pipeline representatives will be present. |
| 6PM FERC
presentation
about the process | Docket number PF14-6: Hillabee Expansion Project Docket number PF14-1: Sabal Trail Transmission Docket number PF14-2: Florida Southeast Connection |
| Then citizens
can speak
at the podium | Have what you say transcribed by a court recorder for the Commission’s administrative record. |
This week’s calendar:
| Monday, March 10, 2014 Russell County PF14-1 Sabal Trail West Georgians can cross the Chattahoochee River |
Russell County
High School 4716 Old Seale Highway Seale, AL 36875 (334) 855-4378 |
| Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Tallapoosa County Where PF14-6 and PF14-1 connect plus a compressor station | 
Central Alabama
Community College Betty Carol Graham Technology Center 1675 Cherokee Road Alexander City, AL 35010 (256) 234-6346 |
| Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Choctaw County PF14-6 Hillabee Expansion Project begins at Transco Station 85 plus a compressor station |
Butler Civic
Center 108 North Academy Avenue Butler, AL 36904 (205) 459-3795 next to Mississippi |
Or e-mail to
efiling@ferc.gov or file online with FERC:
https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx 
Or call 202-502-8258, or mail written comments to:
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary;
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
888 First St. N.E. Room 1A;
Washington, D.C. 20426.
Use Docket number PF14-1 for Sabal Trail
Transmission,
or PF14-6 for Hillabee Expansion
Project.
See calendar for Georgia
last week and Florida the following two weeks:
http://spectrabusters.org/calendar/
SpectraBusters Panel:
There’s more to be done so there’s another meeting later…
| 3PM Saturday 29 March 2014 Lowndes County, GA | SpectraBusters
Panel Pipeline? No! |
Elected officials and candidates for public
office are invited to a SpectraBusters panel discussion in
Lowndes County, Georgia. Topics will include potential
pipeline routes, property rights (eminent domain, property
values), water issues (aquifer, sinkholes, springs), whether
Florida even needs more power, better power sources (solar,
wind, conservation, and efficiency), noise, health, and
hazards. SpectraBusters and allies
from all states are
invited, and are encouraged to hold panels elsewhere.
Sabal Trail, Spectra, FPL, Williams, and Duke: we
don’t come to your internal company meetings, and
you’ll hear from us at the Scoping
Meetings.
Why: Spectra Energy, which had compressor station leaks in Maine in January and in Pennsylvania last year, plus multiple fines by Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for corrosion and leaks, and a record $15 million EPA fine for PCB contamination, proposes a hundred-foot-wide gash through our lands for their huge 36 inch Sabal Trail gas pipeline from Alabama through Georgia to feed Florida Power and Light (FPL) and Duke Energy for no benefit to local citizens and rate hikes for FPL customers. A one-time payment is not enough for decreased property values, permanent destruction, and hazards of leaks and explosions, when FPL and Spectra and Duke would profit forever. The gas comes from fracking in Pennsylvania and Texas, destroying watersheds, farmlands, and drinking water. Conservation, efficiency, and solar power are cheaper and bring jobs and energy here where we need them.
In Conjunction with:
Environmental
Awareness Organization of Auburn University (EAOAU).
https://auburn.collegiatelink.net/organization/eao
Greenlaw protects
clean air and water.
http://greenlaw.org/
New York Climate Action Group (NYCAG) the Spectra struggle (and Williams Transco Rockaway Lateral Pipeline in the Rockaways of Queens, NY and the LNG port resistance in Long Beach, NY).
Occupy the Pipeline, who
fought the NYC extension on the Spectra Pipeline.
http://occupythepipeline.blogspot.com
Our Santa Fe River,
protecting our most vital and vulnerable natural
resource…water.
http://www.oursantaferiver.org/wp/
Sane Energy Project: to
fight fossil fuel and nuclear infrastructure, and encourage
renewable infrastructure.
http://www.SaneEnergyProject.org
Shale Property Rights,
formerly Spectra Energy Watch.
http://www.shalepropertyrights.com/blog/
Sierra Club,
America’s largest and oldest grassroots environmental
group, exploring, enjoying, and protecting the environment
since 1892.
http://www.sierraclub.org
Stop the Pipeline: No
eminent domain, preserve local character and environment,
and pipelines == fracking.
http://www.StopThePipeline.org
Students Against Violating
the Environment (S.A.V.E.) Valdosta State U.
http://ww2.valdosta.edu/vsu/stuorg/save/
Wiregrass Activists for Clean
Energy (WACE): clean and sustainable energy sources.
http://www.wiregrass-ace.org/
WWALS Watershed
Coalition, Willacoochee, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and
Little River Systems in south Georgia and north Florida.
http://www.wwals.net/
SpectraBusters: We
ain’t afraid a no pipeline!
Landowners and others opposed to the Sabal Trail gas
pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.
Contact:
spectrabusters@gmail.com
http://spectrabusters.org
www.facebook.com/spectrabusters
Garrett Kizer
Lee County, AL
850-420-3854
Danielle Jordan
Lowndes Co., GA
229-300-7422
Beth Gordon
Levy Co., FL
352-528-0111
###
See also these presentation materials.
And see also these previous meetings:
- Tackle the Pipeline at the Root: Alabama FERC Scoping Meetings; Seale, Alexander City, or Butler Alabama, 10,11,12 March 2014.
- Videos: Moultrie FERC Scoping Meeting @ FERC 2014-03-05
- Colquitt County passes pipeline minimum depth resolution
- Videos: Valdosta FERC Scoping Meeting @ FERC 2014-03-04
- VDT redacted Sabal Trail pipeline FERC Scoping Meeting story @ FERC 2014-03-04
- A hundred against the Sabal Trail pipeline in Albany
- Sabal Trail same old at Albany FERC Scoping Meeting
- Videos of: Sabal Trail interrogated in Gilchrist County, Florida @ GCC 2014-02-20