Category Archives: Safety

FERC gets an earful in Florida

March 27, 2014Environment, FERC, Florida, Hazards, Law, Marion County, Safetyenvironment, FERC, Florida, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, Law, LNG export, Marion County, Safety, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

FERC’s John Peconom admitted FERC staff had never recommended denying a pipeline permit, and again admitted that the Commission had only ever denied two. He got an earful from local citizens in Marion County, Florida last night. The last FERC Scoping Meeting is tonight at the Citrus Tower in Clermont, Lake County, Florida.

Bill Thompson wrote for the Ocala StarBanner yesterday, Regulators get an earful over planned gas pipeline,

DUNNELLON — The last time an energy company installed its lines across Frank Atkins’ family’s property, grave markers in a family-owned cemetery were displaced.

The 85-year-old said that after Florida Power Corp. came through in the 1960s, he could not find the burial plot holding his mother, who died giving birth to him.

Now that a natural gas pipeline is slated to pass through his Citrus County land, Atkins said he’s concerned the one-acre cemetery, where more family members are buried, Continue reading FERC gets an earful in Florida →

Core drill sampling

March 27, 2014Florida, Gilchrist County, Law, Safety, Suwannee County, Watercore sampling, drilling, Florida, Gilchrist County, IREPHA, John S. Quarterman, OSFR, Our Santa Fe River, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Santa Fe River, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Suwannee County, TREPA, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

Seen on Our Santa Fe River 20 March 2014. -jsq

Gas Pipeline Alert:

Core drill sampling: What happened and what DID NOT happen… Last week, OSFR, residents and Christopher Byrd (IREPHA lawyer) stopped Sabal Trails from drilling for core samples for the purpose of building a drilling platform on both sides of the Santa Fe River.

OSFR began receiving phone calls and emails last week about this drilling procedure. We were absolutely certain that this was a “cart before the horse” problem. There have been no completed Continue reading Core drill sampling →

TREPO allies with SpectraBusters and pipeline opponents

March 25, 2014Columbia County, Corrosion, Economy, Environment, Explosion, Florida, Hazards, Leak, Safety, Waterbirding, Columbia County, corrosion, environment, explosion, FGT, Florida, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Gas Transmission, Great Florida Birding Trail, Hazards, Ichetucknee River, Ichetucknee Springs Basin, Ichetucknee Trace, John S. Quarterman, leak, methane, National Audubon Society, Natural National Landmark, Outstanding Florida Waterway, rivers, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Santa Fe River, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, springs, Three River Estates Property Owners Fort White, TREPOJohn S. Quarterman

Received Monday 25 March 2014 as a PDF. -jsq

Three River Estates Property Owners, Inc.
P.O. Box 148
Fort White, FL 32038-0148
386-497-3320

Position Statement on Sabal Trail/Spectra Energy Methane Pipeline

The Three River Estates Property Owners (TREPO) Board of Directors joins with other homeowners and conservation groups in strongly opposing the placement of the Sabal Trail Methane gas pipeline, anywhere in the Ichetucknee Springs Basin & Ichetucknee Trace & surrounding areas. We specifically oppose Continue reading TREPO allies with SpectraBusters and pipeline opponents →

Less cost, more jobs, and better health with sun, wind, and water power for Florida, or a dirty destructive methane pipeline?

March 23, 2014Alabama, Economy, Environment, Florida, Georgia, Safety, Solar, WaterAlabama, coal, death spiral, Duke Energy, Economy, Edison Electric Institute, environment, Florida, FPL, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, natural gas, NextEra Energy, nuclear, oil, photovoltaic, PV, rooftop, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, share prices, solar, solar farm, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, stocks, Wall Street Journal, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

How about we recognize every place is the worst place for the water-risking land-taking hazardous methane pipeline, and get on with sun, wind, and water to power Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and all the other states?

According to Stanford University researchers, we can do that, and we can do it 100% by 2050, using technology that’s already available. For Florida, that’s 20% rooftop solar PV (half residential and half commercial and governmental), 47.9% solar PV plants, 10% concentrating solar plants, 5% onshore wind, 15% offshore wind, 1% each wave and tide, 0.1% hydroelectric. So that’s 77.9% sun, 20% wind, 1% wave, 1% tide, and 0.1% hydro.

Requiring 0% nuclear, 0% coal, and 0% natural gas. That’s right, Florida doesn’t need methane to shut down coal and nukes. All the Sunshine State needs is sun, wind, and water.

With 355,500 construction jobs and 149,000 operation jobs, $20.1 billion or 3% of Florida’s GDP saved in avoided health costs, 2,210 Floridans not dead from air pollution.

Oh, and 42.9% less energy used over all, plus energy costs to customers cut more than in half.

Who are you going to believe? Researchers at Stanford who have no financial stake in the outcome? Or pipeline companies and utility companies that stand to profit from taking Continue reading Less cost, more jobs, and better health with sun, wind, and water power for Florida, or a dirty destructive methane pipeline? →

Sabal Trail at worst spot –expert in Gainesville Sun

March 23, 2014Economy, Environment, Explosion, FERC, Florida, Law, Martin County, Safety, Suwannee County, Waterdrinking water, Economy, environment, explosion, FERC, Florida, Floridan Aquifer, FPL, Gainesville, John S. Quarterman, Law, limestone, Martin County, NextEra Energy, property rights, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Santa Fe River, sinkhole, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, spring, Suwannee County, Water, wells, wetlandsJohn S. Quarterman

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 →

Methane pipeline safety record questioned –Lauren Ritchie

March 19, 2014Corrosion, Explosion, FERC, Florida, Leak, Maine, Martin County, New York, Osceola County, Safety, WaterAndrea Grover, Bangor, Bay Lake, corrosion, explosion, FERC, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, Floridan Aquifer, Green Swamp, John S. Quarterman, Lake County, Lauren Ritchie, leak, Maine, Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, Martin County, negligence, New York, Osceola County, PF14-1, PF14-2, Polk County, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

A reporter for a major newspaper is calling Spectra on its safety record, and calling Spectra’s responses “not good enough”! After thirty years of Spectra safety promises, that’s putting it mildly. A Maine resident put it this way after the Spectra’s Searsmont compressor blowout: “we were clearly lied to”.

Lauren Ritchie wrote for the Orlando Sentinel today, Safety record of natural-gas pipeline partner raises concerns,

Spectra Energy Corp. along with FPL’s parent, NextEra Energy, would bury the 473-mile Sabal Trail pipeline expected to carry 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to just south of Orlando in Osceola County, where it would connect to another line for eventual delivery to FPL in Martin County.

Spectra’s safety record, however, leaves something to be desired.

Take, for example, the company’s Texas Eastern pipeline, a 9,200-mile Spectra project connecting Texas with the markets in the Northeast.

Between 2006 and 2013, the company had 21 “incidents” along the line, causing Continue reading Methane pipeline safety record questioned –Lauren Ritchie →

Water supply more important than methane pipeline –Lauren Ritchie

March 16, 2014Explosion, FERC, Florida, Lake County, Leak, Martin County, Osceola County, Safety, WaterBay Lake, explosion, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, Floridan Aquifer, Green Swamp, John S. Quarterman, Lake County, Lauren Ritchie, leak, Martin County, Osceola County, PF14-1, PF14-2, Polk County, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, SpectraBusters, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

“But this isn’t an issue just for tree-huggers. It’s one that every person who uses water ought to latch on to,” she wrote.

I added the links and the images below to what Lauren Ritchie wrote in the Orlando Sentinel yesterday, Move path for natural-gas pipeline to protect water supply,

Only a relatively small piece of a proposed natural-gas pipeline that is to cross three states would come through a corner of south Lake County, but the route is directly through one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in Florida.

And, unfortunately, the pipeline is to be built by a company whose safety record is hardly sterling and whose tendency is to stare silently when asked questions about accidents.

I’d recognize the pipeline company from that description. Continue reading Water supply more important than methane pipeline –Lauren Ritchie →

FERC should be promoting solar and wind, not new pipelines –Alabama Sierra Club

March 15, 2014Alabama, Economy, Environment, Explosion, FERC, Florida, Fracking, Law, SafetyAlabama, Economy, environment, explosion, FPL, Fracking, Hillabee Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Law, NextEra, PF14-6, property rights, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Sierra Club, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Transco, WilliamsJohn S. Quarterman

Filed with FERC 14 March 2104 by Bob Hastings for Alabama Sierra Club about PF14-6. -jsq

Comments on the proposed Transco Pipeline Hillabee Expansion Project:

The Sierra Club is a national environmental organization promoting the protection of our natural environment and quality of life for all citizens. The Club has more than 1.5 million members and includes chapters in all states. The Alabama Chapter has approximately 3000 members.

The Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club has joined with the Georgia and Florida Sierra Club Chapters to oppose the proposed 650 mile Sabal Trail Pipeline that would carry natural gas extracted through hydraulic fracturing from Pennsylvania and Texas through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Since the purpose of the Hillabee Expansion project is to supply gas to the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline, we also oppose the Hillabee Expansion project, and consider it undesirable and not needed.

Williams Partners, Inc., owners of the Transco pipeline, has a poor record of pipeline safety, and has had at least 35 reportable accidents since 2006, including the pipeline rupture and explosion on December 3, 2011, near Linden in Marengo County, Alabama. Fortunately this explosion, which devastated 65 acres of forest land, did not occur in a populated area where loss of life could have been tragic. Williams Partners should focus on upgrading the existing pipeline for improved safety rather than expanding its capacity.

The existing Transco pipeline cuts through Continue reading FERC should be promoting solar and wind, not new pipelines –Alabama Sierra Club →

Woman identified in last week’s Ewing, NJ gas explosion that destroyed dozens of homes

March 14, 2014Explosion, New Jersey, New York, Safetyexplosion, fatality, John S. Quarterman, negligence, New Jersey, New York, property damage, Safety, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

This week, Harlem, last week, Ewing, NJ, 20 years ago, Edison, NJ: methane explosions that destroyed buildings and killed at least one person, according to investigors or local officials apparently caused by gas company. This is one downside to the fracked “natural” gas industry’s answer to cold weather in the U.S. northeast.

WPVI-TV wrote 6 March 2014, Woman killed in Ewing Twp. explosion identified as Linda Cerritelli,

It all began around 11:45 a.m. when utility company PSE&G got a call from contractor Henkels and McCoy that a worker had damaged a gas line while working on an electrical problem.

Crews were working on it about an hour later when—for reasons that are still not known—the gas line ignited.

At a news conference Wednesday, Mayor Bert Steinmann said the gas line was marked out in the area where a contractor was working. Officials don’t know what went wrong.

PSE&G issued a statement saying it would not comment further until the investigation was complete.

Documents show Henkels and McCoy had been fined more than $100,000 by federal safety monitors for problems at two other New Jersey work sites. Continue reading Woman identified in last week’s Ewing, NJ gas explosion that destroyed dozens of homes →

Resolution: Sabal Trail Natural Gas Pipeline –Colquitt County Board of Commissioners

March 13, 2014Agriculture, Colquitt County, Georgia, Law, SafetyAgriculture, Colquitt County, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, Law, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Spectra Energy, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

This is the text of the resolution passed by the Colquitt County Board of Commissioners, and here it is in PDF. -jsq

Resolution Number 2014-R-6.

RESOLUTION
COLQUITT COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
SABAL TRAIL NATURAL GAS PIPELINE

WHEREAS, Sabal Trail Natural Gas Pipeline proposes to construct a natural gas transmission pipeline that will bisect a large portion of Colquitt County, Georgia; and,

WHEREAS, Colquitt County, Georgia is the largest agricultural production county in the State of Georgia with numerous farms and agricultural infrastructure throughout the county and in the proposed path of the Sabal Trail Natural Gas Pipeline; and,

WHEREAS, there remains many concerns among area agricultural growers regarding the depth of the pipeline in agricultural areas.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Continue reading Resolution: Sabal Trail Natural Gas Pipeline –Colquitt County Board of Commissioners →