Dear SpectraBusters and Allies,
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks to all who get out on the street, into the halls of government, or on the media: public awareness is the key to winning this fight.
Thanks to all who quietly and often anonymously help Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving!
The Georgia Climate Change Coalition Bike Lines to stop Pipe Lines stopped in Albany yesterday and got some news coverage.
Diane Dean, WALB TV, 24 November 2014, Bike riders focus on GA environment,
Members of the Georgia Climate Change Coalition are concerned about what the planet will look like for future generations.
“It crosses the flint and Chattahoochee River and their water sheds that provide drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people,” said Gretchen Elsner of the Georgia Climate Change Coalition.
Rich Rusk is Continue reading GCCC against Sabal Trail in Albany, GA
Escalating from the Chairman’s letter of 11 April 2014, perhaps after listening to requests from citizens, the Lowndes County Commission passed a resolution wanting no part of Sabal Trail in the county or in the state of Georgia.
Update 2014-11-25: Well, according to Joe Adgie in the Valdosta Daily Times today, “Even though the missive has already been mailed [to FERC], the resolution will not be formally voted on until the county commission’s next meeting in December [9th].”
Filed with FERC in docket CP15-17 on 21 November 2014 as Accession Number: 20141121-5242, but that was a Friday and FERC doesn’t work on weekends, so it actually appeared Monday 24 November 2014.
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas has proposed to build a $3.7 Billion, 460mile natural gas line known as Sabal Trail, and;
WHEREAS, The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners has concerns regarding personal property rights Continue reading Opposes Sabal Trail pipeline in any portion of Lowndes County –Lowndes County Commission
200 miles from Athens to Albany, Saturday November 22nd
through Tuesday November 25th. (PDF)
Ride supported by the Georgia Climate Change Coalition & Georgia Bikes! Continue reading Bike Lines to stop Pipe Lines 22-25 Nov 2014
“We have the opportunity to be world leaders in the renewable energy revolution! Shall we let that opportunity go to Germany or China, by default?”
Filed with FERC 15 November 2014:
Laura Dailey, fort white, FL.
On this final day to plead my/our case, it is time for the FERC to look at the bigger picture and stop caving to the short term fixes. We are in trouble, and you can help by voting to DENY THE SABAL TRAIL METHANE PIPELINE! Leave the gas in the ground…..where it’s already conveniently stored!
EVERY DAY we wake to an invitation from the sun! In fact, the planet itself runs on solar, and most European countries already understand this. Even China just made a huge commitment to solar. Contrary to what the lobbyists are telling you, FLORIDA DOES NOT NEED THIS GAS!!
From the standpoint of transparency, there is none! I have asked Continue reading Listen to the people you are supposed to protect –Laura Dailey to FERC
SpectraBusters op-ed published by Ocala newspaper.
And the Sabal Trail pipeline still don’t pass the smell test.
Ocala Star-Banner, 16 November 2014, Sabal Trail pipeline not in the public interest.
Illustrated version, with links to the evidence: It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline —SpectraBusters.
-jsq
Here are a few things you get with a pipeline easement:
no right to grow trees on it, limited right to put up fences,
and if you do, you have to have gates in them that the pipeline
company can put their own lock on.
But you do get to continue to pay taxes on land you can no longer
fully use; land that now contains a potentially corrosive, leaky,
explosive hazard that you can’t tap for your own use.
And you do get pipeline company contractors coming through at their
convenience to mow or otherwise clear the right of way.
Contractors who may be somewhat unclear on where the right of way
ends and your trees, for example, start.
Without ever having to notify you then or tell you later what happened.
And it’s even worse than that: you may get another pipeline, and meanwhile the pipeline company will claim rights over local governments and developments.
All while the world has changed and the sun has risen on a better way.
Produce the agreements that allegedly justify need:
Again, if SST is going to rely on precedent agreements to justify taking people’s private property by eminent domain, it should at least be required to produce the agreements.
And this:
Based on all of the above. it does not require much of a leap to assume that SST is planning to take people’s private property for private profit by enabling one of its parent owners.
Filed with FERC 14 November 2014, Comment of Gloria Gaines under PF14-1, submitted on behalf of State Representative Winfred Dukes. Continue reading Find that Sabal Trail has not met its burden to show the pipeline is needed –Winfred Dukes
And checkered pipeline company safety records, says Nonami:
The Project is Not Necessary and Thus Fails to Satisfy FERC Requirement of Being Publicly Necessary and Convenient
I’ve added a few links and illustrations, but Nonami’s filing is so thorough it would take a long time to link to all the evidence.
Filed with FERC 13 November 2014, Comment filed on behalf of Nonami Oglethorpe, LLC by Davis, Pickren, Seydel & Sneed, LLP under PF14-1. Continue reading An unnecessary threat by an unsafe company –Ted Turner’s Nonami Plantation to FERC about Sabal Trail
Disturbance of soil, exacerbating corrosion, needless risk through unnecessary crossings, and cutting corners through inappropriate boring methods: when even another pipeline company calls you out for those things, you’ve got a problem, Sabal Trail. And Southern Natural Gas just did that in ecomments to FERC.
SONAT should be worried about this after last week in Berrien County, Georgia:
Each crossing poses a risk during construction of the crossing as well as ongoing risks during operation and maintenance of the pipelines. Since the SNG pipeline must remain in service during construction of the crossings, each time Sabal Trail bores under, or cuts under, the SNG pipeline there is an increased risk that the integrity of the SNG pipeline will be compromised.
A humble county ditch puller
broke SONAT’s pipeline on Bradford Road,
resulting in Sheriff’s deputies from two counties, a city 911 vehicle,
and an ambulance being scrambled, in addition to a fleet of Kinder Morgan
vehicles.
And me, since this break was only a few miles from my house,
and the valve they used to turn off Berrien County is on my property.
Neighbors I’ve known all my life were evacuated.
One spark and they wouldn’t have had anything to come back to.
And this was a 9 or 10-inch pipeline at 800PSI.
Sabal Trail wants to run a 36-inch pipeline at twice the pressure,
more than 20 times the gas.
Why should any of us accept that risk for Sabal Trail’s corner-cutting profit?
You should have seen the face the Kinder Morgan rep on the spot pulled when I mentioned Sabal Trail. Now we can see spelled out what SONAT really thinks about their competitor, including: Continue reading Needless risk through unnecessary crossings –SONAT to FERC about Sabal Trail