Category Archives: Trees

Sabal Trail solar and wind misinformation

February 27, 2014Alabama, Economy, Environment, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Solar, TreesDuke Energy, eminent domain, FERC, FPL, Georgia Power, John S. Quarterman, rooftop, Sabal Trail Transmission, solar, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, transparency, Williams Transco, windJohn S. Quarterman

A few weeks ago John Peconom of FERC referred me to Sabal Trail’s comments on solar power; something about all the area you’d have to clear to provide as much energy as that 36-inch pipeline. OK, I’ve looked, and it’s the same kind of disinformation Georgia Power used to spout about you’d need to clear an area the size of Atlanta to power Atlanta with solar power. Nevermind you already have an area that size: it’s called Atlanta! Rooftops, parking lots, streets, etc.: plenty of room. And Sabal Trail’s disinformation completely ignores that solar power (and wind) are growing far faster than methane energy production. If this is FERC’s justification for eminent domain to get fracked gas to Florida, it’s a very flimsy justification indeed. We shouldn’t expect anything more from a company that would profit by that eminent domain. But we should expect more from a tax-funded federal agency that is supposed to represent we the people.

Bear in mind that all new U.S. electric generation in September 2012 came from wind and solar. In October 2013 72.1% of all new U.S. capacity came from solar, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), using data from FERC itself. And FERC doesn’t even count the million solar rooftops that are going in.

In 10.3.3 Non-Gas Energy Alternatives in its Draft Resource Report 10: Alternatives (RR10), Sabal Trail correctly dismisses dirty and expensive coal, oil, and nuclear, and even hydro as major energy sources for flat Florida. However, what’s in there about wind and solar is just plain bogus. Continue reading Sabal Trail solar and wind misinformation →

I adamantly oppose this proposed pipeline –Thomas Lovett to FERC

February 9, 2014Brooks County, Economy, Environment, FERC, Georgia, Hazards, Safety, Trees, Wateraquifer, Brooks County, church, Economy, environment, FERC, Floridan Aquifer, Georgia, Hazards, house, John S. Quarterman, Quitman, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Thomas Lovett, Trees, Water, wetlandsJohn S. Quarterman

Filed with FERC 1 December 2013:

Thomas Lovett, Quitman, GA.
December 1, 2013

Thomas D. Lovett
250 Monument Church Road
Quitman, GA 31643
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20426
Re: FERC Docket No. PF-14-1
Dear FERC,

As a Brooks County, Georgia landowner who would be directly affected by Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC’s proposed pipeline, I adamantly oppose this proposed pipeline, for the reasons stated below.

The 36-inch pipeline/easement would cut a path approximately 5,480 feet long and 100 feet wide across our family farm, located at 250 Monument Church Road, Quitman, Georgia, 31643. Our family farm has been continuously owned by my family for more than 100 years. I live on the farm with my wife and two boys.

The pipeline, if allowed, would be approximately 680 feet directly behind our residence. It would be approximately 790 feet from nearby Morning Star Church Continue reading I adamantly oppose this proposed pipeline –Thomas Lovett to FERC →

I just don’t think they should be allowed to deface my property –Irvin Allegood to FERC

February 3, 2014Colquitt County, Economy, FERC, Georgia, Law, TreesColquitt County, Economy, FERC, Georgia, Irvin Allegood, John Peconom, John S. Quarterman, Law, property rights, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, TreesJohn S. Quarterman

Colquitt County landowner Irvin Allegood came to the do-over Sabal Trail Open House in Moultrie 27 January 2014 so he could tell FERC he wasn’t going to allow another pipeline. He wasn’t the only one, but he especially wanted video, so here he is, talking to John Peconom of FERC.

…the existing pipeline comes through the front corner.
I just don’t think that they should be allowed to, basically, to deface my property. …losing that road, if they put two pipelines on my property.
Their first suggestion, was they would destroy… as far as my property was concerned. all of the wooded area. There’s old growth pines in there, the run of a creek. We’re just not going to allow that to happen.
If they put it on the other side of the existing pipeline. I’ve been planning to put my shop out there when I retire in a couple of years.

Here’s the video:

I just don’t think they should be allowed to deface my property –Irvin Allegood to FERC
Video by John S. Quarterman for SpectraBusters.org,
Moultrie, Colquitt County GA, 27 January 2014.

FERC rep. John Peconom then wanted to be sure to get the spelling of Irvin Allegood’s name, and where his property was. It wasn’t on the map hanging right there, so they looked at the maps on Peconom’s laptop. Peconom had no direct response to the basic point of the pipeline defacing property, or tearing down trees.

You can easily see the existing pipeline on google maps: Continue reading I just don’t think they should be allowed to deface my property –Irvin Allegood to FERC →

Ask FERC at the Moultrie Monday makeup Sabal Trail Open House

January 27, 2014Colquitt County, Environment, FERC, Georgia, Hazards, Law, TreesColquitt County, environment, FERC, Georgia, Hazards, Law, Moultrie, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra, SpectraBusters, TreesJohn S. Quarterman

PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Valdosta, 24 January 2014 — The gas pipeline company has scheduled another Open House for Monday January 27th, 2014, perhaps because a local landowner complained to FERC about previous Sabal Trail meetings in Moultrie being during big local events. You can ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in person why they should approve that methane pipeline. Protesters against the pipeline will be out front starting about 4:45PM.

When: 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Monday, January 27 th 2014

Where: Holiday Inn Express
850 Veterans Parkway North
Moultrie, GA 31788

Why: Spectra Energy, which had compressor station leaks in Maine this month and in Pennsylvania last year, plus multiple fines by Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for corrosion and leaks, and a record Continue reading Ask FERC at the Moultrie Monday makeup Sabal Trail Open House →

A 36-inch pipeline blews up in Alabama

January 26, 2014Alabama, Appomattox County, Environment, Explosion, Florida, Hazards, Marengo County, New Jersey, Safety, Trees, VirginiaAlabama, Appomattox, Carlstadt, environment, explosion, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, Marengo County, New Jersey, Safety, SpectraBusters, Transco, Virginia, WilliamsJohn S. Quarterman

The pipeline Sabal Trail wants to connect to, Williams Transco in Alabama, blew up in 2011, flaming a hundred feet up, heard more than 30 miles away, left a crater more than 50 feet wide, destroyed 65 acres of trees, fried five acres of soil into pottery, and launched a 43-foot pipe section as a missile that landed 190 feet away. The cause was never announced. There was no construction going on, so could it be corrosion? Do we want another pipeline like that?

TXsharon wrote for Bluedaze drilling reform 2 January 2012, Pictures: Acres of devastation from Williams gas pipeline explosion in Alabama

Williams did some pigging just before this pipeline rupture but they didn’t receive the pigging results until after the explosion. The word from the locals in Alabama is that Williams is now frantically digging up parts of this same pipeline in several different locations which could indicate the problem is not isolated.Williams does not have a good track record of pipeline safety.

Jason Cannon wrote for Demopolis Times 3 December 2011, No cause known in explosion,

A Transco natural gas pipeline ruptured at approximately 3:07 p.m. Saturday with an explosion that could be heard for more than 30 miles while shooting flames nearly 100 feet in the air for over an hour….
Continue reading A 36-inch pipeline blews up in Alabama →

Methane pipeline rejected in New Jersey

January 11, 2014Cape May County, Economy, Environment, FERC, Hazards, Law, New Jersey, TreesBL England, blueberries, bobcats, Cape May County, coal, coastal plain, ecology, Economy, environment, FERC, Floridan Aquifer, FPL, fragile, Hazards, jobs, John S. Quarterman, Law, New Jersey, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, New Jersey Pinelands Commission, NJBPU, pine, Pine Barrens, Pinelands, Pinus Echinata, Sabal Trail Transmission, shortleaf pine, Sierra Club, South Jersey Gas, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, TreesJohn S. Quarterman

In the same coastal plain that contains the Floridan Aquifer with our drinking water, a commission just rejected a natural gas pipeline that would have gone through a pine fire forest with blueberries and bobcats much like ours. FERC should reject the Sabal Trail pipeline.

Wayne Parry wrote for AP 10 January 2014, Natural gas pipeline for N.J. Pinelands rejected,

Pemberton Township, N.J. — A New Jersey agency tasked with protecting the ecologically fragile Pinelands region narrowly defeated a proposal Friday to run a 22-mile natural gas pipeline through it….

“This is a great victory for the Pinelands and the environment of the region,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Today the commissioners said the Pinelands are not for sale.”

“The Pinelands is host Continue reading Methane pipeline rejected in New Jersey →

Reclamation means planting grass and laying down straw where 100 year old trees used to stand

December 10, 2013Hazards, Health, New Jersey, Safety, TreesHazards, reclamation, Sustainable, wastelandJohn S. Quarterman

The fossil fuel industry has hijacked a perfectly good word to cover their destructions.

Wendy Lynn Lee wrote for The Wrench, 5 December 2013, CADAVER COSMETICS: THE AESTHETICS OF “SUSTAINABILITY”,

The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming article, “Sustainable Wasteland,” scheduled to be published in 2014—but more importantly, it inaugurates a new series devoted to dismantling the concept of “sustainability” as the greenwashing masquerade of an industry that would convince us that “reclamation” means planting grass and laying down straw where 100 year old trees used to stand, that painting natural gas pipeline forest green is forest restoration. I have coined the phrase cadaver cosmetics to signal that what underlay the”landscape architecture” of the fracking industry’s notion of “sustainability” is nothing but powder on the face of a corpse that was once an ecosystem.

Some refer to the effort to conceal a bad deal as if it were a good one as “lipstick on a pig.” But in that case, we’re at least invited to imagine Continue reading Reclamation means planting grass and laying down straw where 100 year old trees used to stand →

Pine trees, home sites, and pipeline rights of way –Tim Bland to FERC

October 31, 2013FERC, Georgia, Lowndes County, Treeseasement, FERC, Georgia, home site, John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, pine straw, pine trees, SpectraBusters, Tim Bland, timberJohn S. Quarterman

Comment on FERC docket PF14-1 16 October 2013. Yes, if this pipeline is so safe and desirable, why can’t it go in public road rights of way? -jsq

Tim Bland, Valdosta, GA.

I am writing in regard to the construction of a new natural gas pipeline by Sable Trails/Spectra Energy, Docket #PF14-1. This proposed line will run right through the middle of my property located at 4801 Gary Lane in Valdosta, Georgia. The majority of the land that will be affected is planted in pine trees, which we use for the harvest and sale of pine straw and eventually the sale of the timber itself. Looking long-term, as a supplement for retirement, we have also considered subdividing this land into 5-acre tracks to sell for home sites.

Sable trails is demanding that we sell them a 100′ easement right in the middle of this property, directly adjacent to an existing 50′ gas line easement owned by South Georgia Natural Gas. This will make 150′ right in the middle of our property that we will no longer be able to use for straw and timber harvesting. In addition, because of the route this line takes through our property, it will render this property useless for future home sites. This pipeline will have a direct negative affect on the income earning potential of this property for straw harvesting over the next 25-30 years as well at the long-term earning potential of timber harvesting and sale for home sites.

As I understand it, South Georgia Natural Gas bid on this pipeline project with intentions to place the new line within their existing easement. However they were out bid and now refuse to allow Sable Trails/Spectra to utilize the existing easement. Because of this, Continue reading Pine trees, home sites, and pipeline rights of way –Tim Bland to FERC →