Category Archives: Georgia

Georgia pipeline safety record worse than in Florida

Should we add to Georgia’s string of serious pipeline accidents (worse than Florida’s) by letting a pipeline company with fines for corrosion and leaks from PHMSA and a record fine for PCB spills from EPA gash an even bigger pipeline through our farms and past our towns, churches, and schools?

The data on Florida pipeline accidents in Ichetucknee Alliance’s position paper against the pipeline (the position that got Spectra’s Andrea Grover to say the “preferred” route had moved and “currently” there was no threat to the Ichetucknee River or Columbia County, Florida); that pipeline accident data came from Pipeline Safety Tracker, which finds an even worse pipeline safety record for Georgia: 89 incidents, 7 fatalities, 36 injuries, and $56.3 million in property damage.

Among those Georgia incidents was one near Albany, Georgia, 29 May 2004, caused by “Environmental Cracking Related” which caused $209,447 in property damage. That could be a concern about a proposed pipeline put in by a company whose employees told federal inspectors it never conducted key test for corrosion.

Even worse was this one, Continue reading Georgia pipeline safety record worse than in Florida

Help us save our land and our community –Elaine Mercer to FERC

Filed with FERC 22 November 2013:

Elaine Mercer, Valdosta, GA.

My husband and I are adamantly opposed to the pipeline which is proposed to run through our property for a variety of reasons including:

  1. Safety concerns-Spectra Energy has a very questionable safety record with a history of fines by the EPA for leaks and multiple explosions;
  2. We already have one gas pipeline on our property and believe that we should not be required to basically give up control of even more of our personal property for which we have worked hard to purchase and maintain for yet another pipeline which will further limit the use of our property;
  3. Our property value would be negatively affected by up 50%;
  4. Financial-a one time payment is nowhere near adequate for permanent damage, especially when FPL and Spectra would continue to profit forever;
  5. This pipeline would be of no benefit either to our local community or state.
Please help us save our land and our community by blocking this pipeline.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Elaine and Jerry Mercer

How to comment with FERC.

I am opposed to the pipeline on behalf of my neighbors –Lisa C. Eaton to FERC

Filed with FERC yesterday.

Lisa C. Eaton, Valdosta, GA.

I am a landowner and taxpayer in close proximity to where the Sabal Trail Pipeline (Docket PF-14-1) will be put in place. I am opposed to this pipeline going in near my neighborhood. I am opposed to the pipeline on behalf of my neighbors. I think that alternate routes are available that will not impact this area in Lowndes County, Georgia.

How to comment with FERC.

Profits out of a dying industry at the expense of the communities and people’s health and livelihoods –April Huntley to FERC

Filed with FERC yesterday:

April Huntley, Naylor, GA.

The proposed natural gas pipeline by Sabal Trails/Spectra Energy is not in the interest of United States citizens much less the states that it crosses—Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Natural gas and fossil fuel companies are trying to force profits out of a dying industry at the expense of the communities and people’s health and livelihoods in their wake. Fossil fuels are dirty and dangerous sources of energy that FERC should not approve new projects for. We need to conserve our land and water for all people, instead of destroying them for money and profits that cannot replace diminished life.

I ask that docket # PF14-1 not be approved. Please protect the rights of the landowners affected by this pipeline route. Nobody should be forced to have a pipeline as large as 36″ with an explosion radius of 600′ on their land. There are as many as 80 explosions a year from natural gas pipelines causing injury and death to those unfortunate enough to be in the path of one. Natural gas is not a safe alternative fuel as the industry tries to paint the picture. We need focus on renewable energies that are safe for humans and the environment. Exploitation of the environment for corporate profits needs to become a thing of the past!

How to comment with FERC.

Quad maps for entire proposed pipeline path by Sabal Trail

Funston gets two maps among many for Colquitt County among the 133 maps from the General Project Description in the 15 November 2013 update to FERC by Sabal Trail Transmission, all now on the SpectraBusters website.

Funston North, Colquitt County, Georgia, in General Project Description, by SpectraBusters, for FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, 15 November 2013, converted by SpectraBusters
Funston North, Colquitt County, Georgia, in General Project Description, by SpectraBusters, for FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, 15 November 2013, converted by SpectraBusters
SABAL TRAIL PROJECT, DRAFT RESOURCE REPORT 1, General Project Description, FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, Initial Pre-Filing Draft, November 2013
Continue reading Quad maps for entire proposed pipeline path by Sabal Trail

Detailed alternative route maps by Sabal Trail

Now on the SpectraBusters website: Albany Compressor Station, Dougherty County, Georgia, in Alternatives, by Sabal Trail Transmission, for FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, 15 November 2013, converted by SpectraBusters all the detailed quad maps from the Alternatives document in the 15 November 2013 filing with FERC by Sabal Trail.

One map has two different locations for the Albany Compressor Station: Continue reading Detailed alternative route maps by Sabal Trail

Georgia Hillabee (Tift County, Cook County, and Valdosta) route by Sabal Trail

Watch out, Valdosta and Tifton! The Hillabee Georgia alternative route avoids Albany and Russell County, Alabama, by starting in Harris County, Georgia, passing through Muscogee, Talbot, Chattachoochee, Marion, Schley, Sumter, Lee, Worth, Turner, Tift, Cook, and Lowndes Counties before entering Florida in Hamilton County much like Spectra’s preferred route. This is the rest of the Option B that was first proposed to Lowndes County residents back in June.

Hillabee (Valdosta and Tift County) Route Alternative, Georgia

Extracted from Sabal Trail’s one big PDF document, here is PDF and JPG of the Hillabee Georgia alternative route map.

Hillabee (Valdosta and Tift County) Route Alternative, Georgia
Hillabee (Valdosta and Tift County) Route Alternative, Georgia, in Alternatives, by Sabal Trail Transmission, for FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, 15 November 2013, converted by SpectraBusters
SABAL TRAIL PROJECT, DRAFT RESOURCE REPORT 10, Alternatives, FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, Initial Pre-Filing Draft, November 2013
http://spectrabusters.org/ferc/pf14-1-sabal-trail-transmission/update-2013-11-15/draft-resource-report-10-alternatives/

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Florida Panhandle route by Sabal Trail to FERC last Friday

The Florida Panhandle alternative route appears to cross several Georgia rivers by hugging the Georgia-Florida line to avoid the Apalachicola National Forest and the Lake Talquin State Forest in Florida. This looks like the route published in Florida newspapers back in June. It adds Choctaw, Clarke, Monroe, Conecuh, Covington, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, and Houston Counties in Alabama, and Jackson, Gadsden and Jefferson Counties in Florida.

Station 85 Panhandle Alternative, Florida

Extracted from Sabal Trail’s one big PDF document, here is PDF and JPG of the Florida panhandle alternative route map.

Station 85 Panhandle Alternative, Florida
Station 85 Panhandle Alternative, Florida, in Alternatives, by Sabal Trail Transmission, for FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, 15 November 2013, converted by SpectraBusters
SABAL TRAIL PROJECT, DRAFT RESOURCE REPORT 10, Alternatives, FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, Initial Pre-Filing Draft, November 2013
http://spectrabusters.org/ferc/pf14-1-sabal-trail-transmission/update-2013-11-15/draft-resource-report-10-alternatives/

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Alternative routes by Sabal Trail to FERC last Friday

Transportation System Alternatives, Alabama, Georgia, Florida Two, not one, alternative routes, one bypassing Georgia through the Florida Panhandle, and the other through Tift County, Cook County, and Valdosta in Georgia.

Extracted from Sabal Trail’s one big PDF document, here is PDF and JPG of the overview map.

Transportation System Alternatives, Alabama, Georgia, Florida
Transportation System Alternatives, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, in Alternatives, by Sabal Trail Transmission, for FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, 15 November 2013, converted by SpectraBusters
SABAL TRAIL PROJECT, DRAFT RESOURCE REPORT 10, Alternatives, FERC Docket No. PF14-1-000, Initial Pre-Filing Draft, November 2013
http://spectrabusters.org/ferc/pf14-1-sabal-trail-transmission/update-2013-11-15/draft-resource-report-10-alternatives/

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