Category Archives: Law

NY Gov. asks FERC to suspend license for a Spectra pipeline

February 29, 2016FERC, Law, New York, Politics, Safety, WaterAIM, Algonquin Incremental Market, Andrew Cuomo, election, FERC, Hudson River, Indian Point, John S. Quarterman, Law, New York, nuclear, Politics, Safety, SAPE, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

Petitions to the New York Governor may have helped him send this message to FERC about Spectra’s AIM pipeline project that would go far too close to the document-forging caught-fire leaked-oil-into-the-Hudson River Indian Point nuclear plant:

Lisa W. Foderaro, New York Times, 28 Feb 2016, Plan to Expand a Pipeline at Indian Point Raises Concern,

On Monday, the state plans to notify the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that it will take a hard look at the project in light of a series of problems at the nuclear plant since last May. In addition, the state will ask federal regulators to suspend their approval of the project — effectively halting construction — until the study is completed.

“I am directing Continue reading NY Gov. asks FERC to suspend license for a Spectra pipeline →

Sabal Trail wants to plow through oak grove and horse pasture in Lake County

February 25, 2016Economy, Florida, Lake County, Lawbusiness, Economy, equine, Florida, horse, John S. Quarterman, Lake County, Law, oak, SpectraBusters, Sue AveraJohn S. Quarterman

Sue Avera reports from Lake County, Florida:

My name is Sue Avera I have a property in Groveland Fl. I board, train, breed. sell, show, horses and I also coach my clients at equine competitions. I have been here for 19 yrs doing business from this property and was at my former address in this business for 21 yrs. Sabal Trails is putting pipleine through my east 6 acres. It will go right down the middle of the property, rendering it useless until they leave. this is 1/3 of my work space. It will also take down a 150+ Oak Hammock that is my only shade on that 6 acres. I am not going to be able to safely even continue my work without renting a barn and arena so that I can keep my clients.

This is the oak grove: Continue reading Sabal Trail wants to plow through oak grove and horse pasture in Lake County →

Movie online: At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South

February 13, 2016Corruption, Economy, Environment, Ethics, Law, Solaraquifer, Brooks County, Chattahoochee River, Colquitt County, conservation, eminent domain, environment, Flint River, Floridan Aquifer, Hamilton County, John S. Quarterman, Kinder Morgan, landowners, Law, Live Oak, Live Oak Womans Club, Lowndes County, Mark Albertin, north Florida, Ochlockonee River, Okapilco Creek, Palmetto Pipeline, pipeline, pollution, private property, river, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Santa Fe River, south Georgia, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Suwannee County, Suwannee River, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USACE, watershed, Withlacoochee River, WWALS, WWALS Watershed CoalitionJohn S. Quarterman

Now streaming online: At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South, by Mark Albertin. And yes, he’s happy for it to be shown elsewhere; just ask, and you can set up a local viewing like in Live Oak last night, or the previous premieres along the Georgia coast.

Most of the issues are the same for Spectra Energy’s invading Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline as for Kinder Morgan’s invading Palmetto petroleum products pipeline that is the subject of the movie. Thanks to Push Back the Pipeline for getting this movie made about Kinder Morgan’s proposed petroleum products pipeline from South Carolina across the Georgia coast to Jacksonville, Florida. Special thanks to Eileen, Lori, and Debra and the Woman’s Club of Live Oak for the movie showing last night, to WWALS Watershed Coalition and the Woman’s Club of Live Oak for hosting, and to Our Santa Fe River, and Gulf Restoration Network for helping promote it.

Don’t forget the hike to the Suwannee River Sabal Trail crossing 8:15 AM Thursday 28 February 2016 with Suwannee and Hamilton County Commissioners.

Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas wants to gouge Sabal Trail from Continue reading Movie online: At What Cost? Pipelines, Pollution and Eminent Domain in the Rural South →

We will accept Sabal Trail’s answers –FERC issues certificates

February 3, 2016Environment, FERC, Law, LNG, Politics, WaterAlbany, Dougherty County, Duke Energy, environment, FERC, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, FSC, Georgia, Hamilton County, Hillabee Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Law, LNG, NextEra Energy, Politics, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Suwannee County, Suwannee River, Transco, Water, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

Property rights, environment, or safety? 14% pipeline company profit is more important! said FERC. But this fight is not over.

Without ever appearing on FERC’s public calendar, and a month in advance of when FERC previously said, FERC yesterday issued certificates for Sabal Trail, the Transco Hillabee Expansion Project, and Florida Southeast Connection. Trial-style evidentiary hearing? Nope, FERC believes Sabal Trail. Consolidation of the three dockets into one? Nope, everybody should have opposed all three, says FERC. Environmental justice? Hey, demographics don’t matter, pipeline siting is all about engineering and “environmental” issues. And profit. Don’t forget profit for the pipeline companies. Solar power? Nevermind, Continue reading We will accept Sabal Trail’s answers –FERC issues certificates →

Atlantic Sunrise pipeline in Penn. same problems as Sabal Trail

January 18, 2016Alabama, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, Law, LNG, PennsylvaniaAlabama, Atlantic Sunrise, Chris Hedges, Cove Point LNG export, Elba Island LNG export, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, Hillabee Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Lancaster Against Pipelines, Lancaster County, LAP, Law, LNG, Mark Clatterbuck, Pennsylvania, SpectraBusters, Thomas Linzey, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

First the good news: a Pennsylvania pipeline protester had all charges dismissed for videoing license plates at a pipeline construction site. All of those plates were from out of state: so much for pipeline company promises of local construction jobs. Much else going on in Pennsylvania sounds very familiar.

Tom Knapp, LancasterOnline, 13 November 2015, Pipeline protester not guilty of disorderly conduct for filming at construction site,

Mark Clatterbuck, a Martic Township resident and professor of religion at Montclair State University in New Jersey, was issued a summons by state police after videotaping out-of-state license plates of subcontractors working at the Williams Gas pipeline project.

The incident occurred Continue reading Atlantic Sunrise pipeline in Penn. same problems as Sabal Trail →

The LNG export shell game: FERC, FE, MARAD, or NEB?

January 9, 2016British Columbia, Economy, Ethics, FE, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Law, LNG, MARAD, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Nova Scotia, Oregon, Solar, Suwannee County, Texas, WaterAES, Bahamas, Big Bend, boondoggle, British Columbia, Calypso LNG, Coos Bay, Cove Point LNG, Economy, Elba Island LNG, Ethics, FE, FERC, Florida, FPL, Georgia, greed, Hudson River, Jacksonville Expansion Project, Jaxport, JEP, John S. Quarterman, Kinder Morgan, KMI, Law, LNG, Manhattan, MARAD, Maryland, Mexico, NE, NextEra Energy, Nova Scotia, Ocean Express, Oregon, Oregon LNG export, Port Dolphin, Port Everglades, profit, Rio Grande, Sabal Trail Transmission, shell game, solar, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Strom, Suwannee County, Suwannee River, Texas, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

If you’re a Houston fossil fuel company and you can’t get FERC approval fast enough, try FE, or MARAD! If that doesn’t work, ship it by land through Canada or Mexico! Local property rights, they laugh at those! Rio Grande, Suwannee River, or Hudson River: just minor obstacles to greed! If the people are tired of profit being more important than their land, water, air, or safety, it’s time to stop this fossil fuel shell game.

MARAD

Continue reading →

Petition for GAO to rein in FERC

January 2, 2016Ethics, FERC, LawBernie Sanders, boondoggle, corruption, Delaware Riverkeeper, Elizabeth Warren, Ethics, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, GAO, Government Accountability Office, John S. Quarterman, lapdog, Law, Maya K. van Rossum, regulatory capture loopholes, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Please sign this petition for an independent investigation of FERC by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Or call or write your own members of Congress and ask them to investigate FERC and rein in its rubberstamping of new fossil fuel projects.

FERC has actually denied two pipelines out of a huge number of applications. Both were part of LNG import projects. One of them was about hardship to mineral interest donors, and a fair FERC would conclude hardship to everyone who depends on the Floridan Aquifer for their sole source of drinking water would be more than sufficient reason to deny Sabal Trail. The other`was a Spectra pipeline, so even mighty Spectra can lose at FERC.

But it’s hard for any new fossil fuel project to lose at FERC because FERC brags about “Full Cost Recovery” meaning 100% of FERC’s annual Congressional allocation is paid back out of fees and charges from the very industries FERC supposedly “regulates”. This is what Investopedia defines as regulatory capture: Continue reading Petition for GAO to rein in FERC →

FERC rubberstamped FEIS for Sabal Trail today 2015-12-18

December 18, 2015FERC, Law, WaterAir, Duke Energy, FEIS, FERC, Final Environmental Impact Statement, FPL, John S. Quarterman, Law, Sabal Trail Transmission, Sierra Club, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USACE, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

Just before Christmas, when the fewest people will be paying attention, FERC just issued for Sabal Trail, FSC, and Transco Hillabee the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), aiming at March to rubberstamp a permit. You can still ecomment to FERC, or to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or to GA-EPD or ask your local, state, and federal elected and appointed officials to oppose this unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous boondoggle.

Curious how EPA changed its tune just before the FEIS.

Accession Number: 20151218-4001, “Final Environmental Impact Statement Volume I re the Southeast Market Pipelines Project under CP14-554 et al. Dated December”, with an announcement, Continue reading FERC rubberstamped FEIS for Sabal Trail today 2015-12-18 →

Sabal Trail is a reckless proposal –GA State Senator Sims to FERC

October 25, 2015Compressor, Dougherty County, Economy, Environment, Georgia, Hazards, Health, Law, Safety, WaterAir, Albany, compressor, Dougherty County, Economy, environment, Freddie Powell Sims, Georgia, Hazards, Health, John S. Quarterman, Law, Safety, SpectraBusters, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

Sabal Trail targets those most vulnerable, the “elderly, disabled and without monetary or political means to “fight” such an environmentally intrusive plan.”

Filed with FERC 23 October 2015 as Accession Number 20151023-5278, “Comment of Senator Freddie Powell Sims under CP15-17”:

FREDDIE POWELL SIMS
District 12
110-A State Capitol
Atlanta. Georgia 30334
Phone: (404) 463-5259
Fax: (404) 463-2279
Email: Freddie.Sims@senate.ga.gov

COMMITTEES:

Interstate Cooperation, Vice-Chairman
Education and Youth, Secretary
Appropriations
Finance
Natural Resources and the Environment

The State Senate

Atlanta, Georgia 30334

October 20, 2015
Kimberly D. Bose
Secretary
Federal Energy Regulation Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washingtun, DC 20426
Dear Ms. Bose:
As State Senator for District 12 in the State of Georgia, I write this letter in opposition to the proposed Sabal Pipeline location in the populous area of Dougherty County / Albany, Georgia. The Sabal Pipeline proposed location is a “reckless” proposal that negates the health and safety of current and future residents of Dougherty County / Albany, Georgia. Many of the residents Continue reading Sabal Trail is a reckless proposal –GA State Senator Sims to FERC →

Four Congress members demand Sabal Trail move off of Albany, GA

October 24, 2015Compressor, Dougherty County, FERC, Georgia, Hazards, LawAfrican-American, compressor, David Scott, Dougherty County, environmental justice, FERC, Georgia, Hazards, Health, Henry C. Hank Johnson Jr., John Lewis, Law, Member of Congress, Sanford D. Bishop Jr., SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Writing directly to the FERC Commissioners, these representatives stand up for the people against pipeline company greed.

For immediate release: Friday, October 23, 2015
Contact: Max Gigle, 202-225-3631
PROPOSED SABAL TRAIL RAISES ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, HEALTH CONCERNS
CONGRESSMAN BISHOP AND GEORGIA HOUSE DEMOCRATS DEMAND ALTERNATIVES

ALBANY, GA — Today, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (GA-02) spearheaded a letter with Congressmen John Lewis (GA-05), Henry ‘Hank’ Johnson Jr. (GA-04), and David Scott (GA-13) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) raising concerns regarding Sabal Trail’s application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct a 516-mile-long, 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The letter especially cites the proposed location of the pipeline and an accompanying compressor station in Albany, Georgia, which is located in Dougherty County. The proposed location raises serious environmental justice issues that have not been fully addressed by FERC in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the project.

Congressman Bishop, as well as Representatives Lewis, Scott, and Johnson, are members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), which has highlighted issues of environmental justice. The Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental justice as, Continue reading Four Congress members demand Sabal Trail move off of Albany, GA →