Category Archives: Georgia

Sabal Trail pipeline hearing in Leesburg, GA and WALB TV

Environment, Georgia, Hazards, Law, Lee County, , , , , , , , , , ,

Spectra’s squad of seven left Leesburg unsatisfied. The Bell family agreed to let pipeline surveyors on their land, with strict conditions, but there was no agreement on eminent domain, and Spectra will have to come back for a jury trial about trespass in Lee County, Georgia. The judge, perhaps emboldened by the fourteen protesters, some of whom drove as much as 9 hours to get there, refused to even call the surveying agreement a consent order; it will be a consent agreement. So Spectra’s Andrea Grover got nothing they can use against other landowners.

The above is some of what I saw at the Leesburg, GA courthouse yesterday. Wright Gazaway was there for WALB TV, with a letter from the judge permitting videoing in the courtroom; he reported yesterday, Lee County residents protest pipeline, Continue reading Sabal Trail pipeline hearing in Leesburg, GA and WALB TV →

Pipeline opponents converge on Leesburg, GA to help landowners countersue

British Columbia, Canada, Florida, Georgia, Hendry County, Law, Lee County, LNG, McDuffie County, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Landowners countersue fracked methane pipeline company; supporters converge on Leesburg, GA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Valdosta, July 8th 2014 — As far as 400 miles from Hendry County, Florida, people converge Thursday to support landowners in Lee County, Georgia as they countersue Sabal Trail Transmission about surveying without permission for a huge 36-inch fracked methane pipeline on a hundred-foot right of way.

Watershed groups including WWALS watershed coalition and Our Santa Fe River will be there, representing all the major tributaries of the Suwannee River, in this peaceful assembly to oppose the pipeline. Continue reading Pipeline opponents converge on Leesburg, GA to help landowners countersue →

Elba Island, GA LNG export

Chatham County, Effingham County, FERC, Georgia, LNG, , , , , , , , , , ,

In case you thought LNG export was only for Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Massachusetts, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, the fossil fuel companies want to push fracked methane out through Georgia, too. KinderMorgan’s Elba Island LNG export terminal, with its north-to-south Elba Island Express pipeline project, is already in the formal permitting process at FERC. And it could easily interconnect with Sabal Trail to get its fracked methane.

KinderMorgan’s Elba Liquefaction Project & EEC Modification Project, announced by Shell 28 January 2013, Shell and Kinder Morgan announce plans to export LNG from the United States, by El Paso Pipeline Partners LP, picked up by Alison Sider in the WSJ 19 December 2013, El Paso, Shell Unit Will Expand Elba Island LNG Project: $500 Million Expansion to Export More Gas from Terminal Near Savannah, Ga, and written up by Mary Landers for Savannahnow.com 14 March 2014, LNG export project moves forward,

Plans continue for $1.5 billion-worth of development at Elba Island to allow the liquefied natural gas import facility to reverse its processes and export the fuel. Southern LNG and Elba Liquefaction Co. filed a formal application for the project with federal regulators earlier this week.

The facility currently Continue reading Elba Island, GA LNG export →

Sustainable Spectra? Like healthy cigarettes?

Colquitt County, Economy, Environment, Ethics, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Hazards, Lowndes County, Marion County, Solar, Trees, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What company prints its sustainability report on wind-powered paper, yet pipes a greenhouse gas 20 times worse than CO2? Yep, it’s Spectra Energy, also bragging about how respectful they are to Sabal Trail “stakeholders”. Selling fracked methane through a 36-inch pipe in a hundred-foot gash through forests and wetlands with a thousand-foot explosive radius is like selling cigarettes and claiming you’re for good health. Tobacco companies can’t get away with that any more, and why should fossil fuel companies?

On the very last page of a 16-page report, 2013 Sustainability Highlights Report, Spectra Energy says:

This paper is manufactured using clean, renewable wind-power energy and carbon offsets for additional savings.

That’s the only mention of wind or renewable energy in the document, while solar power is not mentioned even once.

And look at Spectra’s Purpose on page 2: Continue reading Sustainable Spectra? Like healthy cigarettes? →

WALB in Albany, GA notices New England Spectra pipeline plans

Dougherty County, FERC, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nova Scotia, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Spectra is haunting New England and the Canadian Maritimes, as well as the U.S. southeast, seeking every market for its fracked methane pipelines, sliming lands along the way. Local media are starting to pay attention to the big picture, not just the local hauntings, such as Spectra’s proposed Sabal Trail Transmission 36-inch 100-foot right of way gash through the southeast. Spectra didn’t say, but those markets could include LNG export from Excelerate Energy’s Northeast Gateway in Massachusetts Bay or the proposed Goldboro LNG export terminal in Nova Scotia. If LNG export happens, the price of “natural” gas in the U.S. and Canada will go up.

WALB TV in Albany, GA ran this PR from Spectra Energy 1 July 2014, Spectra Energy Announces Plans to Further Expand New England Pipeline Systems; Continue reading WALB in Albany, GA notices New England Spectra pipeline plans →

Peaceful Assembly at Pipeline Trial, Leesburg, GA, July 10th 2014

Georgia, Law, Lee County, PR, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A landowner is suing Sabal Trail Transmission for going on their land after being told not to. It’s a public hearing, so interested parties can come from anywhere to attend in a peaceful, lawful assembly.

Update 2014-07-08: See press release.

If the place or date gets changed, everyone is invited to come anyway. , PDF 

Date:Thursday 10 July 2014
Times:10AM assemble outside
11AM hearing inside
Where:  Lee County Courthouse
100 Leslie Highway
Leesburg, Georgia 31763
Case:Sabal Trail Transmission v. James E. Bell II and Robert Bell
Case number 14CV208RS
What:Alabamians, Georgians, Floridians, and everyone opposed to this unnecessary fracked methane pipeline, here is an opportunity to show you don’t want this hazardous destruction of the environment and property rights so a few companies can profit at everyone else’s expense.

You can also do some of these other things: Continue reading Peaceful Assembly at Pipeline Trial, Leesburg, GA, July 10th 2014 →

See the FERC rubberstamp machine in action

Agriculture, Colquitt County, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Hazards, Law, LNG, Lowndes County, Trees, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

You’ve heard the song, now see the FERC rubberstamp machine in action in videos of Sabal Trail interrogated in Gilchrist County, Florida @ GCC 2014-02-20, of the Valdosta FERC Scoping Meeting @ FERC 2014-03-04, and of the Moultrie FERC Scoping Meeting @ FERC 2014-03-05. See FERC refuse to release a tax-paid RFP and tax-paid-staff-reviewed proposals for an environmental contractor, and then see that very same contractor admit that the Sabal Trail pipeline would take twice the acreage to produce as much power as solar PV, while FERC refuses to consider that the pipeline would be far more environmentally damaging, more expensive, and would take much longer.

Nevermind landowners get only a one-time payment from the pipeline company, not rent and FERC has no Continue reading See the FERC rubberstamp machine in action →

20 MW Solar at Hazlehurst, GA by Silicon Ranch for Green Power EMC

Georgia, Jeff Davis, Solar, , , , , , ,

After the 30+ MW solar farm in Social Circle, Walton County, GA for Georgia Power, another 20 MW one near Hazelhurst, Jeff Davis County, GA for Green Power EMC. Do this every month and Georgia will start to catch up with other states such as New Jersey. Somebody tell FERC solar is faster, cheaper, and far far cleaner than a dirty, dangerous, land-grabbing fracked methane pipeline.

PR 20 June 2014, Green Power EMC Project Boosts GA’s Supply of Solar Energy,

Green Power EMC, the renewable energy supplier for 38 Georgia Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs), has reached an agreement to purchase the full output of a new 20 megawatt (MW) solar project planned for construction in southeast Georgia.

The ground-mounted solar project will be constructed near Hazlehurst, Ga., in Jeff Davis County. It will be one of the largest solar generating facilities in Georgia. The solar array will occupy approximately 135 acres and will incorporate over 87,000 solar modules. Once completed, the solar array will generate more than 43,000 megawatt hours of clean, renewable electricity annually.

Under an agreement with owner-operator Silicon Ranch Corporation, Continue reading 20 MW Solar at Hazlehurst, GA by Silicon Ranch for Green Power EMC →

South Georgia pipeline trials

Georgia, Lee County, Stewart County, , , , , , , , , ,

11AM 10 July 2014, Leesburg, Georgia, according to the Clerk of Court in Lee County: Sabal Trail Transmission v. James E. Bell II and Robert Bell, Case number 14CV208RS. Others tell me the Bells are countersuing Sabal Trail for going on their property despite being told not to. Whatever is decided there will affect every other pipeline land access case. This is an opportunity for pipeline opponents from everywhere to help: show up at the hearing, write a letter of support for the Bells, maybe even file a legal brief, or demonstrate nearby.

There was another case Continue reading South Georgia pipeline trials →

FERC has to consider cumulative pipeline effects

Alabama, Environment, FERC, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, Law, LNG, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Solar, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Would this U.S. Court of Appeals ruling mean FERC needs to consider the cumulative effects of the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline on the same properties as the existing SONAT pipeline? And what about those LNG export authorizations FERC has repeatedly claimed it knows nothing about? And how can FERC justify that project at all, given that solar power is faster, cheaper, and far less environmentally damaging?

Katie Colaneri wrote for NPR 6 June 2014, Court rules federal regulators must consider cumulative impacts of pipeline project,

Regulators violated federal law by not considering the cumulative environmental impacts of multiple upgrades to a natural gas pipeline that runs from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, a federal appeals court said on Friday.

Three environmental groups argued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should not have been allowed to conduct an environmental review for one expansion project on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline without considering three other proposed upgrades on the same line.

The U.S. Court of Appeals agreed.

The judges ruled that FERC failed “to include any meaningful analysis of the cumulative impacts of the upgrade projects.” The judges also found Continue reading FERC has to consider cumulative pipeline effects →